Oviedo - Catedral de Oviedo

Oviedo was founded on a hill that the Romans called Ovetao. The monks Máximo and Fromestano founded a monastery in 761 on the Roman road here and built a hermitage in honour of the martyr San Vicente. Later, two dozen monks from the Muslim south joined the founders and, according to a document elected Fromestano as their first abbot. They received the protection of Fruela I, who chose the site as a residence for his wife Munia, who gave birth here to their son and later King Alfonso II.

It was also Alfonso II who moved the capital here in 812 and made Oviedo the seat of the bishopric. However, in 912, under García I, Oviedo lost its function as capital to León as part of the reconquest. Alfonso II fortified Oviedo and equipped it with palaces and churches.

During his reign, a tomb attributed to St James the Elder was discovered in Santiago de Compostela in 812. The king travelled from Oviedo to Santiago and is said to have been the first pilgrim to Santiago. He is also said to have opened the first Way of St James, the Camino Primitivo. This Way of St James ensured the economic revitalisation of the city throughout the Middle Ages.

The current cathedral had at least three predecessor buildings: The high medieval churches of King Fruela I from the 8th century and King Alfonso II from the 9th century, as well as their late medieval, Romanesque successors.

Gothic architecture did not reach Asturias until the end of the 13th century. At that time, the Gothic remodelling of the cathedral began, starting with the chapter house and the cloister. It was not until a hundred years later that the Gothic remodelling of the cathedral began.

Construction of the Gothic church began in 1382 and was to last until the 16th century. The nave was completed in 1498 and work on the façade and towers (of which only one was ultimately built) began in 1500. Construction of the tower began in 1508 and was completed in 1552, but it burnt down in 1575. The reconstruction, completed in 1587, was influenced by Burgos, as can be seen in the openwork helmet.

On 11 October 1934, during the Asturian miners' strike, a group of revolutionaries detonated a bomb in the crypt of the "Cámara Santa", severely damaging the building. The reconstruction after this catastrophe took place between 1939 and 1942 with the greatest possible attention and restoration to the original.

The Magi - a detail of the main altar