Romanesque routes in Alto Aragón

In this series of posts, we'd like to promote one of the historic and artistic treasures of our province, of which all of us from Huesca should be extremely proud.

In Alto Aragón, it's really rare to find a church, convent or monastery that isn't Romanesque. With that in mind, you can discover beautiful little-known villages or remote hermitages with Romanesque art of incalculable value.

If we had to suggest specific routes, we'd show you three, but the possibilities are truly endless and the artistic value would never diminish.

ROUTE 1

We start in Jaca ; a good option is to stay at the Barceló Jaca hotel.

We begin our visit at its Cathedral, founded by Sancho Ramírez, son of Ramiro I, the first King of Aragon. It is famous for its Chrism and its chequered 'jaqués' decoration, which later spread to other Romanesque buildings.

Jaca is very useful as a starting point and reference.

After seeing this essential monument, we take the N-240 road towards Puente la Reina. After 14 km we turn off towards Santa Cruz de la Serós, whose church of Santa María is a must-see, located in the grounds of the Benedictine convent. We'll also take the opportunity to visit the small Hermitage of San Caprasio , 11th-century Lombard Romanesque, just 200 metres from Santa María.

Continuing along the route that brought us here, after about 7 km of narrow mountain road we reach San Juan de la Peña , a monastery carved into a rock face, hence its name ('peña' means rock). It symbolically embodies the spirit of the old Kingdom of Aragon and is also a Royal Pantheon. Its cloister is extraordinary, and its magnificent capitals graphically depict the life of Jesus Christ.

After visiting this emblematic monument of Aragonese history, and following the same road for 2 km, we can see the new 17th-century monastery, where the monks moved after a fire destroyed the old one.

We return to the main road and continue towards Puente la Reina, where a turn-off indicates Hecho , about 30 km away from this beautiful village.

Once in the Hecho Valley and having seen its main village, 2 km away we can visit one of the most interesting monasteries of Aragonese Romanesque art.

San Pedro de Siresa : in its heyday it was home to more than 100 monks.

To recharge, we can go back to Hecho and eat at Casa Blasquico , a benchmark throughout Alto Aragón, so we recommend calling ahead to book.

To be continued...