Aragon Guide

In th heart of the Aragonese Pyrenees is found the spectacular space of the Protected Landscape of San Juan de la Peña and Monte Oroel, and among its most outstanding elements displays the Old Monastery of San Juan de la Peña, jewel of the medieval era. The preserved constructions, only a part of those that existed, are excellent testimonies of the successive artistic forms in the various eras in which this singular place had life. They emphasize especially the centuries of the Romanesque (11th century to the 13th century) with notable architecture samples, painting and above all of the sculpture. The historic and artistic group of San Juan de la Peña is completed with the new Monastery, of the 17th century, along with the churches of San Caprasio and of Santa María in the nearby place of Santa Cruz de la Serós, both also of the Romanesque period.

The Old Monastery of San Juan de la Pena is considered the sacred ground where Aragon Kingdom was originated. Its location in the north-western zone of the Aragon Pyrenees lands near the Echo and Anso valleys, the territory which became the Kingdom of Aragon in the ninth century near the Siresa Monastery, and close to the city of Jaca, the first capital of the Aragonese Kingdom from the 11 century.

As a result of the Muslim invasion around 720, a group of hermits retired to this hidden corner of the Pyrenees and created a centre of hermitic life which survived until the tenth century. In the same location, Sancho el Mayor de Navarra created the Monastery of San Juan de la Pena. In 1071 the former Spanish-Visigoth Christian rite was celebrated for the last time in Spain giving way to the rites of the Romanic Church. The famous French traveler describe it in the 19 century like "A spacious lighted vault, like a subterranean sky, carved in granite, opened up before our eyes, drawn to that colossal curvature that we might have mistaken it for a curve of the firmament." A Spain National Monument since 1889, this is a convergence point for some exceptional natural, historical and cultural resources located on the site of the most important Monastery in the Aragon Pyrenees, reference site of the Camino de Santiago or Saint James Way, and starting point in the Saint Grial route.

Located under escarped mountains and protected by an enormous covering of rock, its simple shape is an exceptional example of perfect harmony with the surrounding natural environment. Discover the old Romanesque cloister Founded in the year 920 and the Royal Pantheon of the Kings of Aragon . This mausoleum contains the tombs of monarchs and nobility from Aragon and Navarra kingdoms, who made generous donations on the condition that they would be buried here, since 11th century. after the first King of Aragon, Ramiro I, was buried here.

As a consequence of the terrible fire of the year 1675 the decision of building a new monastery was taken. Its site was chosen in a nearby place, known as Llano of San Indalecio, a beautiful meadow seated on the great rock that gathered perfect conditions to begin a new life.

The construction of the new factory was begun in the year 1676. Throughout its works that extended until the first years of the 19th century the monks counted on the advice of numerous professionals, being fundamental the work of the architect from Zaragoza Miguel Ximenez, who designed this monastic group. The trace of the building constitutes one of the most perfect and evolved examples of the monastic architecture in the Modern Age, because of its symmetry, because of the multiplication of its cloisters and because of the rational organization that possessed the original project, the one that, regrettably, was never totally carried out.

The front of the church is one of the most interesting aspects of the baroque monastery. It especially emphasizes its luxuriant vegetable decoration based on roleos, different types of flowers, leaves of acanthus and stems, although we also find forms figured as heads of puttis and two angels holding a singular shield in the upper part. In its niches are included three saints very linked with the monks that lived between these walls. The central frontispiece was represented to San Juan Bautista (patron of this community), on the left to San Indalecio (dedicated to the meadow on which the building is lifted), and on the right to San Benito (founder of the monastic order that was professed in San Juan de la Peña).

The dependencies were abandoned in the year 1835 and since then the building began to deteriorate progressively remaining, in the middle of the 20th century, in a lamentable ruin state. After a thorough rehabilitation, carried out by the Government of Aragon, the New Monastery of San Juan de la Peña harbours in its interior the "Kingdom of Aragon" Interpretation Centre, the "Monastery of San Juan de la Peña" Interpretation Centre and a Hostelry, belonging to the Hostelries Network of Aragon, with hotel category of four stars.

Telephone: 974 355 119 / Fax: 974 355 089

Location:The best way to get to the monumental group is the one along the road N-240 (Jaca/Pamplona), taking the deviation at the beautiful village of Santa Cruz de la Serós. A mountain road that starts from the village takes us until the Old Monastery, and from there it is necessary to travel 1, 5 km more until the New Monastery and the Interpretation Centres.

Photo Source: Gestora Turística de San Juan de la Peña