MIGUEL SERRANO
Everyone in the city has known it ever since they were a child, but for some reason we prefer to keep the secret to ourselves. We couldn’t stand huge crowds, the attention of the whole world upon us, the queues. It would be unbearable. At the age of fourteen, on turning fourteen, children from Zaragoza are taken to a corner in a location I cannot reveal, and are told the secret that is passed on from generation to generation: in this apparently insignificant place (I will only say that it is not far from the statue commemorating Caesar Augustus, the founder of the city, and therefore close to the Roman walls and the Central Market), one may ask a question, any question, and the reply will be given at once. Some say that it takes a voice to answer the question, and that it does so in the language in which the question was asked, while others state that the reply comes in the form of a revelation, without any sound. At any rate, people from Zaragoza are shy, or cautious, or prefer to hold on to the sole possibility of knowing anything, of knowing their own fate (it is said that only one question may be asked, that each person only has the right to ask one question) and, as far as we know, nobody has ever taken advantage of this peculiarity. Thousands of years, millions of people who have known the secret, but we manage to hold on to it. When we pass by that corner, those of us who know the secret are in a bit of a quandary, we are on the point of approaching it, but always end up thinking: No, not that question, there is bound to be another one that is more important when I know what I am after, the definitive answer, I’ll come here, I’ll squat down right here and I’ll ask the question in a firm voice, and I’ll find out the answer I am looking for and I’ll either understand everything or else I’ll just be happy.
VIDEO-VOICE BY MIGUEL SERRANO
VIDEO-VOICE BY MIGUEL SERRANO - on Vimeo -
Everyone in the city has known it ever since they were a child, but for some reason we prefer to keep the secret to ourselves. We couldn’t stand huge crowds, the attention of the whole world upon us, the queues. It would be unbearable. At the age of fourteen, on turning fourteen, children from Zaragoza are taken to a corner in a location I cannot reveal, and are told the secret that is passed on from generation to generation: in this apparently insignificant place (I will only say that it is not far from the statue commemorating Caesar Augustus, the founder of the city, and therefore close to the Roman walls and the Central Market), one may ask a question, any question, and the reply will be given at once. Some say that it takes a voice to answer the question, and that it does so in the language in which the question was asked, while others state that the reply comes in the form of a revelation, without any sound. At any rate, people from Zaragoza are shy, or cautious, or prefer to hold on to the sole possibility of knowing anything, of knowing their own fate (it is said that only one question may be asked, that each person only has the right to ask one question) and, as far as we know, nobody has ever taken advantage of this peculiarity. Thousands of years, millions of people who have known the secret, but we manage to hold on to it. When we pass by that corner, those of us who know the secret are in a bit of a quandary, we are on the point of approaching it, but always end up thinking: No, not that question, there is bound to be another one that is more important when I know what I am after, the definitive answer, I’ll come here, I’ll squat down right here and I’ll ask the question in a firm voice, and I’ll find out the answer I am looking for and I’ll either understand everything or else I’ll just be happy.
VIDEO-VOICE BY MIGUEL SERRANO
Giants beneath the Sun on the door of the house of the Counts of Morata, dating back to 1552, and now housing the Aragonese Higher Court of Justice.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
The church of San Juan de los Panetes (16th-18th centuries) pokes out from behind the Torreón de la Zuda (16th century) and the Roman wall.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Behind the Roman walls, the octagonal tower of Aragonese Mudejar-style San Juan de los Panetes church, leaning slightly to the east.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
View of Paseo Cesaraugusto from La Zuda Tower.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Central Market, designed by Félix Navarro, 1901-1903. Detail of the façade with a ewe, rabbits, artichokes and other allusive relief work.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Plaza de San Felipe, with the Torreón de Fortea (15th-16th centuries). On the pavement, the perimeter of the Torre Nueva or Leaning Tower, demolished in 1892.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
San Felipe Square. Sculpture (by Santiago Gimeno Llop, 1991) of a child contemplating the New Tower, demolished in the 19th century. In the background, Condes de Argillo Palace and Pablo Gargallo Museum.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Baroque church of San Felipe y Santiago. Detail of the stone façade with spiral columns, designed by Francisco de Urbieta, 1689.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Holy Week in Zaragoza. The city reverberates to the sound of thousands of drums.
© Maite Santonja - Biqúbica
© Maite Santonja - Biqúbica
Maundy Thursday. Gathering of floats in the Church of Santa Isabel, from where the procession of the Holy Burial will leave the following day.
© Angélica Montes
VIDEOS /
AUDIOS© Angélica Montes
Beginning of the Calle Conde de Aranda, with the school known as Escuelas Pías. In the background is the house of the Counts of Morata.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Mudéjar tower of the parish church of San Pablo (14th century), in the heart of the district of San Pablo or el Gancho.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
The skin of Baroque architecture. The Virtues on the cupola of the chapel of Nuestra Señora del Pópulo (17th century), in the church of San Pablo.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Sunday morning in the Plaza de Las Armas, in the San Pablo district.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Calle Predicadores, in former times a street full of inns, warehouses and shops. On the left, the former palace of the Duke and Duchess of Villahermosa.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
The Asalto Festival have helped re-develop urban spaces. La madonna del viento by Isaac Mahow (2013), a tribute to the cierzo wind.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
An urban deer in the Calle Las Armas (Sabek, 2013).
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
One of the murals at the Asalto Festival of Urban Art, held every summer since 2005. Sacramento Street, on the corner with Las Armas Street.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Old people’s home (1850), built on the site of an old 14th century convent and renovated by Ricardo Magdalena.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
Calle Manifestación.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes
One of the narrow streets in Gancho district.
© Angélica Montes
© Angélica Montes