Logbook · 11 places

What to see and do in Vera de Moncayo

What to see and do in Vera de Moncayo (Tarazona y el Moncayo, Zaragoza): 11 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 3 Activities · 1 Curiosities · 3 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Vera de Moncayo

Church of Vera de Moncayo 50 m
Castle of Vera de Moncayo 100 m

Towns near Vera de Moncayo

What to see in Trasmoz 3 km · 4 places
What to see in Alcalá de Moncayo 4.4 km · 4 places
What to see in Litago 5.6 km · 5 places
What to see in Añón de Moncayo 5.9 km · 11 places
What to see in Grisel 6.1 km · 4 places
What to see in Lituénigo 6.2 km · 4 places
What to see in Ambel 6.8 km · 8 places
What to see in Bulbuente 7.1 km · 3 places

Spain › Aragon › Zaragoza › Tarazona y el Moncayo › Vera de Moncayo

What to see and do in Vera de Moncayo

Vera de Moncayo
Village
Vera de Moncayo is a municipality in the province of Zaragoza, in the comarca of Tarazona y el Moncayo, situated in the valley of the Huecha river, at the foot of the Sierra del Moncayo and 77 kilometres from the provincial capital. It has 317 inhabitants. Documented since 1133, its history became linked to the founding of the Cistercian monastery of Veruela in the mid-12th century: in 1172 Alfonso II of Aragon granted the monastery the place of Vera with its castle, and the seigneurial link was maintained until the disentailment of 1835. In 1861 the poet Augusto Ferrán spent a season in the village, where he wrote El puñal, and it was he who introduced the place to the Bécquer brothers.
Monastery of Santa María de Veruela
Monument
The Real Monasterio de Santa María de Veruela is a 12th-century Cistercian abbey at the foot of the Moncayo, near Vera de Moncayo, and one of the great monastic complexes of Aragon. Pedro de Atarés donated the valleys of Veruela and Maderuela to French monks from Escaladieu to found a monastery here dedicated to the Virgin Mary; the Cistercian order authorised the foundation in 1146, the oldest Cistercian monastery in Aragon, and the monks moved in around 1171, although work on the church went on for some 250 years. In the 17th century a Baroque cloister with individual cells was added. The disentailment forced the monks to abandon it in 1835; among its most celebrated guests was the poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, who wrote a good part of Desde mi celda there.
Castle of Vera de Moncayo
Monument
Ruined castle of Vera de Moncayo, in the municipality that is home to the Cistercian monastery of Veruela, founded in 1146 on land donated a year earlier by Pedro de Atarés and his mother, the oldest monastery of its order in Aragon.
Church of Vera de Moncayo
Monument
The parish church of Vera de Moncayo, next to the village's castle and the Monastery of Veruela, is dedicated to the Nativity of Our Lady. It was built in the 16th century and its bell tower, in Mudejar-Renaissance style, sits on one of the fortress's old towers. It preserves the high altarpiece, which came from the chapel of San Bernardo in the Monastery of Veruela and is considered one of the leading sculptural works of the Aragonese Renaissance, along with the altarpieces of the Virgin of the Rosary and Saint Bridget, also brought from Veruela.
Festivities of Vera de Moncayo
Activity
Patron saint festivities of Vera de Moncayo on the second weekend of August, in honour of Santa Brígida; on 15 May San Isidro is celebrated and on the first Saturday of February, la Candelaria.
Wine cellars of Vera de Moncayo
Curiosity
The winemaking tradition of Vera de Moncayo is linked to the surroundings of the Monastery of Veruela, which stands next to the municipality. Inside the monastery itself is the museum of the Campo de Borja Denominación de Origen, as well as the Espacio Bécquer exhibition hall, which bears witness to the importance of wine in the Tarazona and Moncayo region.
Festivities of invierno de Vera de Moncayo
Activity
Vera de Moncayo holds a fair dedicated to black truffle in January, in the municipality where Pedro de Atarés donated the valleys of Veruela in 1145, giving rise to the oldest Cistercian monastery in Aragón; Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer lived there between 1863 and 1864, a stay from which the Cartas desde mi celda were born.
Cistercian foundation of Veruela
Historical milestone
Pedro de Atarés and his mother donated in 1145 the valleys of Veruela and Maderuela, and in 1146 the Cistercian order approved the foundation of what is the oldest Cistercian monastery in Aragon. Ramón Berenguer IV confirmed the donation in 1155.
Bécquer and the Cartas desde mi celda
Historical milestone
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer settled with his brother Valeriano at Veruela between 1863 and 1864 seeking air for his illness. From that stay came the Cartas desde mi celda, which fixed the literary image of the Moncayo and its legends.
Disentailment and Jesuit period of Veruela
Historical milestone
The disentailment of Mendizábal obliged the monks to abandon Veruela in 1835. Between 1877 and 1975 the complex was a novitiate and college of the Society of Jesus, and in 1976 the State ceded its use to the Diputación of Zaragoza, today its owner.
Fair of la trufa negra del Moncayo
Activity
Vera de Moncayo holds in January a fair devoted to the black truffle, with a producers' market, demonstrations of gathering with a dog and tastings. The truffle plantations have spread across the dry lands at the foot of the Moncayo.