Monastery of Santa María de Sigena

Monasterio de Santa María de Sigena is a convent in Villanueva de Sigena, region of Aragon, Spain. It was constructed between 1183 and 1208, founded by Queen Sancha of Castile, wife of Alfonso II of Aragon, for nuns from the richest families of Aragon.

The monastery flourished in the 14th century thanks to royal support, but declined after the crown of Aragon merged with that of Castile. In 1835, after the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal deprived it of most of its revenues, it was abandoned by the nuns, although later some returned. In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, it suffered a fire, and was restored in the 1950s. Starting from 1985, it is inhabited by nuns of the Sisterhood of Belén y de la Asunción de la Virgen.

The original settlement of the town was based round the partially ruined, and once wealthy and aristocratic Romanesque convent which was largely destroyed by fire in 1936 by anti-clerical Republicans in the Spanish Civil War. Several royal burials were made in the convent church, including Sancha, who lived out her last years and died there, after being marginalized by her son Pedro II of Aragon, who is also buried there with two of his sisters.

The chapter house housed extremely important Romanesque frescos of about 1200 by largely English artists, probably including some of those who produced the Winchester Bible; this was only realized after their destruction. The artists also appear to have visited Palermo before Sigena, as some influence from mosaics there can be seen. The frescos had been fully photographed in black and white shortly before their destruction, and the remaining damaged sections, mostly having lost their colour, were moved to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona in 1936.

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