Logbook · 6 places

Royal Monastery of Santa María de Sigena

Villanueva de Sigena, Los Monegros, Huesca

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 1 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones

Spain › Aragon › Huesca › Los Monegros › Villanueva de Sigena › Royal Monastery of Santa María de Sigena

Royal Monastery of Santa María de Sigena

Monument · Villanueva de Sigena, Los Monegros, Huesca

A 12th-century monastery situated in Villanueva de Sigena (Huesca), founded by order of Sancha of Castile, queen consort of Alfonso II of Aragon, as a house of Hospitaller nuns of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The foundation took place on 23 April 1188 with the entry of nuns drawn from royalty and the leading Aragonese lineages, organised into three categories: the cloistered nuns or dueñas, the girls educated in the monastery, and the serving nuns. King Peter II the Catholic, who died excommunicated at the Battle of Muret in 1213, was moved and buried at Sigena in 1217 through the nuns' efforts, turning the monastery into a royal pantheon; among its prioresses was the infanta Blanche, daughter of James II of Aragon. Its chapter house held Romanesque mural paintings of the "1200 style", considered the Sistine Chapel of European Romanesque art.

Photo: Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0)

What to see and do in Villanueva de Sigena