Ronda Barbazana
After passing through the narrow, intricate maze of streets of the historic old quarter of Pamplona, the city suddenly opens out onto this great balcony over the city walls, between the Rincón del Caballo Blanco (White Horse Corner) and the Bastion of El Redín. The vegetation and views surrounding the city accompany the visitor while they follow the line traced by this section of the walls, named thus in honour of Bishop Barbazán. This section protects the most the sacred part of the city: the Archbishop’s Palace and cloister, the Barbazana Chapel and the apse of St. Mary’s Cathedral.
Renaissance-style sentry boxes and benches are found all along the walk, together with gargoyles and counterforts on the rear side of the Barbazana Chapel - the oldest cloister outbuilding, with an extremely beautiful octagonal vault where the remains of Arnaldo Barbazán (1319 - 1355) are preserved.
On the same level as the Bastion of el Labrit, in the peaceful Plaza de Santa María la Real, is the Archbishop’s Palace - an excellent Baroque building, constructed on the spot where the medieval jewry was originally located.
Although the first mention in history of a bishop in Pamplona dates back to the time of the 3rd Tolosa Council, the Diocese did not become fully established until the year 829, with the first attempts to create a Kingdom of Pamplona. Following stabilization of the borders of the Reyno de Navarra (Kingdom of Navarre), six Dioceses were subsequently established around the territory. Between 1512 and 1515, with the incorporation of Navarre into the Crown of Castile, that of Pamplona underwent major changes. In 1784, a see was created in Tudela, the administering of which the Bishops of Tarazona would take change in 1858.
13 parishes from the Ribera Tudelana area were incorporated into the Pamplona See in 1955. The following year, Pope Pius XIII raised Pamplona’s status to that of Archdiocese. In 1984. Pope John Paul II would definitively unify the Dioceses of Pamplona and Tudela, granting the title of Archbishop of Pamplona and Bishop of Tudela to the same prelate. This is one of the most outstanding balconies in the city, on this occasion facing north-east. The Arga River meanders along the lower part of this walk, between Larraintzar and the La Magdalena Bridge, through an area containing vegetable gardens, farms and enclosures with horses and cows - in one of the most evocative and rural parts of the Riverside Park, with Mt. San Cristóbal as a backcloth.
