San Miguel de los Navarros

One of my favourite sights in Zaragoza is the tower of the parish church of San Miguel de los Navarros. It's Mudejar with a funny wrought iron construction on the top for the bells. It's called "The Bell of the Lost" and has a story. The old city wall ran just close to the church. Outside the wall the river Huerva made the land dank and misty. Zaragoza is often dank and foggy. People used to work out there and in the 16th century some got lost in the dark and died of exposure. Finally they instigated ringing the bell from dusk to night so people could find the way back to safety.

This is an old photo of the church with the city gate (Puerta del Duque) just next to it.

Yesterday we went to a family Christening in the church and were really impressed by the retable, a very fine Renaissance piece made by Damian Forment and started in 1519. 

This photo shows the whole thing, but you can't see the details, and that's what is interesting. You can't say scenes from the life of an Archangel, but scenes from the stories....we spent some time trying to work them out.

Michael and the devil contending for the body of Moses

 Why is it St Michael of the "Navarros"? This goes back to the time of king Alfonso I "The Battler" and the taking of the city from the Moors; legend has it that the Archangel fought on the side of the Navarran troops and tipped the balance in their favour. There are records of the church from the 12th century.