Explore Oviedo

The Monastery of San Pelayo is a convent of Benedictine nuns beside Oviedo Cathedral. It was founded by King Alfonso II and dedicated to Saint Pelagius after his relics arrived in 994. The present buildings, with a long stone front over three arches, come mostly from rebuilding after the 16th century. The church is open for services; the enclosure is not.

Oviedo Cathedral, the Cathedral of San Salvador, stands where King Fruela I founded a church in 781. The Gothic building was begun in 1388 and its tower was completed in the 16th century. The visit covers the nave, the cloister, the church museum and the Cámara Santa, a 9th-century chapel that keeps relics and two jewelled crosses of the Asturian kings.

The Church of San Tirso stands beside Oviedo Cathedral and was founded under King Alfonso II at the end of the 8th century, reportedly by his architect Tioda. A fire in 1521 and later rebuilding left little of the first church; the main survival is a pre-Romanesque triple window at the east end. It is still in use as a parish church.

The Church of San Isidoro el Real on Oviedo's Plaza de la Constitución was built between 1578 and 1681 as the Jesuit church of San Matías. The parish of San Isidoro, founded around 1200, moved into it in 1770. Its stone front with a tall bell tower faces the town hall, and the interior holds Baroque altarpieces and the tomb of Bishop Martín Carrillo.

San Julián de los Prados, also called Santullano, is a church built around 830 for King Alfonso II of Asturias by his court architect Tioda. It has a nave and two aisles, a tall transept and three chapels at the east end. Inside, wall paintings of painted architecture in a Roman manner survive. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Asturian monuments.

The Basilica of San Juan el Real is a parish church in central Oviedo, built from 1912 to 1915 to designs by the architect Luis Bellido on the site of an older church demolished in 1882. It has a Latin-cross plan with side chapels and a dome behind a twin-towered front. Francisco Franco married here in 1923, and the church became a minor basilica in 2014.

San Miguel de Lillo is a church on Mount Naranco built for King Ramiro I and consecrated in 848, about 100 metres from Santa María del Naranco. Only its western part stands, as the rest collapsed in the 12th or 13th century. The carved stone jambs of the entrance and the windows cut from single slabs of stone remain. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.