Royal Monastery of San Juan de la Peña

The monastery of San Juan de la Peña is a religious complex in the town of Santa Cruz de la Serós, at the south-west of Jaca, in the province of Huesca, Spain. It was one of the most important monasteries in Aragon 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

and was the first monastery in Spain to use the Latin Mass.

The cloister, built ca. 1190, contains a series of capitals with Biblical scenes that originally were arranged in chronological sequence, a design found elsewhere in the region.^[1]

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

Legend said that the chalice of the

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

42°30′28.80″N 0°39′59.40″W / 42.5080000°N 0.6665000°W / 42.5080000; -0.6665000