Quinto: Mummy Museum, Mudéjar Architecture and Local History

For a trip to Quinto, its cultural history offers several distinct points of interest: a museum in a former church, buildings with medieval connections, Easter traditions and a municipal project focused on historical advertising graphics. If you are looking for a hotel in Quinto, these topics can help guide your stay planning. The historical periods range from a First Iron Age settlement to a collection of bodies from the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Museum and Mudéjar Architecture

The Museo de las Momias de Quinto is located in the former Iglesia de la Asunción, known locally as “el Piquete.” The Iglesia de la Asunción de Nuestra Señora de Quinto de Ebro is protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural in the Monument category. El Piquete is a large building in the Mudéjar style with defensive and military origins; construction began in the early years of the 15th century.

The museum displays fifteen naturally mummified bodies of different ages from the 18th and early 19th centuries. The collection also includes grave goods, other objects found in the graves and pottery fragments from before and after the building was constructed. The exhibition and the history of the former church building are thus brought together in one place.

Traces of Local History

The Portales de San Miguel, San Roque and San Antón were the entrances to Quinto in the Middle Ages, when the town was completely surrounded by walls. The Antigua Casa Parroquial de Quinto, on Calle de San Roque, offers a different perspective on the town’s architectural history: its structure is typical of 16th-century Aragonese Renaissance palaces, though this does not mean that the building itself is described as a palace.

The Las Dehesas de Quinto area takes the story further back in time. On the cliffs above the Ebro, near the Gelsa bridge, lies a First Iron Age settlement dating approximately to 700–500 BC. The town’s history thus extends from an early settlement to medieval entrances and Mudéjar architecture.

Easter Traditions and Hermitages

Quinto has an old Easter tradition involving two consecutive pilgrimage days: on Easter Monday, residents make a pilgrimage to celebrate the Virgen de Bonastre (Buen Astro); the following Tuesday, they celebrate the Virgen de Matamala. The names refer to two separate places in local tradition.

The Ermita de Matamala is 3.7 kilometres from Quinto, between the railway line and the road from Quinto to Sástago along the Ebro. It preserves a walled-up Early Gothic portal attributed to the 13th century. The Ermita de Bonastre stands on a promontory beside the N-232, about seven kilometres from Quinto in the direction of Zaragoza. Like Matamala, Bonastre is documented as a village or fortified settlement as early as the 13th century. The present-day hermitage is a Baroque building probably dating from the 18th century.

Purburel Position and Cultural Project

The Purburel position comprises a 250-metre-long trench dug into the ground, with firing pits and shelters. An observation point may also possibly have served as a machine-gun nest. The trenches are open to visitors and can be walked through; signs and information panels mark the surrounding area.

The municipal Retrospectiva project aims to preserve examples of historical advertising graphics through artistic interventions in public spaces, and to create a kind of open-air museum of old advertising over a four-year period. It offers a different focus from the historic buildings: rather than individual older buildings, the emphasis here is on the planned development of a cultural project in public spaces.

Olive Oil and Pilgrimage Route

Aceite Vegabonastre is produced in Quinto. It is the starting point of the Bajo Ebro gastronomic route and carries the D.O. Aceite del Bajo Aragón designation of origin. Product availability may vary. Quinto is also a stop along the Camino de Santiago del Ebro.

Discover more destinations: Casas de Esper, Pozuelo de Aragón, Calatorao, Fayón, Almonacid de la Sierra, Purujosa, Las Cuerlas, Bureta.

For the broader travel overview: Zaragoza.