ROUTE OF THE MONASTERIES IN ARAGON: THE MONASTERIES IN ZARAGOZA. Veruela
Veruela.
79 km. from Zaragoza, between Borja and Tarazona, next to the village of Vera del Moncayo. It is a National Monument. The admission times are different in winter and summer.
The monastery of Veruela is located in one of the most beautiful areas in the province: the Moncayo. It is one of the most important Cistercian monasteries, abandoned with Mendizábal’s Desamortización (sale of Church lands and properties) in 1835. Nowadays it is being restored by the Diputación de Zaragoza, and used for cultural events: concerts, exhibitions ...
It was founded in 1145, and its building was begun few years later. In all Cistercian monasteries the general planning of the building was virtually the same. Veruela was not an exception.
Once we have crossed the walls through the imposing late Medieval doorway, we get to e tree-lined avenue that leads us to the vast-sized church.
The doorway is remarkable, with its archivolts resting on capitals with floral and geometrical designs, typical of the Cistercian order. In the inside we find three naves with fan vaults. A door links the church and the cloister. The lower floor is Gothic and it has big windows made of pointed arches decorated with traceries. The wing that is parallel to the church was used for reading and it was called cloister de la Colación or de las Completas. The monks gathered here at dusk to listen to the Completas (Compline) service.
Several rooms open onto the cloister, as the sober chapter house, with a beautiful doorway made up of arches with slender columns on which the fan vaults rest. Several tombs can be seen, some of them decorated with Francogothic mural paintings. We also find the Lavabo, of Gothic style, the Refectory, from the 16th century and the Scriptorium.
In the 16th century a Plateresque gallery was built over the cloister. It was decorated with grotesque floral designs and medallions with human figures. Now it houses the Museum of Contemporary Art of Aragón.
The Cistercian community lived in Veruela till the Desamortización (1835). In 1864 the poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer lived here and he wrote his famous Letters from my cell. The Jesuits remained there till 1973 and in 1976 the Diputación de Zaragoza took on the use and preservation of the building.
Do not overlook the excellent confectionery of Vera del Moncayo, with delicious mantecados (a sweet similar to shortbread) and magdalenas (buns). Next to the monastery there is a bar and a restaurant where you can taste the typical migas (a dish based on fried breadcrumbs) or roasted cutlets, and drink Somontano wines. Not far from Veruela you can visit Trasmoz castle, where witches celebrate their covens.
The Moncayo, Natural Park, is also a place where you can enjoy Nature. The mountaineering lovers can climb up to its peaks covered by almost perpetual snow.
Route of the Monasteries in Aragón - HUESCA - TERUEL - ZARAGOZA
OTHERS MONASTERIES
Tourist Routes in Aragon
Ample your information on Aragon
If you want to extend your information on Aragon you can begin crossing another interesting route is the Mudejar, Patrimony of the Humanity, also you can extend your cultural knowledge on Aragon examining its municipal and institutional heraldry without forgetting, of course, some of its emblematics figures as Saint George Pattern of Aragon also book of Aragon.
Also Aragon enjoys a diverse and varied Nature where passing by plants, animals or landscapes we can arrive at a fantastic bestiario that lives in its monuments.
The information will not be complete without a stroll by its three provinces: Zaragoza, Teruel and Huesca and his shines, with shutdown in some of its spectacular landscapes like Ordesa, the Moncayo or by opposition the Ebro.
Also you can dedicarte to the intangible ones: from the legend compilation that also does to universal Aragon you can persecute the presence of the Santo Grial in Aragon.
Huesca |
Teruel |
Zaragoza |
Aragon |
Maps |
Fauna |
Flora |
Geology |
Fungi |
Tourism |
Mudejar |
Goya |
Alphabetical Index |
Thematic
Francisco Javier Mendivil Navarro
ROUTE OF THE MONASTERY IN ARAGON - ZARAGOZA - Huesca -Teruel. monumentally can be mentioned among the m ‡ s of San Pedro olden Siresa, with a possible western block-n postcarolingia tradition, and the San Juan de the Peña, with architectural remains ‡ moz-tronic Arabs, although in both cases the sets are completed ‡ estilorom essentially unique. In Aragon ‡ mon acoustic architecture, with estructurade complex dependencies aclaustro organized around central expressive alcanzasu not complete until the introduction n-n of the Cistercians, with significant male monasteries Veruela, Stone and Wheel , ofemeninos, like Sigena founded in 1188. The mendicant orders accumulate-Franciscan monasteries and preachers in Aragon, delivering mind your arquitectura entre basi ‡ g-cal styles and Moorish. The Carthusians, at last but, not entered in Aragon to the modern age.
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