Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Alquézar

What to see and do in Alquézar (Somontano de Barbastro, Huesca): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

How far each place is from the centre of Alquézar

Walkways of the Vero River 150 m

Towns near Alquézar

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What to see in Santa María de Dulcis 7 km · 2 places
What to see in Salas Altas 7.5 km · 3 places
What to see in Bárcabo 8.6 km · 5 places
What to see in Hoz y Costeán 9.1 km · 2 places
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What to see in Salas Bajas 9.4 km · 3 places

Spain › Aragon › Huesca › Somontano de Barbastro › Alquézar

What to see and do in Alquézar

Alquézar
Village
Alquézar is a municipality in the comarca of Somontano de Barbastro, in the province of Huesca, on the right bank of the río Vero, at the foot of the sierras of Balcez and Olsón, in the last canyon carved by the river before it opens out into the Somontano. It has been one of the Pueblos Más Bonitos de España since 2015. Its name is an Arabism related to "alcázar", meaning palace or fortress. In the 9th century Jalaf ibn Rashid had the castle built, the main defensive point of Barbastro against the Christian kingdoms, and in 1069 King Sancho Ramírez granted it fueros. Lordship of the castle and town passed through various noble hands between the 14th and 15th centuries, among them the Urriés and Urrea families, before returning to the Crown. The fortified collegiate church crowns the village, above the gorge of the río Vero.
Collegiate Church of Santa María la Mayor, Alquézar
Monument
The collegiate church of Santa María la Mayor has its origin in a fortress built in the early 9th century by Jalaf ibn Rasid to halt the advance of the Christian kingdoms, conquered around 1067 by Sancho Ramírez, who in 1099 endowed Alquézar with a community of Augustinian canons and raised a first Romanesque collegiate church. The current collegiate church, late Gothic, was erected in the first half of the 16th century, the work of the architect Juan de Segura, also the author of the Seo de Barbastro; of the earlier building only the atrium survives, with historiated capitals. The cloister, Romanesque in origin though built in the 14th century, preserves six 12th-century capitals with scenes such as the creation of Adam or the great flood, and its walls were later decorated with fresco paintings of the New Testament.
Walkways of the Vero River
Nature
Hiking route that runs through the gorge carved by the Vero River as it passes through Alquézar (Somontano de Barbastro), with wooden walkways suspended over the water, one of the most famous in Somontano. The Vero rises in the eastern foothills of the Sierra de Guara and enters the Sierra y los Cañones de Guara natural park near Sarsa de Surta; in its first few kilometres, the river and its tributaries have carved out some of the park's most representative limestone canyons, karst features that the route allows visitors to explore closely before the river flows out through Alquézar.
Festivities of Alquézar
Activity
The patronal festivities of Alquézar are celebrated from 11 to 14 August in honor of San Hipólito; the town also celebrates pilgrimages to the hermitage of San Antonio in January and to the hermitage of la Dulcis in May.
The charters of Alquézar
Historical milestone
Sancho Ramírez granted fueros to the settlers of the town he had taken from the Muslims in order to secure the tower raised above the Vero canyon; in 1075 he confirmed the privileges when a Saracen siege was lifted.
The consecration of the collegiate church of Alquézar
Historical milestone
Towards the end of the 11th century, in the time of Sancho Ramírez, the church built within the walls of the old Islamic alcázar of Alquézar was consecrated, sealing the conversion of the frontier fortress into the religious seat of a wide territory of the eastern Somontano.