old town
hall
This building currently houses the Tourist Office on its ground floor and the Town Interpretation Center on its upper floors.
On this spot stood the church of Saint Martin of Tours, a devotion that was imported by the Franks who settled in the new burgh to which it lent its name, in the 11th and 12th Centuries. The council would meet by the portico of the church, and all neighbours were entitled to convene upon hearing the ringing of the bells, to settle matters pertaining to the burgh. More spaces were gradually added, adapted to the needs required by its function, such as the Council Meeting House. Due to the prominence of the place, in the 16th C. a number of houses were knocked down to create the current Saint Martin’s square, and the fountain was placed at its centre.
The ensemble of the church and its out buildings was demolished in the 18th C. to make way for the building of the new Town Hall, in the Baroque style. The façade, built with fine stone masonry, presents two main levels and an attic, and is jointed by three groups of columns and pilasters supported on tall plinths. On the lower level, the main doorway, framed with thick moulding, is of particular note. The upper floor boasts a long balcony bearing the original ironwork, with two apertures framed with the same thick moulding. The attic consists of a gallery of four rounded arches, in accordance with the stately architecture typical of the Ebro valley, and is crowned with carved wooden eaves, resting on corbels decorated with naked young Atlanteans.
The façade bears three heraldic shields: the two representing the city, located above the balcony, and a third one, above the doorway, representing Navarre, which comes as a surprise, as one was carved from the medieval era pertaining to the Navarrese dynasties of French origin.
Around 1908, the Town Hall was moved to the other side of the river, and the palace became the courthouse until 2010.
In 2018, the Tourist Office was relocated there, and later the Town Interpretation Center Est(r)ella-(L)izarra was established.”
