Village
The capital of Navarre, founded around 74 BC by the Roman general Pompey on a preexisting Vasconic settlement, from which it takes its Latin name Pompaelo. The medieval city grew divided into three rival boroughs that were united in 1423 through the Privilegio de la Unión (Privilege of the Union) granted by Carlos III the Noble. It was occupied by the troops of Fernando the Catholic in 1512 following the conquest of Navarre. Its old quarter preserves the layout of the former boroughs of San Cernin, San Nicolás, and the Navarrería.
Monument
A cathedral built on an earlier Romanesque structure consecrated in 1127; after the partial collapse of 1390 it was rebuilt in Gothic style between 1394 and 1501, and in the 18th century (design submitted in 1783) the architect Ventura Rodríguez added the Neoclassical facade that presides over the square today. Its Gothic cloister, built between 1280 and 1360, is considered one of the finest examples of Gothic cloister in all of Europe. It also preserves one of only three medieval Gothic kitchens surviving in Europe. It was declared a monumento histórico-artístico (historic-artistic monument, the heritage protection category used in Spain between 1931 and 1985) on 3 June 1931.
Monument
A pentagonal fortress with five bastions, commissioned in 1571 by Felipe II and built between that year and 1645 to an Italian design by Giacomo Palearo 'el Fratin' and Vespasiano Gonzaga, later reinforced with Vauban-style elements. It covers 280,000 m² and is considered one of the best-preserved Renaissance fortifications in Europe. It lost its military use in 1964 and passed to the city in 1966, which turned it into a park and cultural space; it was declared a monumento histórico-artístico de carácter nacional (a 'historic-artistic monument of national character', Spain's heritage protection category used between 1931 and 1985) on 8 February 1973.
Monument
A defensive system built between the 16th and 18th centuries following Navarre's incorporation into the Crown of Castile, when the city needed fortifications capable of withstanding artillery. In the late 19th century the Primer Ensanche (first city expansion) tore down part of the wall and two bastions of the Citadel, and in 1915 the entire southern front of the enclosure was removed. The surviving complex was listed as a monumento nacional ('national monument', an earlier Spanish heritage protection category) on 25 September 1939. Today almost the whole of it can be walked as a panoramic route overlooking the Pamplona basin.
Monument
A church built between 1180 and 1200 in Romanesque style and remodeled in Gothic during the 13th century, with the choir dated to 1297; it also incorporates Baroque and Neo-Gothic elements from later expansions. Its two medieval towers reach 55 meters. It is the parish church of the old Burgo de San Cernin and is dedicated to the city's patron saint, San Saturnino (San Cernin). It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) on 10 September 1995 (code RI-51-0008989).
Monument
One of the five original parishes of Pamplona's old town, documented since 1117 and built in Gothic style in several phases up to the 14th century. Because of the medieval conflicts between the city's boroughs, it functioned as a fortress-church until the unification of 1423. It preserves a Baroque organ from 1769, one of the most important in Pamplona. The architect Ángel Goicoechea Lizarraga renovated its exterior in 1888, adding a Neo-Gothic porch. It was declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) on 15 May 2006 (code RI-51-0011563).
Monument
The only civil Gothic building preserved in Pamplona, on Calle Ansoleaga, near San Saturnino. It housed the audit tribunal of the Kingdom of Navarre, an institution created in 1365 by King Carlos II in imitation of the Chambre des Comptes of Paris. King Carlos V de Navarra acquired the building in 1524 to give the institution a permanent seat, where it operated until its abolition in 1836; the kingdom's coinage was also minted there. It was declared a monumento nacional ('national monument', an earlier Spanish heritage protection category) in 1868.
Monument
A Neoclassical building erected between 1840 and 1852 on the grounds of a former Discalced Carmelite convent seized in the disentailment, to house the then Diputación Foral de Navarra (Navarre's provincial government). It now houses the presidency and government of Navarre. Notable interior spaces include the Throne Room (decorated between 1861 and 1865, with 32 royal portraits) and the Salón de Sesiones (assembly hall), with 1935 murals by Gustavo de Maeztu. It closes off the south side of the Plaza del Castillo.
Monument
Founded on 24 June 1956, it occupies the former Hospital de Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia, a 16th-century building whose Renaissance facade dates from 1556. Its more than 7,700 m² are spread over six floors arranged from prehistory to the 20th century. Its holdings include Roman mosaics from villas such as Ramalete, Liédena and Andelos, the Roman togate statue of Pompelo, nearly 15,000 coins, and the portrait of the Marqués de San Adrián painted by Goya.
Monument
A porticoed, trapezoidal square of some 14,000 m², the second-largest in Pamplona, built between the 16th and 17th centuries on the site of two earlier castles (one from 1308-1311 built by Luis I, another from 1513 built by Fernando el Católico). It ceased to be used as a bullring in 1843 and was pedestrianized between 2001 and 2003, works during which Roman baths, an Islamic necropolis with more than 200 skeletons, and a prehistoric menhir came to light. It is surrounded by the Palacio de Navarra, the former Casino (now Café Iruña) and the Baroque Palacio de Goyeneche.
Curiosity
The violinist Pablo Sarasate y Navascués was born in Pamplona on 10 March 1844 and died in Biarritz on 20 September 1908; he won first prize in violin at the Paris Conservatory in 1857, at only thirteen years old, and composers such as Saint-Saëns, Lalo and Bruch dedicated works to him. Although he left his city young, he returned to perform there 93 times between 1878 and 1908, many during the Sanfermines. In 1903 Pamplona named the old Avenida de Valencia after him, renaming it Paseo de Sarasate, and in 1959 a monument to his memory was erected in the Parque de la Media Luna.
Monument
Inaugurated on 26 November 1993 by the Infanta Cristina, it stands in the Parque Yamaguchi. Its dome, twenty meters in diameter, is among the largest in the world for this type of facility and houses the Sala Tornamira with around seventy projectors. It receives about 170,000 visitors a year. On 14 January 2025 an electrical fire damaged the interior of the main dome.
Monument
The Universidad de Navarra was founded on 17 October 1952 as the Estudio General de Navarra, on the initiative of San Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, with the opening of the Faculty of Law (48 students and eight professors). Its Museo Universidad de Navarra, the work of Navarrese architect Rafael Moneo, opened on 22 January 2015 and displays the contemporary art collection donated by María Josefa Huarte Beaumont, with works by Picasso, Kandinsky and Rothko.
Activity
Pamplona's festival in honor of San Fermín, from 6 to 14 July: it begins with the chupinazo (opening rocket) at midday on the 6th and ends with the singing of the 'Pobre de mí' at midnight on the 14th. Religious celebrations in honor of the saint are documented from before the 12th century, and fairs and bullfights from the 14th; in 1591 the city council asked the bishop to move the festival to 7 July. The encierro (bull run) through the streets of the route, including Calle Estafeta, is documented as such since 1856. Ernest Hemingway's novel 'The Sun Also Rises' (published in the UK as 'Fiesta'), published in 1926, spread the fame of the Sanfermines around the world and drew the first large contingents of foreign visitors.