Oviedo

The title of this article is ambiguous. Further meanings are listed under Oviedo (disambiguation) .

Oviedo / Uviéu
coat of arms	Map of Spain
Basic data
Autonomous Community :	Asturias
Comarca :	Oviedo (Comarca)
Coordinates	43 ° 22 ′  N , 5 ° 51 ′  W Coordinates: 43 ° 22 ′  N , 5 ° 51 ′  W
Height :	231  msnm
Area :	186.65 km²
Residents :	219,686 (Jan 1, 2019)
Population density :	1,176.99 inhabitants / km²
Postal code :	33001 to 33013
Municipality number  ( INE ):	33044
administration
Website :	www.oviedo.es
Location of the city

Oviedo (Asturian: Uviéu or Uvieo ) is the capital of the Autonomous Community of Asturias in northern Spain . In the 9th and 10th centuries the city was the residence of the then independent Kingdom of Asturias . The inhabitants of the city are called "Ovetenser".

geography

location

Oviedo is at an altitude of 231 m. ü. M. in the center of Asturias. The Rio Nalón flows south of the city . The highest point is El Picayu at 708 m. It is about 28 kilometers to Gijón on the Bay of Biscay to the north and Madrid is 465 kilometers away.

The municipality of Oviedo borders on the following neighboring municipalities:

Las Regueras	Llanera	Siero
Grado		Langreo
Ribera de Arriba	Santo Adriano	Mieres

Parroquias

Oviedo is divided into 30 parroquias :

Parroquia	Residents		Parroquia	Residents		Parroquia	Residents
Agueria	744		Loriana	241		Piedramuelle	524
Bendones	237		Manjoya	947		Pintoria	54
box	871		Manzaneda	205		Priorio	414
Brañes	75		Naranco	98		Puerto	203
Caces	270		Naves	114		San Claudio	2,575
Cruces	943		Nora	99		Santianes	88
Godos	661		Olloniego	1,122		Sograndio	401
Latores	655		Oviedo	209,801		Trubia	2,067
Lillo	340		Pando	127		Udrión	124
Limanes	881		Pereda	177		Villapérez	333

As of January 1, 2011 Source: INE

coat of arms

The victory cross with the angels is the coat of arms of the Archbishop of Oviedo. The cross on a blue background is framed by the honorary titles:

MUY NOBILE, MUY LEAL, BENEMERITA, INVICTA, HEROICA, BUENA (very noble, very loyal, deserving, undefeated, heroic, good)

The victory cross stands together with the honorary titles for the monarchy of Asturias.

history

Late Gothic Oviedo Cathedral

Oviedo was built on a hill that the Romans called Ovetao . Not far from the ancient Roman settlement of Lucus Asturum , the monk Máximo and his nephew Fromestano founded a monastery in 761 on the Roman road that connected León to Lugo de Llanera via the Pajares Pass and built a hermitage (ermita) in honor of the martyr San Vicente . Later, two dozen monks from the Muslim south joined the founders and, according to a document dated December 25, 781, elected Fromestano as their first abbot . They received the protection of Fruela I , who chose the place as a residence for his wife Munia, who gave birth to their son and later King Alfonso II here .

It was also Alfonso II who moved the capital here in 812 and made Oviedo a bishopric. In 912, however, Oviedo lost the capital city function in the course of the reconquest ( reconquista ) to León. Alfonso II fortified Oviedo and furnished it with palaces, churches and other infrastructure elements. An example of the latter is an aqueduct , of which three arches can still be seen today.

During his reign in 812 a tomb was discovered in Santiago de Compostela , which was attributed to James the Elder . The king moved from Oviedo to Santiago and is said to have been the first pilgrim to St. James. He is said to have opened the first Way of St. James , the Camino Primitivo . The Way of St. James, albeit a "byway", provided the city with an economic revitalization throughout the Middle Ages.

Oviedo was badly damaged twice in its history: in 1521 by a fire disaster and in 1934 during the miners' revolts and during the Spanish Civil War .

Leopoldo Alas set a literary monument in the second half of the 19th century: Oviedo was the model for the town of Vetusta in the novel La Regenta .

Science and culture

On April 4, 1997, the Council of Europe signed the Biomedical Convention in Oviedo , also known as the "Oviedo Convention".

Once a year, the city gains international recognition through the award of the Prince of Asturias Prize (Premios del Príncipe de Asturias) by the Spanish Crown Prince. Oviedo University, founded in 1608, now has 30,000 students ; through them the city is also the scientific and cultural center of Asturias.

The “Institute for Asturian Studies” is located in Oviedo. Every year in September, the highlight of cultural life is the "San Mateo Fest", a spectacle of operas, rock, pop, sports and bullfighting as well as a large parade through the old town.

Oviedo is also the bishopric of the Archdiocese of Oviedo .

economy

From the end of the 18th century, an arms factory began an intensive industrial development in Oviedo.

Oviedo is located in the middle of one of the largest Spanish mining areas, the Cuenca Central Asturiana ; other important pillars were the steel and chemical industries. It is connected to the port city of Gijón on the one hand and León on the other hand via the Asturias Railway .

In the meantime, however, a structural change in the direction of administration and banks has begun.

Employment figures in the municipality of Oviedo in the economic sectors

	Employees	Percentage
total	99.130	100
Agriculture, livestock and fishing	478	0.48
Industry	6,571	6.63
Construction industry	8,760	8.84
Service companies	83,321	84.05
* Data from the Statistical Office for Economic Development in Asturias, status 2009 (PDF; 109 kB), SADEI

Population development

Source: INE graphic processing for Wikipedia

politics

Historical development of the distribution of seats in the municipal council of Oviedo
Political party	1979	1983	1987	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015
AP / PP	2	13	10	13	18th	15th	17th	17th	11	11
FAC									7th
PSOE	11	13	12	10	6th	10	8th	9	6th	5
PCE / IU	2	1	1	2	3	2	2		3	3
ASCIZ								1
UCD / CDS	12		4th	2
Somos Oviedo										6th
C's										2
total	27	27	27	27	27	27	27	27	27	27

climate

Average values ​​from 1972 to 2000

month	Temperature ∅ ° C	Highest temperature ° C	Lowest temperature ° C	Rain in (mm)	relative humidity (%)	Days with snow	Days with a storm	Days with fog	Days with frost	Clear days	Hours of sunshine
January	8.0	11.7	4.2	85	76	1	1	5	3	4th	117
February	8.8	12.8	4.8	85	75	1	1	5	2	3	117
March	10.0	14.4	5.6	82	75	1	1	6th	1	3	147
April	10.6	14.9	6.3	109	77	0	2	8th	0	2	152
May	13.3	17.6	9.1	94	79	0	3	10	0	2	158
June	16.1	20.3	11.9	53	80	0	2	11	0	2	168
July	18.3	22.4	14.1	52	80	0	3	12	0	3	174
August	18.7	22.8	14.5	55	81	0	3	12	0	3	171
September	17.3	21.7	12.9	64	79	0	2	11	0	3	154
October	14.0	18.1	10.0	98	79	0	1	9	0	2	134
November	10.8	14.6	7.1	101	78	0	1	7th	0	3	114
December	9.0	12.5	5.5	96	76	0	1	5	2	3	105
year	12.9	22.8	4.2	973	78	5	20th	100	8th	33	1711

Source: Agencia Estatal de Meteorología - AEMET

Attractions

Buildings

Old town

The entire old town center of Oviedo is a pedestrian zone, which includes important sights such as the university, the Cathedral of San Salvador , the palace of the Marquis of San Félix and the Camposagrado palace, but also numerous statues in historical locations or the countless "sidrerías" (cider bars).

The university building is the last building in the old town center before entering the newer parts of the city. The 16th-century Plateresque-style facade leads to a cloister , which is the scene of numerous cultural activities throughout the year. The nearby facades of the Toreno and Camposagrado palaces are also worth seeing.

• Cathedral - late Gothic building from the 15th / 16th centuries Century with a tower, portico at the entrance and large rose window, " UNESCO World Heritage Site "
• Cámara Santa (Holy Chamber) in the Cathedral (actually Chapel San Miguel) - houses one of the most important Spanish relics collections. The holy chest, the angel's cross and the victory cross are shown. These relics used to be the reason for many pilgrims to make a long detour on their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. They found their way into the coat of arms of Oviedo and that of the Principality of Asturias as symbols.
• Balesquida Chapel opposite the cathedral
• San Tirso Church
• Museum of Fine Arts in the former Velarde Palace
• Museum of Archeology in the Monastery of San Vicente with examples of the entire Asturian art history from the Bronze Age

• 

  San Salvador Cathedral

• 

  Cloister

• 

  Church of San Isidoro el Real

• 

  Street scene

• 

  Asturias seat of government

• 

  The modern Oviedo

• 

  Plaza de Trascorrales

The pre-Romanesque church of San Miguel de Lillo , a few kilometers from Oviedo (9th century)

Pre-Romanesque architecture

The innovative pre-Romanesque style of Asturias from the 9th century is an exclusive legacy of this region with a focus on Oviedo. Some of the most important buildings like the churches

• San Julián de los Prados (probably built under Alfonso II around 800-830),
• Santa María del Naranco (built under Ramiro I as aula regia of a palace complex around 850),
• San Miguel de Lillo (remnants of a palace chapel of Ramiro I),

together with Santa Cristina de Lena , the Cámara Santa (Holy Chamber) and La Foncalada (a medieval fountain) were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO .

Buildings from the late 19th century

The profits from mining and industrial development in Asturias enabled a structural development in the 19th century, which can be seen around the Plaza de la Escandalera and the Park Campo de San Francisco. Of these are worth mentioning

• the Palacio Regional, seat of the General Assembly of the Principality,
• the building of the Asturian savings bank Caja de Asturias
• as well as the bank building of the former Banco Herrero,

which are based on the French style of the time. The Teatro Campoamor, where the Príncipe de Asturias awards are presented every year, and the Center for Modern Art are also nearby. A small side street, Calle Gil de Jaz, leads to the former provincial hospice (18th century), which today houses the luxurious Hotel Reconquista.

Congress Palace (Palacio de los Congresos) by Santiago Calatrava

Squares, parks and other things

Oviedo has several places worth seeing (selection):

• Plaza de la Catedral
• Plaza de Alfonso II el Casto with the palaces Valdecarzana and Rúa
• Plaza de Trascorrales in Cimadevilla, the oldest quarter of the old town, with the former commodity exchange
• Plaza de la Constitución with the town hall and the Church of San Isidoro, both from the 18th century
• Plaza de Fontán with colonnades, the former iron and glass market
• Plaza de Daoíz y Velarde provided with colorful houses of this square and arcades.

There is also a statue of Woody Allen in Oviedo, who built the city into his film " Vicky Cristina Barcelona ".

Oviedo has several green areas and parks. The largest is the Parque de Invierno .

Local culinary specialties

• Sidra - apple cider
• Cheese from Cabrales ( Cabrales ), Vidiago or Gamonedo
• Carne gobernada - braised meat
• Pixin - monkfish
• Frixuelos - a kind of crepe
• Fabada - Asturian bean dish
• Arroz con Leche - rice pudding
• Tarta de Almendras - almond cake

Town twinning

Oviedo has twinned cities with the following cities:

• Valparaíso ( Chile ), since 1973
• Bochum ( Germany ), since 1979
• Buenos Aires ( Argentina ), since 1983
• Veracruz ( Mexico ), since 1983
• Clermont-Ferrand ( France ), since 1988
• Tampa , Florida ( USA ), since 1991
• Santiago de Compostela ( Spain ), since 1993
• Santa Clara ( Cuba ), since 1995
• Jersey City , New Jersey (USA), since 1998
• Cholon ( Israel ), since 1999
• Zamora (Spain), since 2001
• Torrevieja (Spain), since 2004
• Valencia de Don Juan (Spain), since 2006
• Hangzhou ( People's Republic of China ), since 2006
• Viseu ( Portugal ), since 2007
• Móstoles (Spain), since 2010
• Maranello ( Italy ), since 2010

sons and daughters of the town

• José Tomás Boves (1782–1814), Venezuelan caudillo
• Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés (1900–1988), wife of Francisco Franco
• Rafael Rodríguez Urrusti (1922–2000), artist
• Carmen Franco y Polo (1926–2017), daughter of Francisco Franco and Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdés
• Quini (1949-2018), football player
• Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano (* 1972), Queen of Spain
• César Martín (* 1977), football player
• Samuel Sánchez (* 1978), racing cyclist
• Jonás Fernández (* 1979), politician
• Melendi (* 1979), Asturian singer
• Fernando Alonso (* 1981), Formula 1 world champion in 2005 and 2006
• Luis García Fernández (* 1981), football player
• Javier Paredes (* 1982), football player
• Adrián Colunga (* 1984), football player
• Ernesto Amantegui Phumipha (* 1990), football player
• Jorge Meré (* 1997), football player
• Manuel García Alonso (* 1998), football player

Web links

Commons : Oviedo  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Oviedo Official Website (Spanish)
• Information about Oviedo on the website of the twin city Bochum

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Cifras oficiales de población resultantes de la revisión del Padrón municipal a 1 de enero . Population statistics from the Instituto Nacional de Estadística (population update).
2. ^ Election results 2011 Spanish Ministry of the Interior
3. ^ Election results 2015 Spanish Ministry of the Interior
4. ↑ Valores climatológicos normales. Oviedo , accessed October 13, 2018
5. ↑ Website Oviedo - Ciudades Hermanadas ( Memento of the original from July 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 28, 2018 

• Population figures see INE
• Postcodes see [1]
• For coordinates and heights, see Google Earth
• Thomas Schröder: Northern Spain. Erlangen 2005, p. 388ff.

Navigation bar St. James " Camino Primitivo "

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