Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Santa Cruz de la Serós

What to see and do in Santa Cruz de la Serós (La Jacetania, Huesca): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Activities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Santa Cruz de la Serós

Monastery of Santa Cruz de la Serós 50 m
Monastery of San Juan de la Peña 1.7 km

Towns near Santa Cruz de la Serós

What to see in Santa Cilia 5.3 km · 2 places
What to see in Puente la Reina de Jaca 9.9 km · 2 places
What to see in Jaca 11 km · 16 places
What to see in Bailo 11 km · 3 places
What to see in Borau 15 km · 4 places
What to see in Castiello de Jaca 16 km · 2 places
What to see in Canal de Berdún 17 km · 3 places
What to see in Aísa 18 km · 4 places

Spain › Aragon › Huesca › La Jacetania › Santa Cruz de la Serós

What to see and do in Santa Cruz de la Serós

Santa Cruz de la Serós
Village
Santa Cruz de la Serós is a town in the comarca of La Jacetania, in the province of Huesca, which takes its name from the royal monastery of Benedictine nuns whose sisters gave it its toponym. It has 193 inhabitants (INE 2025) and lies in the valley of the Aragón river, at the foot of the sierra of San Juan de la Peña, within the Paisaje Protegido de San Juan de la Peña y el Monte Oroel. Its municipal area includes the settlement of Binacua and preserves a notable architectural heritage, with the church of Santa María and the church of San Caprasio, besides its proximity to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña.
Monastery of Santa Cruz de la Serós
Monument
The Monastery of Santa Cruz de la Serós, in La Jacetania, was a royal monastery of Benedictine nuns linked to the early kings of Aragon: Sancha de Aibar, mother of Ramiro I, made donations to the community, and three daughters of the king, Teresa, Urraca and Sancha, entered it as nuns after giving it their possessions. Documented since 1070, the church is one of the oldest Romanesque buildings in Aragon, with a Latin-cross plan, a barrel-vaulted nave, a semicircular apse, carved capitals and a tower with a zigzag-patterned dome, and it preserves remains of its original polychromy. The community was abandoned in 1555, when the nuns moved to Jaca; today only the church remains, declared a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) and part of the World Heritage.
Monastery of San Juan de la Peña
Monument
The Real Monasterio de San Juan de la Peña, at the foot of the sierra of the same name, was the most important monastery in Aragon in the early Middle Ages and forms part of the Aragonese branch of the Camino de Santiago. Legend places its origin with the nobleman Voto, who, while chasing a stag, fell over a precipice and found, unharmed, a cave with a hermitage dedicated to San Juan Bautista; there he retired together with his brother Félix to live as hermits, and tradition links that cave with the legendary origin of the Kingdom of Aragon. Favoured by the kings of Pamplona and Aragon, it reached its greatest prominence under Sancho Ramírez, when it became a royal pantheon. After two fires, in 1494 and 1675, the Monasterio Nuevo was built on a plateau further up, and the disentailment of 1835 put an end to its monastic life.
Festivities of Santa Cruz de la Serós
Activity
Santa Cruz de la Serós's festival is held in the town that takes its name from the royal monastery of Benedictine nuns where doña Sancha, daughter of Ramiro I, retired, and who on her death in 1097 received a Romanesque sarcophagus moved to Jaca in 1622.
Festivities of invierno de Santa Cruz de la Serós
Activity
Santa Cruz de la Serós's winter festival is held next to the monastery of San Juan de la Peña, considered the cradle of the Kingdom of Aragón and pantheon of medieval Aragonese and Navarrese kings.
The retirement and tomb of doña Sancha
Historical milestone
Daughter of Ramiro I and lady of several Aragonese monasteries, doña Sancha withdrew to the Benedictine monastery where her sisters Urraca and Teresa already lived; having died in 1097, she received a Romanesque sarcophagus taken to Jaca in 1622.