Monastery of San Juan de la Payne

The Monastery of San Juan de la Peina is one of the holy symbols of Aragon. Founded in the tenth century, it keeps the legends of the Holy Grail under its ancient vaults carved into the rocks. Within the walls of the monastery lie the remains of the first Aragonese kings.

The monastery is located near the town of Jaca in northern Spain, in the central part of the Pyreni mountain range, it is part of a protected natural landscape, as well as the Oreol Mountain, under which it was built. In fact, France is closer than Zaragoza.

The ancient monastery of San Juan de la Peña is considered a real “pearl of the Romanesque style”. Special attention deserves claustro (inner courtyard), which perfectly preserved original capitals dating from the XII century. Their author was a sculptor named "Master Aguero". The so-called "lower church" is one of the few examples of architecture of Mozarabs - Christians who lived on the Iberian Peninsula, captured by the Arabs in the 8th century and adopted the Arabic language and culture. It is one of the few surviving buildings of that time in this region of Spain.

In the monastery is the Royal Pantheon, in which the first kings and representatives of the nobility of Aragon were buried. "New Monastery" was built on top of the mountain in the XVII century.