sights Jaca boasts several medieval walls and towers surrounding the 11th-century Romanesque Jaca Cathedral. The Jaca citadel, a fortification dating to the late 16th century, is home to a colony of rock sparrows. The Diocesan Museum of Jaca (Museum of Medieval Sacred Art) protects Romanesque and Gothic frescos, some of which were found in the most remote locations in the Jaca district. Tourism and sports Jaca is a tourist destination in the region for summer holidays and winter sports. Starting in the early 1970s, the city was transformed from being a small provincial and garrison town to become the gateway to a mid-tier mountain sports area with two major winter resorts (Valle de Astun and Candanchu) within a 30 km drive of the city. The accompanying urban and infrastructure development in the 1970s and 1980s was controversial, with many claiming that the town lost a lot of its original charm and authenticity to the interests of developers. The development experienced by the city, with the construction of a nationally known ice-skating rink (the Pista de Hielo del Pirineo), a small convention centre (the Palacio de Congresos) and countless second residences had a profound impact on the economy of the Valley (Valle del Aragon), where many of its inhabitants evolved from small-scale subsistence farmera in Jaca and the surrounding villages, to become part of a tertiary economy. Jaca was the host city of the 1981 and 1995 Winter Universiades. The city also hosted the 2007 European Youth Olympic Winter Festival. Its popularity for winter sports has been a motivating factor in the city's failed bids for the 1998 Winter Olympics, 2002 Winter Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics, which were awarded to Nagano, Salt Lake City and Vancouver. It was again the applicant city of Spain for the 2014 Winter Olympics, but the bid failed again when it was not selected as a candidate city and the games were ultimately awarded to Sochi. Gallery See also Diocese of Jaca Ascara Castiello de Jaca References External links Official website Diocesan Museum of Jaca Jaca: Useful information about tourism and lodgings Municipalities in the Province of Huesca Pyrenees Cultural tourism in Spain Хака