Santa Maria del Naranco

Ramiro I built this as part of a palace complex, finished in 842 and consecrated in 848, and it was not a church originally but a hall, probably for ceremony and banqueting, with a vaulted lower level and an upper chamber opening at both ends into porticoes with columned arcades. It was converted to a church later, which is why it survived. The style, Asturian pre-Romanesque, developed in the small Christian kingdom that held the north while the rest of the peninsula was under Muslim rule, and it uses barrel vaulting, buttresses and carved medallions with rope-like columns in a way that appears nowhere else. San Miguel de Lillo stands a hundred metres away, part of the same complex, with carved doorjambs showing circus scenes. UNESCO listed them in 1985.

History

Ramiro I of Asturias had it built as a royal palace for recreation on the southern slope of Mount Naranco facing Oviedo, one of a group of royal buildings with the church of San Miguel de Lillo 100 metres away; it was completed in 842 and consecrated in 848, as an inscription on its altar records. Its barrel vaults on transverse arches, which did away with wooden ceilings, amazed chroniclers - the Crónica Silense spoke of a palace without wood, vaulted below and above - and make it a clear forerunner of Romanesque building. It was turned into a church of Saint Mary in the 12th century and declared a national monument on 24 January 1885 (Wikipedia, Santa María del Naranco).

What to look for

• The upper hall - a vaulted chamber with porticoes at both ends.
• The rope columns - carved twisted shafts unique to the Asturian style.
• The carved medallions - relief panels along the interior walls.
• San Miguel de Lillo - a companion building with carved doorjambs nearby.

When to go

April to June and September to November; both buildings are visited on guided tours at set times and close on Mondays, with shorter winter hours. Asturias is wet in every season.

Good to know

Access is by guided visit only at fixed times and the buildings are small, taking about an hour for both. Only part of San Miguel survives, the rest having collapsed. The hillside site is exposed and often wet.

Nearby

Oviedo and its cathedral are three kilometres below; the Camino Primitivo passes through the city.

Key facts