Aragon Guide

Veruela Monastery is the oldest in the Province of Zaragoza, founded in 1146 by Pedro de Atarés. It is surrounded by crenelleted walls framed by round towers, which give it the air of a fortress. The original Cistercian architecture is hidden by other styles.

The facade has a splayed Romanesque portal with five ornamental arches.The chapter house at the southern side of the cloister (an exact representation of the Westminster Abbey cloister) is Byzantine. The great buildings, including church, monastery, house, and cloister, constructed at different times and in different styles, are surrounded by a wall that dates back to feudal times. Antonio José Rodríguez, styled by Menéndez y Pelayo "one of the most remarkable cultivators of medical moral studies", lived at Veruela and died within its walls in 1777.

In 1858 Gustavo Becquer, the Spanish poet contracted a serious illness and went to Veruela Monastery to get himself back to good health. In the Monastery he wrote Leyendas and a group of literary letters, Desde mi celda (from my cell).