Art and Culture
In Plaza de España and in the streets Mediavilla and Ramón y Cajal there are samples of Aragonese civil architecture from the 16th to 18th centuries.
The main altarpiece stands out, it is a very motley baroque style. The artpieces collection includes the images of Santa María de la Corona (13th century) and other paintings of the same period on the altarpiece itself: San Juan Bautista (the first patron of Ejea), San José and San Joaquín. Notable elements include two Gothic altarpieces (15th century): that of Santa Tecla and Saints Cosmas and Damian, and that of the Coronation of the Virgin.
The lower part of the historic centre is dominated by the church of San Salvador (Romanesque-Gothic, 13th century). It is located in Plaza de la Magdalena, in a strategic point that once gave entrance to the walled enclosure. The crenellated Gothic tower and the defensive garitons confer to this ecclesiastical building a character of the fortified bastion of the Middle Ages.
San Salvador has two historical covers, decorated with magnificent reliefs of the workshop of the “Master of Agüero”, where the suggestive image of a dancer appears.
The main altarpiece of international Gothic style (15th century) is the best of this style in Aragon and one of the best in Spain.
The church of Nuestra Señora de la Oliva (popular baroque style, 18th century), located on the outskirts of the historic town, was a hermitage since the 13th century. Its current physiognomy took shape in the last third of the 18th century. Inside, there is the image of the Virgin of the Olive, patron saint of Ejea de los Caballeros and the altarpiece of the Virgin of Rosary (17th century).
Other important elements are the two canvases that José Luzán, the Goya’s master, painted in 1781 (of the Immaculate Virgin and Saint Anthony of Padua), and other paintings of possible Goyesque influence on pendentives.
This church also houses two paintings, the work of Fra Eustaquio, around which scholars of the history of the town have speculated remarkably. The battle of Luchán and The Bringing of the image of the Virgin of the Olive (1804), that hang today at both sides of the presbytery, show us a medieval and walled Ejea de los Caballeros, which was accessed through the Zaragoza gate, next to the church with cloister of San Salvador. Inside we find a royal palace, which was the largest investment of Jaime II in civil works in the kingdom, the churches of San Juan and Abbey, Santa María and Virgen de la Oliva, the convent of San Francisco and the Cuco neighborhood.
Along the streets of Mediavilla, Ramón y Cajal, Herrerías, Plaza de España and Larena, among others, we have the opportunity to observe numerous palatial houses. Some very interesting, follow the models of Aragonese architecture, which covers a wide period: from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century.
In Plaza de España, the nerve centre of the medieval Ejea, among its buildings, all made of brick, stands out the old town hall, with neoclassical decorations on the facade.
Within the municipal limits we find other monuments, such as the Church of Our Lady of Añesa (Romanesque, 12th century), San Miguel de Rivas (Baroque, 18th century) and the Church of Our Lady of Hope of Farasdués (Gothic-Renaissance, 16th century).
The cultural offer of Ejea de los Caballeros is one of the most important in Aragon.
Cultural events of national projection such as the Coral Contest of Ejea. Museums of European magnitude like Aquagraria. An annual socio-cultural training planning that covers all tastes. Places for reunion with local history as Spiral Space. More than 800 people studying at the House of Music. Ejea de los Caballeros: the lady of culture.