The municipality covers an area of 155 Km2
Is at a distance of 70 Km from Huesca
Located at an altitude of 279 m
In 1999 had a population of 14.577 inhabitants
In 1996 had a population of 14.576 inhabitants
Belongs to the county (Comarca) Cinca Medio
Ayuntamiento de Monzón
22400 MONZON (HUESCA)
Phone: +34 974400700:
Celebrations:
Easter Monday with pilgrimage to the Virgen de la Alegria,
and September 21 major festivities in honor of San Mateo.
December 4 Santa Barbara with the "christening of the mayor"
Monzón is located on the left bank of the Cinca river, 65 kilometers from Huesca and 50 from Lleida along the N-240 Tarragona-San Sebastián highway, the future highway.
To the north, the Pyrenees offers an hour and a half by car, either going up to Fonz, or linking in Barbastro with the road that leads to Graus and Benasque and, in the detour of the Las Pilas Bridge, to Aínsa and the valleys of Ordesa and Pineta.
The railway station "Monzon Rio Cinca" is a link in the Lleida-Zaragoza line.
The recently started operation of the N-240 variant is the first open section of the Lleida-Huesca-Pamplona highway.
Monzón is the capital of the Cinca Medio Region.
Its municipal area is irrigated by the waters of the Cinca and Sosa, there are many agricultural and livestock farms, and its industrial tradition, with a strong weight of chemical activity, dates from the middle of the last century, when Hidro Nitro Española (HINE) was installed, today manufacturer of ferroalloys.
Having overcome the oil crisis of the early eighties and the national industrial crisis of the 1992-94 biennium, Monzón today presents the image of a modern city in which the services sector is gaining momentum. In parallel, the agencies of the different administrations redimensionan their vocation of capital: Delegation of Property, Unit of Collection of the Social Security, Courts 1 and 2 of First Instance and Instruction, Center of Teachers and Resources (CPR), Regional Office Agroambiental (OCA) of the Government of Aragón, Professional Conservatory of Music, Official School of Languages.
Monzón occupies a privileged place in history for having been head of an important commission of the Order of the Temple and headquarters on numerous occasions of the Cortes of the Crown of Aragon, between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries.
The Cathedral of Santa María del Romeral with a Romanesque floor and the castle with origins in the 9th century (Torre del Homenaje) welcomed kings and nobles.
King Jaime I, as a child, spent part of his adolescence in the fortress after the death of his father Pedro II at the Battle of Muret (1213), under the tutelage of the Templars.
Sentinel of the passage between the valleys of the Segre and the Cinca, the castle of Montgo was always a very disputed bastion.
The Castle
From a distance Monzon is distinguished by its castle, located on a hill of steep slopes.
In this place the Cortes of the different territories of the Crown of Aragon met.
It is declared a National Monument.
The primitive Muslim fortress called "Monçones", was conquered by the Christian kings and became the main encomienda of the Temple. It has suffered numerous sieges throughout its history.
Its exterior appearance is modern, from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The entrance is flanked by two medieval buildings, the Tower of Jaime I and the chapel, which also served as a keep. Within the plateau is the Tower of Homage, probably Arabic, isolated in the center. The Hall of the Knights is lined up next to the cliff.
Finally, the Tower of the Dependences.
The five buildings are independent and constitute one of the clearest examples of scattered irregular plant castle.
Other important monuments are the cathedral, the Renaissance city hall, the front of the palace of the Luzan, the monument to Costa de A. Orensanz, archaeological remains of the castle's surroundings, Roman remains around the hill of the hermitage of Alegria, etc.