Oviedo.

In 2002 Woody Allen was awarded the Prince of Asturias Arts prize. He travelled to Oviedo and said about the city: ""Oviedo is Delicious, Exotic, Beautiful, Clean, Pleasant, Peaceful, and Kind to Pedestrians. It's as if it doesn't belong to this world, as if it could not possibly exist ... Oviedo is like a Fairy Tale". 

Life-size statue of the filmmaker, Woody Allen.

So today we are going to discover together a little more of Oviedo. This small city in the North of Spain, one of the oldest Capital of the country.

Some weeks ago I started to talk about how Asturias stopped Muslims and started  La Reconquista. 

The history said that two monks: Maximo and Fromestano, founded the city in 761. They built a small church dedicated to San Vicente.

King Fruela I of Asturias, the fourth of the Asturian monarchs, was the first decided promoter of the city as may be witnessed by his construction of both a palace and a nearby church. Oviedo owes to a later king, Alfonso II The Chaste (791-842), its establishment as a capital city and ruling seat as a result of the moving of the court from  Pravia and the creation of the Pilgrim’s Route to Santiago de Compostela, a major event in the history of Oviedo, a church dedicated to The Saviour, the Cathedral of San Salvador, and a royal palace formed the nucleus and motive power of Oviedo.

The Roman Catholic Cathedral of San Salvador (Oviedo)

Foreground: Statue of La Regenta.

During this period the city became the center of an original and unique architectural expression, inheritor of Visigothic, Roman and Nordic traditions, which was to reach its high point during the reign of Ramiro I of Asturias. Ramiro I sponsored many unique construction projects, which remain a signature of Oviedo to this day. 

Campoamor Theater.

This is the point of reference for all major cultural events and

the genuine heart of the city. It is the site of the awards ceremony

of the Prince of Asturias Prizes.

The Theater was built in the 19th Century.