Palacio de la Aljafería

GENERAL BUILDING DESCRIPTION:
The palace, now the seat of the Aragon Parliament (or Corts), is a building of singular beauty. Its long existence throughout history allows us to see the delicate ornamental beauty of a Taifal 11th century palace: its extraordinary wooden ceilings, carved by the Moorish artists who worked on the medieval Christian palace; the magnificence of the era of the Catholic Kings; and the throne room, with its amazing spectacular golden and painted wooden roof. 
The Aljafería has lived through many avatars, changes and stages. After restoration of the monument, it has now become a lively and open building, and a cultural landmark in the city.

ISLAMIC PALACE: 
Its compositional scheme is based on an open, rectangular courtyard with a pool on the south side. This is decorated with two porches with poly-lobed, mixtilinear arches like visual screens, and tripartite ceremonial rooms intended for private use at the bottom. In the north porch, there is a small octagonal chapel with plaster Arabesque decoration.

MUDÉJAR PALACE: 
In the 12th century, the palace began its Christian era and became the palace of the Aragonese kings. There is a series of rooms in the palace from this period which correspond to rooms from King Pedro IV, decorated with splendid carved ceilings; these are of vital importance as the source of the spread of Aragonese Mudéjar art.