Mount Sigena is a hill of the Sierra de Alcubierre located 5 km to the south.

Villanueva de Sigena is the birthplace of the physician and heterodox theologian, Michael Servetus (1511?–1553).

[3] Nearby there is the original settlement, based round the partially ruined, and once wealthy and aristocratic Romanesque convent of Santa María la Real de Sijena, founded in 1183 by Sancha of Castile, Queen of Aragon.

Several royal burials were made in the convent church, including Sancha, who died there, her son Pedro II of Aragon and two of his sisters.

The frescos had been fully photographed in black and white shortly before their destruction, and the remaining damaged sections, mostly having lost their colour, are in the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya in Barcelona.