Pamplona is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain, and historically also of the former Kingdom of Navarre. Pamplona is also the second-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region, composed of two Spanish autonomous communities, Navarre and Basque Country, and the French Basque Country.
Pamplona has a moderate climate being at 446 m (1,463 ft) in elevation. In addition to its elevation, Pamplona being inland results in cool nights by Spanish standards. It is also moderately rainy, being in between Green Spain and the semi-arid interior.
The city is famous worldwide for the running of the bulls during the San Fermín festival, which is held annually from July 6 to July 14. This festival was brought to literary renown with the 1926 publication of Ernest Hemingway‘s novel The Sun Also Rises. It is also home to Osasuna, the only Navarrese football club to have ever played in the Spanish top division.
Main sights
Several notable churches, most of its 16th- to 18th-century fortified system and other civil architecture buildings belong to the historic-artistic heritage of Pamplona.
Religious architecture
The most important religious building is the fourteenth century Gothic Cathedral, with an outstanding cloister and a Neoclassical façade. There are another two main Gothic churches in the old city: Saint Sernin and Saint Nicholas, both built during the thirteenth century. Two other Gothic churches were built during the sixteenth century: Saint Dominic and Saint Augustine. During the seventeenth and eighteenth century were built the Baroque chapels of Saint Fermin, in the church of Saint Lawrence, and of the Virgin of the Road (Virgen del Camino), in the church of Saint Sernin, the convents of the Augustinian Recollect nuns and the Carmelite friars, and the Saint Ignatius of Loyola basilica in the place where he was injured in the battle and during the subsequent convalescence he decided to be a priest. The most remarkable twentieth century religious buildings are probably the new diocesan seminary (1931) and the classical-revival style memorial church (1942) to the Navarrese dead in the Nationalist side of the Civil War and that is used today as temporary exhibitions room.
Military and civil architecture
From the prominent military past of Pamplona remain three of the four sides of the city walls and, with little modifications, the citadel or star fort. All the mediaeval structures were replaced and improved during 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in order to resist artillery sieges. Completely obsolete for modern warfare, they are used today as parks.
The oldest civil building today existing is a fourteenth-century house that was used as Cámara de Comptos (the court of auditors of the early modern autonomous kingdom of Navarre) from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century. There are also several medieval bridges on the Arga: Santa Engracia, Miluce, Magdalena, and San Pedro. The medieval palace of Saint Peter, which was alternatively used by Navarrese kings and Pamplonese bishops, was used during the early modern age as the Viceroy‘s palace and later was the seat of the military governor of Navarre; from the time of the Civil War it was in ruins but was recently rebuilt to be used as the General Archive of Navarre.
The most outstanding Baroque civil architecture is from the eighteenth century: town hall, episcopal palace, Saint John the Baptist seminary, and the Rozalejo’s, Ezpeleta’s (today music school), Navarro-Tafalla’s (today, the local office of PNV), and Guenduláin’s (today, a hotel) mansions. The provincial government built its own Neoclassical palace, the so-called Palace of Navarre, during the nineteenth century.
Late nineteenth and early twentieth century Pamplonese architecture shows the tendencies that are fully developed in other more important Spanish cities: La Agrícola building (1912), several apartment buildings with some timid modernist ornamentation, etc. The most notable architect in twentieth century Pamplona was Víctor Eusa (1894–1990), whose designs were influenced by the European expressionism and other avant-garde movements.
Parks
Pamplona has many parks and green areas. The oldest is the Taconera park, whose early designs are from the seventeenth century. Taconera is today a romantic park, with wide pedestrian paths, parterres, and sculptures.
The Media Luna park was built as part of the II Ensanche and is intended to allow relaxing strolling and sightseeing over the northern part of the town. After its demilitarization, the citadel (Ciudadela) and its surrounding area (Vuelta del Castillo) shifted into a park area with large lawns and modern sculptures.
The most remarkable parks of the new neighborhoods include the Yamaguchi park, between Iturrama and Ermitagaña, which includes a little Japanese garden; the campus of the University of Navarre; the Parque del Mundo in Chantrea; and the Arga park.
Sports
CA Osasuna (Club Atlético Osasuna (Basque for “Health”) is the local football team. Their home stadium is called El Sadar, known as Reyno de Navarra between 2005 and 2013 in exchange for the Government of Navarre’s sponsorship.
Pamplona’s bull ring was rebuilt in 1923. It seats 19,529 and is the third largest in the world, after the bull rings of Mexico and Madrid.
Other sports with some of the top clubs in Pamplona include handball (Portland San Antonio, Europe’s championship winner 2001), futsal (MRA Xota) and water polo (Larraina).
Pamplona’s favourite son may well be Miguel Indurain, five time Tour de France winner. Former Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is also from Pamplona.
The Movistar Team, the direct descendant of Indurain’s Banesto team, is based in Egüés, a municipality in the metropolitan area of Pamplona.[36]
Pamplona is also home to the headquarters of The International Federation of Basque Pelota (FIPV). Basque pelota is principally practiced in France, Spain, and North and South America, but also in other countries like Italy and Philippines.
