National Site of San Juan de la Peña. Natural Protected Spaces in Aragon. Aragon.

Protection Name and Figure:

National Site of San Juan de la Peña. Royal Order of October 30, 1920. The extension of its limits and its reclassification to one of the current protection figures is pending.

Municipal Terms:

Jaca.

Extension:

264 hectares.

Altitude

Between 1,000 meters and 1,296 meters.

Elements of Interest:

Dense and varied forest mass. Well-preserved forest of Scots pine.
Large conglomerate escarpments where a large population of raptors nest.
Cistercian and "new" monasteries of San Juan de la Peña.

... The pine, the beech, the pine and the linden, in harmonious mixture with other species on a floor of varied configuration, lend suggestive framework to its austere ancient Monastery, which perpetuates one of those traditions in which poetry and faith exalt piety of the town and custody in sacred deposit the rest of Illustrious Kings of Navarre and Aragon.   They serve also these trees, forming splendid forest, of grandiose footstool to their new Monastery, which with greater boasts of construction and wider proportions proclaims in the upper part of the mountain that also the generations of the modern age know how to worship the tradition ... Royal Order of October 30, 1920, declaring the National Site of San Juan de la Peña.

Description

Known mainly for housing what was the most important Aragonese monastery in the High Middle Ages and the first royal pantheon of Aragon, the Mount of San Juan de la Peña is one of the most outstanding Aragonese ecosystems in the Middle.

During the last century, the privatization efforts that followed the promulgation of the famous Law of Disentailment of Mendizabal, led to the destruction of numerous masses forestry The forests of San Juan de la Peña, whose natural values already pointed Jordan de Asso in their investigations of the late eighteenth century, were saved through mediation of the engineer responsible for the area. He was the one who wrote the favorable report for the protection of this enclave.
His famous phrase "remove the mountain to the Sanctuary and you will have mutilated the monument" "has become a symbol of this place. That was how in 1920 the NATIONAL SITE OF SAN JUAN DE LA PEÑA was declared, becoming the third Protected Natural Area of the State.

The NATIONAL SITE OF SAN JUAN DE LA PEÑA, should have been reclassified in 1975 in accordance with the then Law of Protected Natural Spaces, as it happened with the DEHESA DEL MONCAYO in 1978. Today the extension of its limits and its reclassification is still pending, now one of the proposed figures in the new Law 4/89 of Conservation of the Natural Spaces and the Wild Flora and Fauna.
For the time being, several preliminary studies have been carried out to study the most convenient protection figure for this enclave and the limits of the future Protected Natural Area.

Other Protected Natural Spaces in Aragon:

• Natural Reserve of the Galachos de la Alfranca de Pastriz, La Cartuja and El Burgo de Ebro.
• Natural Park of the Moncayo.
• Park of la Sierra y Cañones de Guara.
• Park of Posets-Maladeta.
• Protected landscape of the pine forests of Rodeno.
• Natural Monuments of the Pyrenean Glaciers.
• National Site of National Interest of San Juan de la Peña.
• National Park of Ordesa and Monte Perdido.
• Ordesa-Viñamala Biosphere Reserve.
• Wildlife Refuges.
  • Lomaza de Belchite.
  • Lagoon of Sariñena.
  • Lagoon de Gallocanta.



Also Aragon enjoys a diverse and varied Nature where passing by plants, animals, Geology, or landscapes we can arrive at a fantastic bestiary that lives in its monuments.

The information will not be complete without a stroll by its three provinces, with shutdown in some of its spectacular landscapes like Ordesa, the Moncayo, Monegros or by opposition the Ebro.

Also you can dedicarte to the intangible ones: from the legend compilation that also does to universal Aragon.