Recently, I made a short weekend trip to Oviedo (I live in Cantabria province, which borders Asturias). Visiting one of the World Heritage Sites close to home (and with not-so-many reviews) inspired me to write a review so here it is:

Visit to the WHS

1. Cámara Santa

   First, we visited the town centre, walking along some of the streets. This way, we saw several buildings such as the Teatro Campoamor (where the Princess of Asturias Awards are given) and the cathedral, which is part of the "Routes of Santiago de Compostela" WHS. The cathedral itself is nice but not necessarily the most impressive cathedral in the north of Spain. However, it does house the Cámara Santa, one of the components of this WHS.

   The main reason for its inclusion is that it houses several treasures form the Kingdom of Asturias. Most notable among these is the Victory Cross (Cruz de la Victoria), which today appears in Asturias' flag. It is said to be the cross carried by Pelayo when he and his forces defeated the Umayyads in the battle of Covadonga (722). This battle is the main reason the Umayyads didn't conquer the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula and marks the start of the Kingdom of Asturias. This battle is thus also regarded in Spain as the closest thing we have to a sort of "foundational myth", since the Kingdom of Asturias would eventually become the Kingdom of Castile; and the battle, while real, has probably adopted many mythical elements over the years.

   Aside from this cross, here you can also see the Cross of the Angels (Cruz de los Ángeles), the Holy Sudarium of Oviedo (Santo Sudario de Oviedo) and a few other relics from the 9th and 10th centuries. This is quite cool to see, and the objects themselves are quite ornamented (well, aside from the Sudarium, which is a piece of cloth). The room they are housed in contains representations of some saints, such as Saint Peter and Saint Thomas, since it served as a 9th century chapel (thus why the chapel itself is built in an Asturian pre-Romanesque style, like the rest of the buildings included in this WHS. The cathedral, on the other hand, has later extensions).

2. La Foncalada

   After visiting the cathedral and Cámara Santa, we continued walking through the town centre, down a street filled with Sidrerías (restaurants where they serve cider (Sidra), which is typical from Asturias) until arriving at La Foncalada. This site is much quicker to visit since it really is just a fountain, but a 9th-century one at that!

   The fountain is located over a spring, where its water comes from, and was originally just outside the city walls. It is the only non-religious component of this WHS, and one of the few civil structures of this type from the Early Middle Ages remaining in place. As is the theme for this period of art and architecture/infrastructure in the Kingdom of Asturias, it is built in a pre-Romanesque style, so there aren't many decorative elements, but there are some inscriptions.

3. San Julián de los Prados / Santuyano

   From there, and after having lunch in one of the aforementioned restaurants, we headed to this church, which is located outside the centre of Oviedo. It is only 1km away walking from La Foncalada though, so the walk is easily doable (but there are city buses that can get you closer to the area). San Julián de los Prados is a church built around the year 830 that still stands today and it even boasts some relatively well-preserved remains of wall frescoes. Unfortunately, the timetable for interior visits is fairly restrictive, so we couldn't see the interior. Still, I think the exterior was worth visiting, and aside from the building itself, you can also look at the small windows decorated with latticework, from the outside.

   After the visit to this church, we had most of the afternoon left, so we headed to the Museo Arqueológico de Asturias (Archaeological Museum of Asturias), which is located just behind the cathedral. It is small, but holds a few interesting pieces, starting with Prehistory (objects from the caves located in Asturias, including some from the Asturian caves that are components of the "Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain" WHS). Then there are a few Roman objects, but the most relevant section for this review is the last one: the Medieval section, which includes elements relating to this WHS, since the original altars of Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo are located here (the one currently at Santa María del Naranco is a 100-year-old replica. Entrance to the museum is free, but the information was only in Spanish (still, looking at the objects could be good enough for non-Spanish speakers, plus it's free so you might as well see the museum if you have time).

4. Santa María del Naranco

   The next day, we headed straight to the area just outside Oviedo where Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo are located. There is a parking lot and a bus stop just next to it, and regardless of the way you arrive there (walking, car, bus) you'll have to make a small but steep walk up to the reception centre. There you can read a small exposition about pre-Romanesque and Romanesque in Asturias, mentioning several churches, like the two located here. It also includes information about churches not included in the WHS. The information is available in Spanish, Asturian and English. After visiting it (it's small) we headed up for a bit towards Santa María del Naranco, since tickets are bought there. Both churches can be visited via a guided tour in Spanish, but can't be entered otherwise. Once you arrive at the church, you'll see a door with some information and a "next tour at this hour" sign. For us, the next tour was at 11:00.

   About 10:45, the guide arrived and started selling tickets. Be mindful of how many people there are, because each tour is limited to just above 20 people, due to the size of the buildings. Anyway, once it was 11:00, our tour started, and we headed to Santa María del Naranco's upper floor. This church was originally a palace of some sort, although due to the small amount of objects or written texts we have, we don't really know what the lower and upper floor were used for. The guide will tell you a bit about its history, and will point out the columns, arches and a few decorations on the walls. One of the balconies holds the replica of the altar that I mentioned before, since the building was later converted into a church. Then, you'll go outside and enter the lower floor, which is like a crypt, except that it was never actually a crypt since there were no tombs here. It looks like it was more of a meeting room, though we can't be sure what sort of meetings would have been held here.

   These two churches are the most popular (excluding maybe the cathedral since it's located in the central town square) and Santa María del Naranco is relatively famous. For example, it's balcony's arches have been used as Asturias' tourism image, and it has appeared in Spanish Euro coins.

5. San Miguel de Lillo (shown in the picture)

   Once the visit to Santa María del Naranco finished, the tour continued on to San Miguel de Lillo. This church is smaller than it was when originally built, but you can get an idea of its original size from the markings on the grass (the original floorplan is marked with stones similar to those of the path). The interior of the church preserves some wall frescoes, especially on one side (the other one receives less sunlight). However, once you think the tour is over and the guide is about to let everyone out, he opens the door only slightly (to let some light enter), revealing that on both sides of the door there are some stone carvings representing a celebration, these are clearly visible and don't seem too damaged, so that was a neat little surprise. Once the tour ended, we decided to go up mount Naranco, since there is some good view of Oviedo from the road. At the top there is a Christ the Redeemer statue and a view of basically the entire city. However, make sure to bring water if you wish to do the walk on a sunny day.

6. Santa Cristina de Lena

   We actually didn't manage to fit this visit on our schedule, since we were also going to visit some relatives in another Asturian town, but in case you are interested, this is another Asturian pre-Romanesque style church about 30km south of Oviedo, which I believe also preserves remains of frescoes on its interior. It is reachable by frequent enough trains and is in a more rural environment, as opposed to all other components located in and around Oviedo.

Useful Information

• Cámara Santa is easily accessible by walking (the cathedral is in the town centre). It can be visited as part of the visit to the cathedral, which costs 8€ per person. There is a more pricey option that includes the tower.
• La Foncalada can be reached by walking a short distance from the cathedral, and access is free since it is a public area.
• San Julián de los Prados can be reached by walking a slightly longer distance from the cathedral. There is also a bus stop not too far away if you wish to visit it from further away in the city. The interior can be accessed but only at some specific hours.
• Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo can be reached by bus, car or walking 3 km from the cathedral (but all options require a small walk at the end). Access to the interiors is only via guided tours in Spanish and at specific hours. The tours costs 5€ per person. This is the most famous part of the WHS.
• Santa Cristina de Lena can be reached by train from Oviedo (the closest stop is La Cobertoria, not Pola de Lena, since the church is a bit outside of the town itself)
• If you have time left and wish to, you can visit the archaeological museum behind the cathedral (since history is a big hobby of mine, I enjoyed it, it's free, and it only took slightly more than an hour to see) and spend some time walking along Oviedo's town centre: Teatro Campoamor, Plaza del Fontán, Oviedo town hall and San Isidoro el Real church, Campo de San Francisco (biggest park in the city with a few sculptures of different theme, like famous people from the city), the many Sidrerías, etc...

Overall Opinion of WHS

I believe its inclusion in the list is totally justified by the history and significance of these monuments, even if, due to the passing of time, not everything they had to offer has been preserved. Every component can be reached by walking a reasonable distance, or by public transit, which is awalys good. Oviedo as a whole is a nice city that is enjoyable, even though it's historical centre is not as impressive as others you can visit in Spain, so I understand why the historical centre of Oviedo wasn't included as a WHS itself.