Qualla: Leaning Tower of Zaragoza

Leaning Tower of Zaragoza: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward Francis Finden, Public domain. Five master builders raised the Torre Nueva in 1504: Christians Gabriel Gombao and Anton Sarinena, Muslims Ismael Allabar and Monferriz, and a Jew named Juce Gali. In the Spain of the Catholic Monarchs, where religious persecution was intensifying and the Inquisition cast a long shadow, these men from three faiths collaborated to create the tallest Mudejar tower ever built. It stood eighty meters high, its base a sixteen-pointed star, its bricks laid in patterns that blended Gothic arches with Moorish geometry. Almost immediately, it began to lean.

Image: Edward Francis Finden | Public domain

Leaning Tower of Zaragoza: Built in Haste, Tilted by Design

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Turol Jones, un artista de cojones from Villanueva del Cascajal, República Independiente de Mi Casa, CC BY 2.0. The lean appeared soon after construction, likely because the southern portion of the foundation was laid faster than the northern side. The difference in tension between the two halves pulled the tower off vertical, and although workers reinforced the foundation, the tilt persis...

Image: Turol Jones, un artista de cojones from Villanueva del Cascajal, República Independiente de Mi Casa | CC BY 2.0

Leaning Tower of Zaragoza: Sentinel and Symbol

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. From the sixteenth century onward, the Torre Nueva became inseparable from Zaragoza's identity. During the French sieges of 1808 and 1809, defenders used the tower as a lookout to track Napoleonic troop movements and sound warnings across the city. In peacetime, it served as a cl...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Leaning Tower of Zaragoza: The Greatest Artistic Crime in Spain

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. In 1878, the city council removed the triple spire, citing structural concerns. Fourteen years later, in 1892, they voted to tear down the entire tower, claiming the lean and alleged deterioration made it a danger to the public. The decision provoked outrage. Intellectuals denoun...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Leaning Tower of Zaragoza: A Boy Still Looking Up

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. In the 1990s, the city placed a memorial in the Plaza de San Felipe where the tower once stood. The perimeter of the base is outlined on the pavement, marking the ghost of that sixteen-pointed star. Beside it sits a bronze sculpture of a boy, gazing upward at the empty sky where ...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain