Villanueva de Sigena or Villanueva de Sijena is a town in the county of

Los Monegros Los Monegros is a comarca in Aragon, Spain. It is located within the provinces of Zaragoza and Huesca. The area is prone to chronic droughts, and much of the area is a natural region made up of badlands. Los Monegros borders seven comarcas: Hoya ...

, in the northern

province of Huesca Huesca ( an, Uesca, ca, Osca), officially Huesca/Uesca, is a province of northeastern Spain, in northern Aragon. The capital is Huesca. Positioned just south of the central Pyrenees, Huesca borders France and the French Departments of Haute-Ga ...

, 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 ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

). Located near the

Alcanadre Alcanadre is a town and municipality in La Rioja province in northern Spain. The town is located along the Ebro River, between Logroño and Calahorra. Alcanadre has a temperate, Mediterranean climate. Its major agricultural products are wine, ol ...

river, the local economy is primarily agricultural-based. The Royal

Monastery of Santa María de Sigena A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

is located on the outskirts of town. Mount Sigena is a hill of the

Sierra de Alcubierre Sierra de Alcubierre is a long mountain range in the Monegros comarca, Aragon, Spain. It is located between the provinces of Zaragoza and Huesca. Geography This mountain chain crosses the arid eastern end of the Monegros comarca from northwest t ...

located 5 km to the south. Villanueva de Sigena is the birthplace of the physician and heterodox theologian,

Michael Servetus Michael Servetus (; es, Miguel Serveto as real name; french: Michel Servet; also known as ''Miguel Servet'', ''Miguel de Villanueva'', ''Revés'', or ''Michel de Villeneuve''; 29 September 1509 or 1511 – 27 October 1553) was a Spanish th ...

(1511?–1553). Servetus was the discoverer of

pulmonary circulation The pulmonary circulation is a division of the circulatory system in all vertebrates. The circuit begins with deoxygenated blood returned from the body to the right atrium of the heart where it is pumped out from the right ventricle to the lungs. ...

. A museum and interpretation center, maintained by the Michael Servetus Institute, is now located in the original house were Servetus was born. Nearby there is the original settlement, based round the partially ruined, and once wealthy and aristocratic Romanesque convent of ''Santa María la Real de Sijena'', founded in 1183 by Sancha of Castile, Queen of

. This was largely destroyed by fire in 1936 by

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historical anti-clericalism has mainly been opposed to the influence of Roman Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, which seeks to ...

Republicans in the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

. It is now in the process of restoration, and has been reoccupied by nuns since 1985. Several royal burials were made in the convent church, including Sancha, who died there, her son

Pedro II of Aragon Peter II the Catholic (; ) (July 1178 – 12 September 1213) was the King of Aragon and Count of Barcelona from 1196 to 1213. Background Peter was born in Huesca, the son of Alfonso II of Aragon and Sancha of Castile. In 1205 he acknowledge ...

and two of his sisters. The

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

housed extremely important Romanesque

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

s of about 1200 by largely English artists, probably including some of those who produced the

Winchester Bible The Winchester Bible is a Romanesque illuminated manuscript produced in Winchester between 1150 and 1175 for Winchester Cathedral. With folios measuring 583 x 396 mm., it is the largest surviving 12th-century English Bible. The bible belongs ...

; this was only realized after their destruction. The artists also appear to have visited

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

before Sigena, as some influence from mosaics there can be seen. The frescos had been fully photographed in black and white shortly before their destruction, and the remaining damaged sections, mostly having lost their colour, are in the

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (, English: "National Art Museum of Catalonia"), abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina Ma ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

.Otto Pacht
''A Cycle of English Frescoes in Spain''

The Burlington Magazine ''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation sin ...

, 1961, Vol. 103, No. 698 (May, 1961), pp. 166-162

Notes

External links

Villanueva de Sigena official municipal webpage

Information about Villanueva de Sijena

Michael Servetus Institute

Tourism guide for Los Monegros

Map of Los Monegros

Monasticon on the convent
{{authority control Municipalities in the Province of Huesca

See also

Notes

External links