Aragon Tourist Guide 2016

service of Christian architecture, notable for the rich decoration of walls and ceilings with elements of great plasticity and extraordinary beauty. The outcome is original artistry of universal value. In Aragón there are 157 listed Mudejar monuments. The city of Teruel is the most important in this respect, but there are abundant and magnificent examples of Mudejar art in the city and province of Zaragoza and in Teruel.

/ MUST-SEES

1/ ART IN ARAGON: INDIVIDUALITYAND CHARACTER

www.patrimonioculturaldearagon.es/ruta-mudejar

Capital, Cathedral of Huesca.

Romanesque treasures When stone becomes art

Characteristic Mudejar mosaic.

Old Aragon was one of the main points of entry for this style in Spain and its legacy is one of the most important collections of Romanesque buildings in the Peninsula. Many buildings of this style still remain, built while the Christians were extending their conquest of territories held by the Muslim population. They include chapels, churches, cathedrals and monasteries, all character- ised by the use of semi-circular arches, large blocks of stone, and decorative sculpture and murals of great ex- pressiveness. Two important examples of this beautiful architectural style are the old monastery of San Juan de la Peña and the magnificent Castle of Loarre, which deserve a chapter of their own. Every Pyrenean valley possesses hidden wonders such as the monastery of San Pedro de Siresa in the Hecho Val- ley, and the Church of Santa Maria de Iguacel and the old monastery of San Adrián de Sasabe in the Aragon Valley. The Cathedral of Jaca is one of the most representa- tive monuments of the Spanish Romanesque, since its original decorative designs were exported to the rest of the peninsula by means of the Way of St James.

Mudejar art World Heritage

Mudejar is the name given to the Muslim popula- tion who continued living in their towns and villages after the Christian Reconquest, maintaining their religion, customs and culture. Aragon’s Mudejar monuments were designated World Heritage sites by UNESCO in 2001 for their unique and irreplaceable artistic expression, the result of the coex- istence of cultures in a specific geographical location, which reached its peak during the 13th and 14th cen- turies. Mudejar craftsmen excelled in extracting beautiful crea- tions from simple materials: bricks, plaster, polychro- matic wood and glazed ceramics. This is a system of construction characteristic of Islamic tradition in the

/32