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Castle-Collegiate Church of Santa Maria la Mayor, located on top of a rocky ridge which is accessed by a stepped ramp and defended by a double crenellated wall and towers. Within its monumental complex, its church and cloister built between the XVI-XVIII centuries, of great artistic richness due to its architecture and altarpieces, stand out.
At one end of the town is the parish church of San Miguel Arcángel. On a previous temple, which was demolished, the construction of the present one was begun in 1681 and finished in 1708. It is a work of popular character in which the robustness and sobriety of the exterior is striking, as well as the harmonious play of volumes and roofs, which makes it difficult to guess that it is a baroque building. On the contrary, the interior of the nave covered with a barrel vault and lunettes does conform to this artistic style. Almost all of the altarpieces and other liturgical objects were destroyed in the Spanish Civil War, which explains the scarce interior decoration. Only the upper part of the great baroque altarpiece was preserved.
Admire the beauty of the last stretch of the Vero River Canyon, the spectacular combination of water and rock in unique natural chaos. The works of man in pursuit of harnessing the power of water in the river.
It has a single nave with three sections covered with a starred ribbed vault, in which a small altarpiece is preserved, made up of fragments of others that have already disappeared, both Renaissance and Baroque. Its façade was built by 17th century stonemasons following models of popular religious architecture. Next to the hermitage can be seen a jamb belonging to an old door now unused and in which the silhouettes of two shoes are engraved. Perhaps this was the place where a shoemaker who no one remembers anymore used to work as a shoemaker.
In the heart of the town of Alquézar, the old Plaza Mayor, and today called Mosén Rafael Ayerbe; this character, who served as a priest in Alquézar in the early twentieth century, was able to create a new almond tree graft better adapted to the climatic conditions of the area and from which a variety of almond called largueta or desmayo is obtained. It is a beautiful and secluded arcaded square, under whose arcades, some with semicircular arches and others with lintels, were located the merchants and artisans who sold their products from the plains and mountains. Alquézar came to have the privilege of holding a weekly market and an annual fair since 1528, the year in which Charles V approved this concession to the town. This fact allowed Alquézar to begin a new stage of splendor and flourishing.
From this viewpoint we get a first panoramic view of the monumental village of Alquézar and the last stretch of the deep canyon of the river Vero, before its waters, after leaving the Sierra de Guara, enter the fertile and sweet lands of the somontanos.
After crossing the Plaza Mayor to continue along the Calle de la Iglesia, we must take the first street on the left, which leads to the Monchirigüel fountain after descending some stone stairs. It is a fountain built in the 16th century that, with Renaissance decorative elements, displays the coat of arms of the town of Alquézar. From this place you can enjoy a spectacular image of the Collegiate Church, perched on the limestone rock and defying the emptiness that opens at his feet.
At the end of Calle de la Iglesia, where two other streets also converge, is the Plaza Cruz de Buil. This is the access to the walled enclosure of the castle-collegiate church, through an emblazoned gate built between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. From the origins of the fortress, this place was always the only point of penetration to the castle, since the rest is surrounded by the vertical walls of the limestone rock.
The town of Alquézar originally had four gates that gave access to the interior of the urban area, but of all of them only this beautiful Gothic gateway remains.
