Churches
CHURCH OF SALVADOR
It was consecrated until 1222, being a clear example of a transitional church from Romanesque to Gothic.
From the exterior stand out its appearance and functions of a church-fortress (built at the foot of the second medieval walled enclosure) and its two Romanesque façades of the famous Workshop of the Master of Agüero.
The most interesting of the west portal, the call of penitents, are the capitals, which refer to the sinfulness of the mundane, represented by fantastic animals, and especially the famous capital of the harpist and the contortionist dancer. In the tympanum is the chrismon held by two angels.
The north portal is one of the most spectacular of the entire Master of Agüero, with a Romanesque sculptural group in its four decorated archivolts. Throughout them, and in each of its voussoirs, a biblical episode from the life of Jesus is sculpted. It is one of the only two Romanesque eardrums with the Last Supper known in Spain.
Inside the church of El Salvador is one of its jewels: the Gothic main altarpiece, from the mid-15th century, whose authors were Blasco of Grañén and Martin of Soria. There are 24 tempera tables narrating the life of the Savior, Jesus Christ, which already show clear examples of the international Gothic style.
This church was originally built without chapels, the structure of which we see now is from the mid-16th century.
It is worth mentioning the chapel of El Voto, which was enlarged between 1792 and 1806, as a result of the Vow to the Virgin that the Ejeans made on 14 January 1773, to free them from an epidemic. In the chapel there are four canvases by the painter Luis Muñoz from Huesca (1804) that tell the story of this epidemic and its miraculous eradication.
CHURCH OF SANTA MARÍA DE LA CORONA
It is the oldest church in Ejea de los Caballeros, it was consecrated in 1174. Like that one, it is a church-castle, built inside and at the foot of the first walled enclosure, of which we can see a section below the apse.
The south portal is in the Romanesque style. Here there are no animated beings, only vegetal and geometric motifs, also in the shafts of the columns. In the eardrum, although very worn, the chrismon can still be seen.
The feet of the church, west facade and façade and the bell tower correspond to a remodeling made in the mid-17th century, in the classicist baroque style the stone doorway and in the Baroque-Mudejar style the brick tower, based on a first medieval stone tower.
The nave of the church is clearly Romanesque, although the vault and the arches that support it are already slightly pointed. The main altarpiece is in the Churrigueresque baroque style, from the early 18th century, except for the Virgin of Saint Mary of the Corona, which is Gothic.
The two chapels that flank the main altarpiece, in the altar area, contain the two oldest altarpieces: the one with the epistle (right) is Gothic from the late 15th century and dedicated to Santa Tecla and the medical saints: Cosme and Damián. The one with the gospel (left) contains the Renaissance altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin, from 1521, with panels narrating scenes from the life of Jesus and Mary and musical angels in the smock. The arcosolium of the chapel contains the oldest wall paintings preserved in Ejea, they were discovered during the restoration, they are Gothic, from the 15th century. One half of the arch contains the Tree of Jesse, the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the other half appeared worse preserved, but enough to recognize the scene: the Adoration of the Magi.
The rest of the chapels have the arcosolium structure in the form of a Gothic pointed arch and contain altarpieces and baroque and neoclassical images. The pulpit, the choir railing and the arch-pediment of the Chapel of Saint Ana are a work of Gothic-Mudejar plasterwork from the late 15th century.
CHURCH OF THE VIRGIN OF THE OLIVE
It is in the classicist baroque style, since 1600 it houses the Virgin of the Oliva, patron saint of Ejea de los Caballeros. Although since the 13th century we have known of the existence of a hermitage dedicated to the Virgin of the Oliva in this place, the building that we see today began to be built in the second half of the 18th century.
Part of the movable art of the church of the Virgin of the Oliva comes from disentailed Ejean convents and churches and hermitages that have already disappeared, such as the altarpiece of the Virgin of Rosario that comes from the church of the Hospital del Mercado or the 1781 altarpiece of Saint Antonio of Padua by José Luzán (master of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes). In the arm of the transept on the side of the epistle there is another Luzán, also from 1781 and dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.
The main altarpiece has clear influences of neoclassical art, it is from the end of the 18th century. In the center is the image of the Virgin of the Oliva, which is a 14th-century Franco-Burgundian Gothic carving from the Cistercian Monastery of La Oliva, in Carcastillo (Navarra), from where it was brought in the year 1600.
Precisely one of the two large paintings that flank the altarpiece is entitled Transfer of the Virgin of the Olive to Ejea (side of the Gospel) and contains a view of the Ejea of the early 19th century from the north. The painting on the side of the epistle is The Battle of Luchán, a legendary battle in which in 1105 Alfonso I of Aragón “El Batallador” snatched the city of Ejea from the Muslims, in this case the city would be seen from the area south, from the plain of Luchán. Both pictures were painted by Fraustaquio in 1804.
In the pendentives of the transept we can see the four heroines of the Old Testament: Débora, Jael, Judit and Esther, painted in 1792 by the Aragonese academic Luis Muñoz, also author of the canvases of El Voto in the church of San Salvador.
OTHER CHURCHES AND HERMITS
IN THE VILLAGES OF COLONIZATION
IN THE VILLAGES OF COLONIZATION
The eight villages of Ejea each have their own parish church. In the case of the six colonization villages, located to the west of the municipal term, they are churches built around the 60s of the 20th century, with the architectural characteristics of the colonization villages of the middle of the last century, very similar to each other and built in the middle of the town in the great central square that brought together other infrastructure buildings and common services.
In addition to the parish churches of each village, at that time the Hermitage of Our Lady of Bardena was also built, located on a mound in the foothills of Bardena Negra, halfway between Valareña and El Sabinar, to the west of the CHE-1501 road that connects both towns. At the beginning of June there is a pilgrimage attended by residents of the six villages.
RIVAS Y FARASDUÉS
RIVAS (PARISH OF SAN MIGUEL ARCÁNGEL AND EX-HERMITAGE OF SAN VICTORIÁN)
The church of Rivas is dedicated to San Miguel Arcángel, and is a curious amalgamation of architectural styles. Construction began in the 13th century, so its initial style would be late Romanesque, but new elements were added to it, up to the current aspect of the 17th century: the nave lost some of its sections, so from the outside, On the west façade, a slightly pointed arch from the first Romanesque-Gothic construction can be seen, a brick sacristy was also attached to it on the south side and the orientation was changed, so that currently it is entered through the old apse, through an added overhang arcade.
About 120 meters from the church, following Extramuros street (where we can see the enormous ashlars of the 16th century wall) is the old hermitage of San Victorian, at the foot of the wall, a curious example of reuse of a temple, already which was sold by the church in the 19th century and has been converted into private houses to this day.
FARASDUÉS (PARISH OF OUR LADY OF ESPERANZA AND HERMITAGE OF SANTA OROSIA)
The church of Our Lady of Esperanza, like much of the town’s civil architecture is from the 16th century and in the Renaissance style, although inside it houses, for example, an altarpiece from the 15th century. In this church, Martincho, the bullfighter born in Farasdués immortalized by Goya in various etchings from his series “La Tauromaquia”, was baptized in this church in the 18th century.
One kilometer away from the town center, to the east along a track that leads to the cemetery, we will find the hermitage of Santa Orosia, built in stone, and topped by a belfry. Its current appearance may correspond to a reform of the 18th century.
FARASDUÉS (PARISH OF OUR LADY OF ESPERANZA AND HERMITAGE OF SANTA OROSIA)
The church of Our Lady of Esperanza, like much of the town’s civil architecture is from the 16th century and in the Renaissance style, although inside it houses, for example, an altarpiece from the 15th century. In this church, Martincho, the bullfighter born in Farasdués immortalized by Goya in various etchings from his series “La Tauromaquia”, was baptized in this church in the 18th century.
One kilometer away from the town center, to the east along a track that leads to the cemetery, we will find the hermitage of Santa Orosia, built in stone, and topped by a belfry. Its current appearance may correspond to a reform of the 18th century.
HERMITAGE OF AÑESA
It is located to the south-west of the municipal term, currently within a privately owned farm. Añesa is already mentioned as one of the limits of Ejea’s term in the Charter of 1110. The building is in the Romanesque style, from the thirteenth century and at the time it was part of an almunia (orchards and farms) or small commission of the Military Order of the Temple. Today the building is reused as a private home.
MEDIEVAL WALL AND TOWER OF THE QUEEN
The Ejea de los Caballeros City Council is working to enhance the preserved remains of the old medieval wall of the town, of which some fragments are preserved, but until now partially hidden by later
MEDIEVAL WALL
The oldest medieval wall preserved in Ejea de los Caballeros ran through the current Tajada and Carasoles streets, in the Corona neighborhood, and was both a defensive wall and a terracing wall for the natural terrain.
The largest visible preserved section of this wall can be seen towards the end of Tajada street, just below the crenellated apse of the church of Saint María, which would serve as a fort and defense of this corner of the wall.
At the foot of the medieval wall we will find two information panels about the renovation works of the wall and its associated storage structures, another two just above it, in the Square of Saint María between the apse and the south portal and another in front of the apse , at the start of Camino de la Oliva street.
QUEEN'S TOWER
In the 15th century, María de Castilla, the wife of Alfonso V “El Magnánimo”, King of Aragon, stayed for a time in a powerful octagonal tower of the Ejea de los Caballeros wall, while her husband fought in the Mediterranean trying expand the royal domains.
Two centuries later, the famous Portuguese geographer Juan Bautista Labaña documented this fact, and he himself could still see it standing and climb on it to take notes for his maps and his Itinerary of the Kingdom of Aragon.
Part of its height was lost over the centuries, but recently it has been brought to light again, eliminating the later added constructions and leaving the 5 preserved sides visible. At the base of the tower, in the Slope of Saint María roundabout, where the Cuco neighborhood and the Corona neighborhood meet, you can see two information panels about the history of this tower and its recent recovery. On Tower of the queen street, just above the remains of the tower itself, there are two other information panels.
If you want to take a guided walk on this History written in stone, the urbanism of Ejea and its walls, contact the Tourist Office (link).
CIVIL ARCHITECTURE
The best examples of civil architecture from the Modern Age (16th to 18th centuries) can be found in the two main arteries of the historic Ejea: Mediavilla Street and Ramón y Cajal Street, with España Square as the union of both.
In Mediavilla street, the today called Casa del Carlista stands out, a building in the Aragonese Renaissance style that currently houses the Delegate Office of the Government of Aragon, also the house at number 5 of this street, with a gallery of still Gothic arches or the Roldán House, making corner with Juliana Larena street, now practically at the junction with España Square.
From the España Square, the old Market Square, it draws attention because it is arcaded on two of its four sides. At number 8 we have a house that preserves part of an impressive stone Gothic pointed arch topped with a shield. At number 4, in the arcaded corner of the square, there is a beautiful building decorated with classical columns, it is the old Town Hall, which functioned as such until the construction of the current City Hall in 1929.
At the beginning of Ramón y Cajal street, on the right is the building of the old Hospital del Mercado, which functioned as such between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in which it began to receive other uses. This Ramón y Cajal street has the highest concentration of Aragonese Renaissance style mansions in Ejea: the Bentura house, the Jiménez house, the Francos house, the Cartagena house, the Aleman house, the Alias house, the Casa of the Cinco Villas (entrance to the Center of Art and Exhibitions) …
