Oviedo Cathedral

The Santa Iglesia Basílica Catedral Metropolitana de San Salvador de Oviedo is a Gothic-style cathedral located in the city of Oviedo (Principality of Asturias, Spain). It is also known as Sancta Ovetensis, referring to the quality and quantity of the relics it contains.

Building began at the end of the XIII century with the chapter house and the cloister, and its construction lasted three centuries until the top of the tower in the middle of the XVI century. Later an ambulatory was added in the XVII century as well as various chapels attached to the side naves.

The church stands on the site of the previous pre-Romanesque cathedral complex from the IX century, some of whose buildings have survived. For this reason and the length of the construction of the current building, it contains structures of the Pre-Romanesque (Holy Chamber), Romanesque (vaults and apostolate of the Holy Chamber), Gothic (facade, naves and cloister), Renaissance (top of the tower) and Baroque (ambulatory, Capilla del Rey Casto and other chapels).

The Holy Chamber, from the IX century, is declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and houses the most precious jewels of the cathedral: the crosses of Victory and of the Angels, symbols of Asturias and the city of Oviedo respectively, the Caja de las Ágatas and the Holy Ark, which contains a large number of relics including the Holy Shroud.

In 2015, in the approval by Unesco of the extension of the Camino de Santiago in Spain to "Caminos de Santiago de Compostela: French Camino and Caminos del Norte de España", it was included, with the Holy Chamber, as one of the individual assets (ref. no. 669bis-005) of the primitive path.

History

Basilica of Fruela I

The Asturian King Fruela I ordered the construction of a basilica consecrated to San Salvador on the land where the current Oviedo Cathedral stands today. The exact moment of the foundation is unknown, although thanks to one of the two founding inscriptions of the cathedral of Alfonso II of Asturias the Chaste, the founding of the church by Fruela I can be attested. Although these founding inscriptions were destroyed at the beginning from the XVI century, the text was collected by Bishop Pelayo in the Liber Testamentorum Ecclesiae Ovetensis or Book of Testaments.

QUICVMQUE CERNIS HOC TEMPLUM DEI HONORE DIGNVUM, NOSCITO HIC
ANTE ISTVM FVISSE ALTERVUM, HOC EODEM ORDINE SITVUM, QVOD PRINCEPS
CONDIDIT SALVATORI DOMNO SVPPLEX PER OMNIA FROILA, DVODECIM
APOSTOLIS DEDICANS BISSENA ALTARIA; BY QVO AD DEVM SIT VESTRA
CVNCTORVUM ORATIO PIA, VT VOBIS DET DOMINVS SINE FINE PRAMIA DIG
NA. PRAETERITVM HIC TO HEDIFICVUM FVIT PARTEM A GENTILIBVUS DI
RVTVM SORDIBVSQVE CONTAMINATVM, QVOD DENVO TOVM a FAMVLO
DEI ADEFONSO COGNOSCITVR ESSE FVNDATVM ET OMNE IN MELIVS RE
NOVATVM. SIT MERCES ILLI PRO TALI, CHRISTE, LABORE ET LAVS HIC IVGIS
SIT SINE FINE TIBI.

Whoever counts this temple honored by the worship of God,
know that before this there was another one here,
in the same manner, being founded by Froila the servant of the Lord Saviour,
offering twelve altars to the twelve apostles;
in whose favor is your prayer to God be desired,
that ye may be worthy of the Lord.
This previous building was partially destroyed by the pagans
and profaned by the heretics,
so it was entirely founded again
for the servant of God Alfonso and renewed for his improvement.
To him, Christ, be given grace by such labor and to You,
here, endless incessant praise.

Translation by Wikipedia

In 794, a Muslim incursion destroyed and looted the basilica of Fruela I. There is no information on the morphology of the building.

Alfonso the Chaste Outfit

Church of Santullano, example of what could be the Basilica of San Salvador in the time of Alfonso II the Casto

King Alfonso II the Chaste, when transferring the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias to Oviedo, ordered the construction of a cathedral complex on the same land, taking advantage of some spaces from the old church of San Salvador, a complex that responds to the urban scheme of the Early Middle Ages: a double cathedral, that is to say, unique in its institutional conception, but which is made up of two buildings with different uses, the bishop's residence, episcopal offices and a defense wall.

The Silense Chronicle gives an account of the thirty-year construction of the ecclesiastical complex that also included the Church of San Tirso, confirming the existence of an ambitious long-term construction project.

The set of churches

The set of churches was made up of various religious buildings of which we have some documentary references, the monastery of San Vicente, the later one of San Juan Bautista and San Pelayo and, as the main nucleus, the basilicas of San Salvador and the de Santa María, which stood until the 18th century century, annexed to the previous one as a cemetery space. San Salvador, was the main church and quite possibly "proper church" of the king, while Santa María was dedicated to the funeral liturgy dedicated to Alfonso II and, later, to all the kings of Asturias. In fact, the aforementioned and Benedictine monasteries of San Vicente (masculine) and San Juan Bautista and San Pelayo (feminine) also participated in the funeral liturgy in Santa María, as documented until the XVI, when this authentic holy city fell apart after the reconstruction of San Vicente and the change of location of its church and the subsequent segregation of San Pelayo in a strict closure female, closing the doors that communicated both institutions with the cemetery of San Salvador, centered on the royal funerary chapel. The Basilica of San Salvador was consecrated on October 13, 821. It was a building with three naves with a triple rectangular head and a wooden roof, based on the model of the Church of Santullano. Its dimensions were approximately 40m in length, 20m in width and 25 m maximum height. later twenty-one, many of them having a double dedication. The church would be decorated with paintings similar in style to those existing in Santullano.

The space for the residence of the clergy and the future episcopal palace

Pre-Romantic buildings belonging to the episcopal units located south of San Salvador, now embedded in the staircase of access to the Holy Chamber, of the centuryXVIIIand discovered in the excavations of 1998.

To the south of San Salvador there were a series of buildings of which today there are remains to the south of the cathedral and below the current episcopal palace. Taking advantage of its total destruction during the Spanish Civil War and as part of the reconstruction work, excavations were carried out between 1942 and 1950 by which archaeologists José María Fernández Buelta and Víctor Hevia Granda determined that they corresponded to the royal palace of Alfonso II. the Chaste. However, this opinion is currently rejected by other historians, such as César García de Castro Valdés and Eduardo Carrero Santamaría, who question the original location of the palace, while the remains next to the cathedral must have belonged to the clergy who took care of San Salvador until its promotion to cathedral, moment in which they had to be transformed into the Bishop's palace and other episcopal dependencies, at the same time that in its surroundings the houses and palaces of the capitular dignities were built that, to a large extent, survived topographically until the contemporary opening of the current Corrada del Obispo. The Holy Chamber would therefore be the treasure of the Cathedral of San Salvador, following the constants of the architecture of the time, made up of two superimposed spaces and attached to a taller square structure called Torre de San Miguel. There is no documentary record of the operation of the ground floor, nicknamed the "crypt of Santa Leocadia", which served as a burial space in dates somewhat after its construction, with the elevation of a funerary portico on its north side. The upper one, the treasury itself, later known as the Chapel of Saint Michael, was acquired in the 11th century, once the cult of relics and pilgrimage developed, the reliquary function that it retains today. It is assumed that the construction of this building took place around 884, in the reign of Alfonso III the Great, together with the Old Tower that served as a defense and completed the fortification of the previously built complex.

Romanesque reforms

Exterior image of the Holy Chamber. Thanks to the different colouring of the stone, you can appreciate the recess of the walls that was necessary to build the vault added in the centuryXII.

At the end of the XI century, the Old Tower completed its defensive function with that of a bell tower, receiving a body for it Romanesque with two openings per semicircular façade topped by a vaulted ceiling.

More important is the reform carried out in the Holy Chamber at the end of the XII century. The old wooden roof was dismantled to build a barrel vault that rests inside on columns on which an Apostolate was carved, a masterpiece of Spanish Romanesque. The sculpted heads of Christ, Saint John and the Virgin were embedded in the west wall, while the rest of the scene was painted on the wall itself. The remains of paint that remained on said wall disappeared when the Holy Chamber was blown up during the Asturian Revolution of 1934, so today the heads seem to be out of context.

The Gothic cathedral

Doors of Oviedo Cathedral. El Salvador and Santa Eulalia de Mérida.

The influence of Gothic architecture, which was already evident in Castile at the beginning of the XIII century, did not reach Asturias until the final years of that century, when the Gothic renovation of the cathedral complex began, not because of the main building, perhaps out of reverence for the old basilica or because of a lack of resources to face a work of such magnitude, but because of the annex buildings: the chapter house and the cloister. It would take almost another century to see the Gothic cathedral begun.

The chapter house owes its construction to the patronage of the cantor of the cathedral Pedro Esteban, who died in 1293 and buried in the room itself, and to that of the dean and later bishop Fernando Alfonso. Neither the architect responsible for the design and direction of the building's works, nor the date they began are known. the new room.

The beginnings of the construction of the Gothic temple begin in 1382 under the mandate of Bishop Gutierre de Toledo. Juan de Badajoz el Viejo is chosen as the first architect, although Juan de Candamo de las Tablas and Pedro Bunyeres also worked with him. with the transformation works of the presbytery into a chancel.

In the 16th century the portico and the tower on the façade were completed. It is what we can contemplate of the current cathedral. In the following centuries works and improvements were made in many of the chapels.

20th century

Torre de la Catedral de Oviedo, according to a photograph of the beginning of the century XX..

On October 11, 1934, during the burning of convents of the Revolution of Asturias, a group of revolutionaries exploded a bomb in the crypt of the Holy Chamber that ruined a large part of the monument and caused serious damage to the structure. His works of art also suffered great damage and important relics disappeared, even so, treasures from the crypt such as the Holy Shroud could be rescued from the rubble. The reconstruction of this disaster was carried out between 1939 and 1942, respecting as far as possible and rebuilding according to the original.

Description of the building

Portico de la Catedral

Tower view.

Main door of the Cathedral.

It is in the flowery Gothic style. There is documentation from the XV century which shows that Bartolomé Solórzano, an architect from Trasmiera (Cantabria) and who had already intervened in the cathedral of Palencia.

Exterior of the cathedral

Facade

The construction of the current façade began at the beginning of the XVI century under the design of Juan de Badajoz. A Despite the time of construction, the Gothic style is still used instead of the Renaissance.

A low portico is built with three arches and three doors that give access to each of the naves. It is covered with an almost flat ribbed vault. The central doorway, the most important both aesthetically and in size, is crowned with a relief of the Transfiguration and next to it some bas-relief figures representing Fruela I and Alfonso II the Chaste. A little further down there are some medallions that represent the child Jesus and the child Saint John.

The doors made in the XVIII century in walnut. The door of the central nave contains in the center of each of its leaves an image of San Salvador and Santa Eulalia de Mérida, both patron saints of the cathedral and of the Principality of Asturias. The temple is accessed through the door on the left.

Portico

The initial design of the portico included two towers, however, it was finally decided to build only one.

The construction of the Gothic and Renaissance style tower began in 1508 under the direction of Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón based on plans by Juan de Badajoz and finished in 1587. Pedro de Buyeres also collaborated to a greater or lesser extent during its construction, Pedro de la Tijera and Juan de Cerecedo.

Rook

With a height of 80 m it is divided into five bodies that decrease in size as you ascend. The tower begins integrated into the portico on the four pillars that form the arcade. It is finished off with a temple formed by cylindrical towers that end in the arrow of the pinnacle.

In the tower we can find a clock on the second floor, on the top floor the coat of arms of the Bishop of Oviedo Cristóbal Rojas Sandoval who held office when the tower was finished and in each section a window with a mullion that supports ogival braids of stone.

Famous tower in Spanish literature of the XIX century because it is one of the inert protagonists of the novel by Leopoldo Alas « Clarín» The Regent. From its height and with the help of a spyglass, Don Fermín de Pas, the Magistral, watched over the city.

Belfry

The bell hall of the tower contains the Holy Cross (cast in 1539 weighing 1384 kg), Saint Barbara (1818 and 116 kg), the Esquilon (1678 and 481 kg) and the most important of them all, Wamba. In addition to the bells, the mechanism that is also old stands out.

Other bells located in the bell halls are:

• Timbal 2.o: cast in bronze in 1893 by José Sota has a diameter of 52 cm, a bronze height of 40 cm and a weight 81 kg.
• Timbal 1.o: cast in bronze in 1830 has a diameter of 54 cm a height of 47 cm bronze and a weight of 91 kg.
• From position: cast in bronze in 1817 by José de Venero, has a diameter of 78 cm, a bronze height of 70 cm a border of 7 cm and a weight 275 kg.

Santa Cruz bell

Named for having the image of two crosses in relief, one large with a pedestal and the Cross of the Angels on the opposite side. This bell was cast in 1539 with a diameter of 1.54 m, a bronze height of 1.15 m, a rim of 14 cm and a weight of 1384 kg.

You can see the following headings:

• «+ LAVDO DEVM VERVM PLEBEM VOCO CONGREGO CLERVM DEFVNCTOS PLORO PESTEM FVGO FESTA DECORO HOC OPVS FACTVM EST# ANNO DNI M DXXXIX»I praise the REAL GOD, CONVOCO al PUEBLO, CONGREGGGREEN TO CLERO, TO LLORO DIFUNTS, I DO MAKE THE PESTE, I DECORE THE PESTAS. _ _).
• «+ LAVDO DEVM VERVM PLEBEM VOCO CONGREGO CLERVM DEFVNCTOS PLORO PESTEM FVGO FESTA DECORO HOC OPVS FACTVM EST#».
• "ANNO DNI M DXXXIX".

Santa Barbara Bell

This bell was cast in 1818 with a diameter of 66 cm, a bronze height of 56 cm, a rim of 7 cm and a weight of 166 kg.

You can read an inscription that says «IHS MARIA AND JOPH SANTABARBARA ORAPRONOBIS. YEAR DEI8I8»

Photos of the bell.

Esquilon Hood

The bell called Esquilon was cast in 1678 with a diameter of 94 cm, a bronze height of 85 cm, an rim of 8 cm and a weight of 481kg.

The following inscriptions can be distinguished on the bell:

• At the top: "IHS MARIA # JOSEPH # SALBATOR MVNDI MISERERE # NOBIS # "although they could write as "IHSUS MARIA JOSEPH SALVATOR WORLD MISERERE NOBIS" (JESUS, MARY AND JOSÉ. SALVADOR del MUNDO, TEN MISERICORDIA DE US).
• A great cross with pedestal and three nails in the middle. Next to the great cross several crosses.
• "CONMIBOZ SONORA SIRBO IN THIS SVELO TO THE QVE IN THE CIELE IS EMPERADOR AONDE I 6 7 8 # # # # # # # # # # # #

Wamba Bell

Cast in 1219, it is the oldest bell in operation in Spain. Its creation dates back to the basilica that predates the current Gothic church. It is still active, striking the hours despite being cracked, a circumstance that diminishes its sound.

Commissioned by the canon of the cathedral Pedro Peláez Cabeza in 1219, under the mandate of Bishop Juan González, it is made of bronze with a weight of 833 kg, a diameter of 130 cm, a bronze height of 105 cm and a edge 13 cm.

The epigraphy of the bell is made up of:

• « + + + S SCA SPONTANEAM HONOREM DEO E ET PATRIE LIBERATIONIM. XPS. TONAT. XPS. SONAT. XPS. VINCIT. XPS. XPS. XPS. IMPERAT, which should have written "MENTEM SANCTAM SPONTANEAM HONOREM DEO ET PATRIE LIBERATIONEM. TONAT, SONAT XPISTS, VINCIT XPISTS, REGNAT XPISTS, IMPERAT XPISTS» (To give honor to God and freedom to the Fatherland, Christ calls, Christ overcomes, Christ reigns, Christ reigns).
• in the middle is written: «+ IN NMoE: DNI: AMEN: EGO P PETRVS: PELAGII C CABESZA C CANICo HOC OPVS. FIERI. IVSSI. IN HONOREM. SCI. SALVATORIS. ERA. MILLA. COC: THE. VA II. " they should write "IN NOMINE DOMINI AMEN. EGO PETRUS PELAGI CABEZA CANONICO HOC OPUS FIERI IUSSI IN HONOREM SANCTI SALVATORIS ERA MCCLVII» (In the name of the Lord, America. I, PEDRO PELAYO CABEZA, CANÓNIGO, HICE FOUND THIS CAMPANA (ESTA OBRA) IN HONOR OF THE SANTISM SALVADOR, IN THE MCCLVII ERA (1219)).

The handles of the bell are also noteworthy, in which monstrous faces are represented.

The bell rings in festivities of great solemnity.

Its use is computerized, the last bell ringer being Mr. Carton.

The name of its origin is unknown, it coincides with the name of a Gothic king and of a parish in Valladolid.

Where it was built is unknown, possibly the ovens are buried somewhere nearby, as the oven may have been built by an itinerant bell ringer who disappeared while doing his job.

The sound is serious given its measurements, since it produces wide waves. It has its hammers installed.

Letizia Ortiz, being a journalist, went up to the place where the bell shed is located.

It has survived cannon shots that dislodged the arrow, earthquakes, lightning strikes, fires, transfers, etc.

Interior of the cathedral

Central ship.

The temple, with a Latin cross plan formed by three naves. The largest of them is 10 m wide, 67 m long and 20 m high, a height greater than the other two, which are 6 m wide.

Originally it had a stepped head, with a central semicircular apse flanked by two other smaller apses; In the Baroque, this area of the choir was partly reformed to build an ambulatory with radiating chapels.

Organized into three naves, the central one being the tallest and at ten meters wider than the lateral ones of six, the cathedral also has open chapels between the buttresses, a common architectural solution in this type of building. The supports that separate the naves and support the vaults are of the fasciculated type, formed by large stone blocks worked in the manner of bundles of bundles; In elevation, the temple presents a clearly appreciable tripartite organization: arcades separating the naves (ogival and molded), clerestory (formed by pairs of openings, decorated with sinuous tracery and parapet in pure Flamboyant style) and clerestory with glazed windows. The vaults that cover the various sections are ribbed, although highly complex given the advanced chronology of the building.

Right Ship

The right nave (or Epistle) contains, from head to foot:

• Santa Barbara Chapel or San Miguel. Founded by Bishop Bernardo Caballero Paredes in Baroque style for personal pantheon has an important altarpiece by Luis Fernández de la Vega. Name the chapel an image of the holy work of the centuryXVII Antonio Borja.
• San Martín de Tours Chapelof the centuryXVII. Retablo obra de Luis Fernández de la Vega con la imagen del santo en el centro. Upstairs, the Immaculate. In the socket, the Fathers of the Church.
• Chapel of San Roque. Also known with the name of chapel of the Nativity dates from the centuryXVI. Built by order of the Abbot of Teverga, Fernando de Llanes, to house his tomb stands out on the altarpiece the image of the holy work of José Bernardo de la Meana in 1658.
• Chapel of San Antonio. Gothic-style Chapel contains a baroque altarpiece with elements of Rococo by José Bernardo de la Meana in the mid-centuryXVIII. There are three graves in the chapel.
• Chapel of the Holy Christ of VelardeGothic. His altarpiece is baroque and in the center there is a crucified Christ attributed to Berruguete (sixteenth centuryXVI). It's one of the most valuable jewels in the cathedral.
• Chapel of Santa Eulalia Silver style of the centuryXVII. In charge of the Bishop Pedrejón to the architect Francisco Menéndez Camina. It has a central temple with the silver urn with the bones of the saint. Around this temple the pilgrims repented. It's a rather luxurious chapel.

Image of San Salvador

Medieval image of El Salvador. Christ blessing and a cosmic sphere.

In the right nave and before reaching the main chapel is Image of San Salvador, a sculpture from the 17th century XIII that is attached to the pillar of the southern arch of the transept (in the ambulatory). It is believed that it comes from the previous Romanesque basilica.

It was the main destination for pilgrims.

Pope John Paul II prayed at his feet for a long time in 1989.

Holy Chamber

The Holy Chamber, listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, was built by Alfonso II at the beginning of the IX century when he rebuilt the pre-Romanesque church dedicated to San Salvador and which had been erected by Fruela I in the 8th century and later destroyed by Muslims.

The Holy Chamber is a palatine chapel that is attached to the Tower of San Miguel, the rest of the Fruela Palace and that today is integrated into the Gothic-style Cathedral of Oviedo. Since the IX century, the Treasures and Relics of the Cathedral have been kept there. A large part of these relics had been brought from Toledo; such as the Holy Ark (XI century), the Holy Shroud, relics of the True Cross, Christ Nicodemus (XII) and others to keep them away from Muslim territory and the danger of loss that this entailed.

In this section we can highlight a collection of Romanesque sculptures that are considered one of the masterpieces of this period. They are six pairs of statues that form an apostolate and are located in the four corners and one at on each side of the walls halfway from the corners, the bases and capitals of these statues are also of great sculptural importance.

The Chamber is also important for the relics that are deposited in it. Of these relics we can highlight: The Holy Ark, the Holy Shroud, the Victory Cross, the Angels Cross and the Agates Ark, as main objects.

Crypt of Santa Leocadia

General image of the crypt of Santa Leocadia

The crypt of Santa Leocadia is located inside the Oviedo Cathedral, in Oviedo, Asturias. The crypt is one of the oldest surviving vestiges of the set of palatine and ecclesiastical buildings existing in the area in the time of Alfonso II el casto, of which the church of San Tirso is also a part, si well the construction of the crypt is attributed to Alfonso III. The crypt was part of a set of two superimposed sanctuaries, but without communication between them, the crypt is the lower sanctuary and the upper one is the Holy Chamber.

Cloister

Cloister of Oviedo Cathedral.

The Claustro is a Gothic work built in different phases starting in the year 1300 and ending in 1441. It has a rectangular shape with dimensions of 27 x 32 m in which the long sides are formed by an arcade of four arches and the short ones by three. It replaced the old Romanesque cloister from the 12th century century. In the 18th century the enclosure underwent an important change by the architect Riva Ladrón de Guevara when the floor and the balcony were added superior. Due to the expansion in time of the construction of the cloister, different architectural styles can be observed in it:

• North side and 2 stretches of the east (according to the Capitular room), classic Gothic. The work under the auspices of Fernando Álvarez de las Asturias was built between 1300 and 1350.

• South and West Side, Gothic Mannerist of the CenturyXIV. Built this part between 1350 and 1400 is part of the west side and continues south. The work was promoted by Alfonso XI and the bishops Sancho and Alfonso II.

• East side, flowery gothic, centuryXV. The construction of this part began in 1412, ending in 1441, the founder being Bishop Diego Ramírez de Guzmán.

• The upper floor is baroque of the centuryXVII, it is built in the expansion executed by Riva Ladrón de Guevara. Formed by fourteen windows all of it with balcony overlooking the central courtyard.

After this succession of works, the current cloister appears to us as a rectangular enclosed courtyard with a small garden inside and an amalgamation of different Gothic architectural variants and even Romanesque elements (sculptures at the entrance to the chapter house) or Baroque (second floor of the cloister).

It contains a total of 167 decorated capitals, highlighting the corbel of the royal hunt and the Agnus Dei from the missing Romanesque cloister.

Around the cloister there are different tombs such as that of Frigión de Cifuentes or that of Dean Pedro Gay (1348-1369) from the 14th century . Other notable elements inside the cloister are the tombstone of Bishop Don Pelayo and the baroque door of the archive, the work of José Bernardo de la Meana.

From the cloister you can access the chapter house.

Chapter House

From the west gallery of the cloister you can access the Chapter House. The room is the oldest part of the Gothic structure of the cathedral as it was the place where the construction of the temple would begin in 1293 under the patronage of the cantor Pedro Esteban and the dean Fernando Alonso who would become bishop between 1296 and 1301 who came to donate in 1300 the amount of 2000 maravedíes.

It is built on a 9.65 x 9.70 m square plan, highlighting the thickness of the walls and the almost total absence of windows topped by a ribbed vault with eight panels of octagonal structure. The succession from the square plan to the octagonal vault is carried out by means of four tubes. On the ground, originally at a lower level than today, there are several graves. In these graves are the remains of Álvaro Fernández and the archdeacon Miguel Fernández

The work on the hall was completed in 1314.

This is where the remains of the choir stalls of the cathedral are located, a work carried out between 1491 and 1497 by various foreign masters, including the Gothic sculptor Alejo de Vahía. We also find the altarpiece called Lamentations or Weeping over Christ from the XV century.

Main Chapel

Old altarpiece of the Cathedral.

Situated in the apse of the cathedral, the Gothic chapel has a polygonal shape, closing with two lines of stained glass windows, of which only the upper one is visible today, as the other is covered by the main altarpiece of the temple. Its construction began in 1388, considering this moment the start of construction of the main part of the Gothic cathedral.

Inside you can see from left to right:

• Sepulchre with sculpture orante of Juan Arias de Villar, bishop of Oviedo between 1487 and 1498. It is empty because the mortal remains moved to the Cathedral of Segovia.
• Retablo Mayor: Dedicated to San Salvador starts its construction by order of Valeriano Ordóñez Villaquirán in 1511 by Giralte of Brussels being completed in 1531 by Juan de Balmaseda and Miguel Bingeles. Leon Picardo and Alonso Berruguete are involved in the pictorial decoration. In its 12 x 12 m are represented 24 scenes of the life of Jesus.

In the XVII century the construction of the ambulatory composed of five small radial chapels was carried out. In it are:

• Covagonga Chapel. In this small chapel is the tomb of Bishop Gutierre of Toledo on a side, and under the altar, the remains of Saint Melchor of Quirós, the first Asturian saint.

• Sacristy.

Left Ship

• Annunciation Chapel or the Vigils of the CenturyXVII. In charge of the bishop of Valladolid and of Segovia Juan Vigil de Quiñones (death in 1617), who in 1615 had received the cession of the fourth stretch on the side of the Gospel to make his family chapel. The architect commissioned was Juan de Naveda (1590-1638), who finished the work after several avatars in 1640. The plant is central, the style is clasicist baroque and is characterized by its bald vault with an oculo ripped in a lantern, cornered pillars and composite capitals. It has a beautiful gate of the centuryXVII and a sculpture orante of Juan Vigil de Quiñones, work by Luis Fernández de la Vega. Complete the decoration a classicist altarpiece (white stage in the centuryXIX), also by Luis Fernández de la Vega, with two superimposed reliefs representing the Annunciation and Baptism of Jesus, with four passages of Christ's life in the bank, and a redeeming God in the attic. During its restoration in its subsoil were found structural remains of the lost chapel of Santa Maria, that of King Casto.
• Chapel of the Assumption containing the Immaculate altarpiece on the cruise, on the north side. The centuryXVIII. It was the preferred place of the pilgrims along with that of Santa Eulalia and the hornacina of the Hidria (word that comes to us from the Greek through the Latin and which means pitcher or large vessel).
• Hornacina de la Hidria, centuryXV. It is reported that the bakeracina contains one of the 6 slices of the Cana Weddings. Admit 100 l. It is shown to the public on September 21, the feast of St.Matthew and you can drink of previously blessed water. It is usually closed to the public and passes completely unnoticed.

Chapel of Santa Eulalia de Mérida

Chapel dedicated to the patron saint of the diocese of Oviedo is a baroque chapel with a Greek cross plan topped by a large dome with profuse baroque decoration.

Founded in the 17th century by order of Bishop Simón García Pedrejón and executed by the Menéndez Camino family (father and son) contains a baroque canopy by Domingo Suárez de la Puente with relics of the saint.

Several bishops are buried in the chapel, including its founder.

Chapel of Our Lady of the Chaste King

Cover of the Ntra chapel. Mrs. Casto King.

The chapel of Nuestra Señora del Rey Casto was built by order of Bishop Tomás Reluz in 1705, on top of another chapel founded by Alfonso II the Chaste in the IX, and is structured parallel to the cathedral, forming a separate temple with its own exterior entrance through a garden located to the left of the cathedral. It is the work of Bernardo de Haces and by Luis de Arce.

It is joined to the cathedral by the great door, the work of Juan de Malinas, built between 1470 and 1485 in the late Gothic style. The door is divided in two by a mullion in which the figure of the Virgin with the Child was carved, flanked on the sides of the doors by the figures of the apostles is Santiago and San Pedro and to the right San Pablo and San Andrés. Next to it, to the left of the door and before entering the chapel, you can see a stone inscription of Alfonso III the Great that translates:

In the name of the Lord God and saviour our Jesus Christ, and to the glory of all, of the glorious Holy Virgin Mary, to the twelve apostles and other martyr saints... the prince Alfonso son of King Ordoño of holy memory commanded to build this fortification with the bride Scemena, having born two sons, so that the defense of the fortification of the wing of the treasure of this holy church should remain unharmed; for hasten the pirates. This work offered by us, be granted in perennial possession to the same church.

Some Asturian kings were buried in this chapel. It was the first pantheon of the Spanish monarchy. On the pendentives of the main arches there are busts of various Asturian kings.

In the north nave there is a good altarpiece of the Virgen de la Luz from the XVI century, from the school of Juan from June. At his side, four little apostles; in the attic is the figure of God the Father. It also has two marble images of Saint Peter and Saint Paul from the XVIII century. There was the custom of turning the key of Saint Peter to open the doors of heaven to the soul.

Interior of the Ntra chapel. Mrs. Casto King. Lighted by a cimper.

Inside the chapel is the Pantheon of Kings of the Cathedral of Oviedo, in the center of which is the tomb of Ithacio, with a lauda del siglo V.

Pantheon of Kings

Pantheon of kings of Oviedo Cathedral.

It is located inside the chapel of Nuestra Señora del Rey Casto and many members of the Asturian-Leonese royalty were buried there during the Early Middle Ages. The original royal pantheon was located inside the church of Nuestra Señora del Rey Casto, attached to the Oviedo Cathedral, and had been built at the request of King Alfonso II the Chaste, in the IX.

The primitive royal pantheon and the primitive church of Nuestra Señora del Rey Casto were demolished at the beginning of the 18th century, due to due to its poor state of conservation, at the initiative of Tomás Reluz, Bishop of Oviedo, and both were later rebuilt and consecrated in 1712.

The members of the Asturian-Leonese royalty who are currently entombed in the baroque urns of the Pantheon of Kings of the Cathedral of Oviedo, according to various historians, are the following:

• Fruela I de Asturias (722-768), king of Asturias. Son of Alfonso I the Catholic and Queen Ermesinda.
• Bermudo I de Asturias (m. 797), nicknamed the Deacon, son of Fruela de Cantabria, nephew of Alfonso I the Catholic and successor of King Mauregato of Asturias.
• Alfonso II el Casto (759-842), king of Asturias. Son of Fruela I of Asturias and grandson of Alfonso I the Catholic.
• Ramiro I of Asturias (790-850), king of Asturias. Primo and successor of Alfonso II the Casto and son of Bermudo the Deacon.
• Ordoño I de Asturias (830-866), king of Asturias. Son and successor of Ramiro I of Asturias.
• Alfonso III the Magnus (848-910), king of Asturias. Son of Ordoño I of Asturias.
• García I de León (871-914), king of León. Son of Alfonso III the Magnus and Queen Jimena of Asturias.
• Fruela II de León (c. 875-925), son of Alfonso the Great and brother of the former.
• Queen Munia of Álava, wife of King Fruela I of Asturias and mother of Alfonso II the Casto.
• Queen Berta, wife of King Alfonso II the Casto.
• Queen Munia, wife of King Ordoño I of Asturias and mother of Alfonso III the Magnus.
• Queen Jimena of Asturias (m. 912), wife of King Alfonso III the Magnus. Daughter of García Íñiguez de Pamplona and mother of García I, Ordoño II and Fruela II.
• Queen Elvira Menéndez (m. 921), wife of Ordoño II of Leon and mother of Alfonso IV and Ramiro II.
• Reina Urraca Sánchez (m. 956), wife of Ramiro II de León and mother of Sancho I de León.
• Queen Teresa Ansúrez (m. 997), wife of Sancho I de León, king of Leon and mother of Ramiro III de León.

Archdiocese of Oviedo

Bishops

Archbishops

• 1961 - Francisco Javier Lauzurica and Torralba (arzobispo coadjutor: Segundo García Sierra)
• 1964 - Vicente Enrique and Tarancón
• 1969 - Gabino Díaz Merchán (Assistant bishop: from 1970: Elías Yanes Álvarez; since 1993: Atilano Rodríguez Martínez)
• 2002 - Carlos Osoro Sierra (Assistant bishop since 2005: Cecilio Raúl Berzosa Martínez)
• 2010 - Jesús Sanz Montes (Assistant bishop since 2013: Juan Antonio Menéndez Fernández)

Pop Culture

There is a quatrain about the Cathedral in reference to the Camino de Santiago that says:

The one who goes to Santiago
and he's not going to the Saviour.
visit to the servant
and leave the Lord.