Historical records from the 11th century make reference to a castle that once stood on the site of the current building; a hill that soars to a height of 673 metres. People have come to this spot for centuries in order to worship the image of the Virgin Mary who is said to have appeared to a shepherd called Balandrán above a nearby almond tree.

The monastery is made up of buildings from different eras and typologies. The oldest are the cloister and the church, which date back to the 13th century.

The medieval church was built in the centre of a raised area, atop a rocky prominence, and was made with sandstone taken from a quarry on the same hill. The oldest part is the nave, which is made up of five sections separated by thick, pointed arches that are square in appearance. The central elements of the vaults, the keystones, are decorated with the stripes of Aragon, the crest of Barbastro and the almond tree, above which the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared.

A huge iron grill separates the nave from the east end of the church. This part was originally flat but was substituted by a polygonal structure in the 17th century. It is covered with a hemispheric dome supported by pendentives, which boast the crest of the bishop, Alonso de Requeséns, who sponsored the work. There are only scant remains of the paintings that once decorated the dome, which were painted by Diego Gutiérrez in 1786.

With the aim of satisfying the needs of fervent congregations who wished to worship the image of Our Lady up close, a small chapel was built behind the altar in the 18th century. Entrance was gained through narrow passageways that led from the presbytery.

The interior of the chapel was decorated with paintings and the ceiling was covered with scenes of the life of the Virgin Mary - the Visitation, the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Epiphany - as well as number of angels. The cardinal virtues are depicted on the chamfers:

Strength is depicted as a strong woman dressed as a warrior, armed and wearing a helmet.
Justice is shown as a pair of scales, the symbol of equality, and a sword, an emblem of strength, with which decisions should be made.
Temperance reveals pitchers of cold water to cool burning irons. Prudence is depicted as a mirror, a symbol of reflection and of self awareness, and a snake, evoking the phrase of St Matthew “Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matthew 10, Chapter 16)

The Gothic sepulchre of San Balandrán stands in a small room attached to the church. He was a man of great stature and tradition says that Barbastro’s young people must be able to touch the ends of the sepulchre with their extended arms before entertaining aspirations of marriage.

A pretty path leaves from the Honguera neighbourhood of Rodellar and passes through the abandoned village of Cheto at 801 metres altitude before descending down to the banks of the Mascún canyon.  The path takes in a number of unusual and dramatic rock formations known locally as; Delfín, Cuca Bellostas, Ciudadela, Agujas, Caos, Beso and Los Oscuros.  It also passes the Losa Mora dolmen and climbs up to Nasarre at 1199 metres above sea level.

The village, abandoned since the 1950s, is surrounded by barren land that was once cultivated.  It once had a blacksmiths and a magnificent well with a vaulted chamber which was accessed by an underground staircase.    The San Andrés chapel is set apart from the rest of the village.

All that remains of the original 11^th century Romanesque construction is the cylindrical apse, with a deep, arched window, all made with rough ashlars.  The exterior is decorated with a blind arcade with 11 small arches that rest on cantilevers.  Those situated at the far ends are lower than the others.  The gaps between the arches are filled by monolithic tympanums.

Above these and joining two pillars made of ashlars there is a frieze with a total of 43 vertical mouldings placed closed together that encircles the apse. They have a unique character that go towards differentiating this church from other Larredense Romanesque constructions; they are short and a good number of them are decorated on their open edge with oblique bands carved to resemble rope.

In the 17^th century the church was renovated and the current nave, tower, vestry and doorway date back to this restoration.  Inside the church, on the lintel above the entrance door to the vestry are the remains of a painted sign whose inscription relates to the renovations: "SI(ENDO) / RE(TOR EL) / REB (ERENDO) / MOPS (ENPE) / DRO (AGU)/ ILAR / 1628".

The shrine of Nuestra Señora de Dulcis is located in the vicinity of Buera. A track leaves the village and winds between fields of almond trees, cereal, vines and scrub before arriving at the shrine, a few kilometres from the centre. The building is located on a plain with an abundance of gorse, rosemary and thyme resulting in a high number of honeycombs in the area.

According to popular tradition, Our Lady appeared above one of these honeycombs in the spot where her image is now revered. This legendary event explains the devotion shown by the people who came from afar to worship in this chapel.

The apparition is said to have taken place around the 12th century and a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary must have already stood in this place at that time. However it was replaced in the 17th century by the current building.

The church has a single nave covered in a vault with attractive lunettes and the positioning of the two side chapels creates the shape a cross. The square shaped chancel is covered with a small dome supported by pendentives and crowned with an oculus. The vestry is joined to the north wall and the choir takes pride of place in the west end of the building. The most impressive element of this building is the magnificent interior décor made up of intricate plasterwork.

Two different ornamental repertoires are brought together in Dulcis. The first has strong Mudejar roots and can be seen on the vaulted ceiling of the nave, the south chapel and certain decorative elements in the chancel. The other is more Baroque in style, of classic western affiliation, and is found in the north chapel and other parts of the chancel.

The material used to create the motifs that adorn the inside of the chapel is plaster. It was widely used as it was ideal for the decoration of vaulted ceilings; easy to work with due to its ductility and cheap due to it being widely available in the region.

With this in mind, the decoration techniques used to decorate the ceiling of the Dulcis chapel included a combination of basic sculpture and modelling. A design was first sketched on the panels of fresh plaster followed by gentle sculpting to create the raised edges of the circular shapes. These interweave to form geometric designs and the gaps were then filled with moulded motifs.

There is nothing on the austere exterior of the church to indicate the rich splendour of the decoration to be found on the inside. This is a characteristic feature of Aragonese baroque.

Another peculiarity of this style in Aragon is the endurance of certain decorative traditions such as the Mudejar style. Despite the expulsion of the artisans responsible for its introduction, the Moors, it was still widely used in Aragon until eventually becoming a recognised decorative style in the 17th century.

This abundance of decoration masked the poor quality of the materials used in the construction of the church. These were cheap materials, such as plaster, which was used extensively to decorate the ceiling of the nave (the aforementioned Mudejar geometric motifs) and the whole of the east end.

The interior of the chapel reveals two distinct areas that stand out immediately; the simple nave, a place for the faithful, and the chancel, location of the altar. The decoration of the latter is plentiful with the use of vibrant colours highlighted by light entering from the oculus at the top of the dome. It is the most important focal point of the church and attracts all who enter towards the altar.

The decor converts the vaulted ceiling of the nave into a star filled sky, filled with soft golden light that filters in through the oculus of the church’s west end. 

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The lack of a miraculous legend that tells of the appearance of the Virgin Mary in the vineyards (viña is the Spanish word for vineyard) gives rise to the thinking that the place name viña may derive from the word “villa” as this chapel is thought to be the only remains of a small village that lost its population prematurely.

Throughout the 16th and 17th centuries, the original chapel was patiently reconstructed and a house for hermits was added. There is evidence that in 1702 it was threatened by ruin so the bishop of Huesca granted indulgence to all those who collaborated in its reconstruction by donating money, material or a day’s work. The current construction is made up of a church and the ancient house. 

The 17th century was one of the most disastrous for Aragón; epidemics, drought, wars and plagues ravished the territory. This caused a great feeling of impotence in local people, which was channelled into a huge increase in religious fervour. This popularity for religion was the seed of pilgrimages that many villages instituted to reinforce vows made to the Virgin Mary pleading for release from these calamities. In that era many churches were renovated and this helped to shape the pilgrimage map in Somontano.

The Virgen de Viña chapel received pilgrimages at least once a year from the villages of Adahuesca (Whit Sunday), Alberuela de Laliena (Easter Sunday), Bierge (25th April, feast of San Marcos) and Radiquero (23rd April, St George’s day).
With the economic growth of the 18th century, the pilgrimages changed in character from being exclusively penitential to taking on a festive and social air. Prayer became fiesta, and songs and enjoyment in the name of the Virgin Mary began.

This festive spirit was carried to the 20th century when couples were encouraged to join the pilgrimage to the Viña chapel. After mass a meal would take place, organised by the town council, and the key community figures were invited; the priest, police, doctor etc. Musicians were contracted for the occasion to ensure that the post feast festivities were enjoyed to the full. Young people danced and the wine flowed while the village elders watched from the shade of the olive trees – each family had their own. At the end of the day the couples returned to the village with a juniper branch. 
Tradition says that the Virgin of the Viña was particularly efficient in curing diseases and solving water shortages, but there are also tales of specific miracles.

It is said that, with the congregation assembled in the chapel on the Virgin Mary’s feast day, a storm began at daybreak. A bolt of lightening passed through the walls and caused a huge stone to fall onto Pedro Naya; it lifted Martin Rodrigo into the air and burnt Isabel Xavierre’s shoes. The three fell to the floor as if dead, however, after a short time, they recovered with no lasting harm. The church also caught fire; the Virgin Mary’s cloak was blackened and the altar cloths were burnt but the hosts were found intact on the altar.

In 1719 Miguel Salinas, a cripple from Radiquero, visited the chapel to plead with the Virgin and after being coated with oil from the “lamp of miracles” he recovered full health,
In 1724 a prisoner arrived at the chapel wearing shackles that barely allowed him to walk. As he prayed they opened and remained in the church as an offering.