Asturias Series: Santa María del Naranco - A Window City View
I love touristic sights that are connected to a physical challenge. Walking up a hill to see the beautiful Santa María del Naranco was a treat, but even better was the view over Ovideo through one of the old windows. This post was first published on our Asturias Travel Blog in 2010.
Originally constructed in 848, the Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo are Oviedo’s most important Pre-Romanesque structures.
The monuments are situated high upon the Naranco hill, overlooking the northern side of the city. They’re easy to find: just follow the “Avenue of the Monuments”. Walking from the train station takes about 40 minutes, almost all uphill, but city buses can take you most of the way. Visits are only possible in guided tours, which depart frequently from the Santa María del Naranco.
The Santa María del Naranco claims to be the oldest palace in Europe. Built in 848 by King Ramiro I as a recreational palace, the building is still in tremendous condition — I hope to look that good when I’m over 1100 years old. Almost all the walls, ceilings and engraved artwork are original and the building has suffered very little corrosive damage.
The palace was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985, and is famous among architecture buffs for its rich decorations, lack of wooden ceilings, and the elegant designs which demonstrate influences from regions as diverse as Ireland, Syria, Byzantium, Greece and Italy. The Santa María is unique in the world, and researchers have been left puzzled as to how an Asturian architect from the 9th century was able to build such a magnificent and structurally perfect palace, with so many foreign flourishes. It marked a leap forward in Pre-Romanesque architecture and had a great influence on later Asturian constructions.
In the 13th century, the palace was put to use as a church, and is still in use today for weddings and baptisms. If you’re interested in architecture, you can read a lot more on a website dedicated to Spanish Pre-Romanesque Art. Before you make the hike up, be sure to check the opening times on Spanish Tourism site.
We’ll be writing about the second building, San Miguel de Lillo, in a separate post.
Location on our Oviedo, Asturais Travel Map
-Download Our Ovideo, Asturias eBook Here (we accept SBD!)
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=for91days
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=asturias-series-santa-maria-del-naranco-a-window-city-view
Want to have your post on the map too?
The place feels like you are from another time and place. It's like a place for gods and goddesses.
The walk, hahaha I'm allergic to walking a lot but if this is the view I really wouldn't mind! Thanks for sharing this.
Good thing is, there is also a bus :)
oooh, that's good! Hahahha. Would love that.
Wow
Looks like you travelled in time to another century.
The architectural details of this building looks amazing. They sure had some skills back in the
days13th centuryIndeed .. that stone work is just amazing. Thank you so much for stopping by.
Hiya, just swinging by to let you know that this post made the Honorable Mentions list in today's Travel Digest!
I had to look this place up as I wasn't sure what county it was in. Northern Spain isn't a typical place for tourists to visit, not being on the Costa's. You do find cool stuff away from these areas though.
Were you able to go where you wanted or was it a little restricted? Some of these old places do that sometimes.
The interesting thing is .. many Spaniard vacation in these parts of Spain because it's so different. We had to be on tour! :( But it was ok.
Wow what an amazing piece of history. Thanks for sharing this post!!
And there is more to come! Asturias was our first For 91 Days ... not the best articles but ok for starting out :)
It looks so beautiful! I was surprised to read that it's 1100 yrs old. Love the architecture. The wall engravings are beautiful as well :)