The monastery of San Juan de la Peña is a religious complex in the town of

Santa Cruz de la Serós Santa Cruz de la Serós (in Aragonese: Santa Cruz d'as Serors) is a village in the province of Huesca Huesca ( an, Uesca, ca, Osca), officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca. Po ...

, at the south-west of Jaca, in the province of Huesca, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

in the Middle Ages. Its two-level church is partially carved in the stone of the great cliff that overhangs the foundation. ''San Juan de la Peña'' means "Saint John of the Cliff". The lower church includes some mozarabic architectural surviving elements, although most of the parts of the monastery (including the impressive cloister, under the great rock) are Romanesque. After the fire of 1675, a new monastery was built. The old monastery (built in 920) was declared a

National Monument A national monument is a monument constructed in order to commemorate something of importance to national heritage, such as a country's founding, independence, war, or the life and death of a historical figure. The term may also refer to a spec ...

on 13 July 1889, and the new monastery in 1923. In the 11th century the monastery became part of the

Benedictine Order , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

and was the first monastery in Spain to use the Latin Mass. The cloister, built ca. 1190, contains a series of

capitals Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

with Biblical scenes that originally were arranged in chronological sequence, a design found elsewhere in the region.Pamela A. Patton, ''Pictorial Narrative in the Romanesque Cloister: Cloister Imagery and Religious Life in Medieval Spain'' (New York, Peter Lang, 2004) The monastery is built beneath a huge rock sometimes associated with the legendary "Monte Pano". The second floor contains a royal pantheon of kings of Aragon and Navarre. The present room, with its marbles and stucco medallions recalling historic battles, is mainly a design built during the administration of

Charles III of Spain it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = 20 January 1716 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain , death_d ...

in 1770. It contains the resting places of the following kings of Aragón: Ramiro I, Sancho Ramírez, and

Peter I of Aragon and Navarre Peter I ( es, Pedro, an, Pero, eu, Petri; 1068 - 1104) was King of Aragon and also Pamplona from 1094 until his death in 1104. Peter was the eldest son of Sancho Ramírez, from whom he inherited the crowns of Aragon and Pamplona, and Isabella o ...

Legend said that the chalice of the Last Supper ( Holy Grail) was sent to the monastery for protection and prevention from being captured by the Muslim invaders of the Iberian Peninsula. It is alleged to be the same cup that was presented in 1438 by

Alfonso V of Aragon Alfonso the Magnanimous (139627 June 1458) was King of Aragon and King of Sicily (as Alfonso V) and the ruler of the Crown of Aragon from 1416 and King of Naples (as Alfonso I) from 1442 until his death. He was involved with struggles to the t ...

to the

Valencia Cathedral Valencia Cathedral, at greater length the Metropolitan Cathedral–Basilica of the Assumption of Our Lady of Valencia ( es, Iglesia Catedral-Basílica Metropolitana de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Valencia, ca-valencia, Església Cated ...

. See

Santo cáliz The Holy Chalice, also known as the Holy Grail, is in Christian tradition the vessel that Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve wine. The Synoptic Gospels refer to Jesus sharing a cup of wine with the Apostles, saying it was the covenant in ...

for further details. The monastery is the namesake of the '' Chronicle of San Juan de la Peña'', which was partially researched and composed there.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Juan de la Pena Buildings and structures in the Province of Huesca Religious buildings and structures completed in 920 10th-century establishments in Spain Monasteries in Aragon Christian monasteries established in the 10th century Burial sites of the House of Jiménez Burial sites of the House of Aragon