Villanueva de Sigena or Villanueva de Sijena is a town in the county of Los Monegros, in the northern province of Huesca, 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). 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 located 5 km to the south. Villanueva de Sigena is the birthplace of the physician and heterodox theologian, Michael Servetus (1511?–1553). Servetus was the discoverer of pulmonary circulation. 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 Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. 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; 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 in Barcelona.Otto Pacht
''A Cycle of English Frescoes in Spain'' The Burlington Magazine, 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