OVIEDO, chief town of the preceding, is situated about 14 miles S. of Gijón and the coast, on a slope. About a mile to the N.W. is the Sierra de Naranco, 1070 feet above the sea, by which the town is protected from the N. winds, though the vapours collected by it in the spring and autumn render the climate extremely humid, and do not conduce to its salubrity. Most part of the town was burned in 1521, and the reconstruction, till within some years, has been irregular. The four main streets are formed by the roads connecting Gijón and Leon, N. and S., and Santander and Grado, E. and W., which cross each other in a central plaza. The streets are clean and well-lighted; the houses are built with projecting roofs. In the central plaza are the Casas Consistoriales, with a piazza,—the finest, it is said, in Spain. There are two prisons: one known as the Real Castillo—the fortress, with some changes, built by Alonso III., A.D. 913, on the west in an angle of the walls. It was partly destroyed with gunpowder by General Bonnet in 1818. The other is called the Carcel Galera. There is a theatre, capable of containing 700 spectators. The university, founded by Philip III. in 1604, after the project of Valdés, Archbishop of Seville, is a square building, 180 feet every way; the N. gate has two lofty Doric pillars on each side; the E. gate is more handsome. These entrances open on a central court with pillared galleries. The university has a library, founded in 1764, of 12,000 volumes; a museum of natural science, particularly mechanics and chemistry; and various theological and philosophical chairs. There is a normal school, three other public schools, and 17 private. The poor-house (Hospicio Provincial) is a large and handsome edifice, of date 1762. In 1837 the three hospitals of the town were consolidated into a general hospital in the ex-convent of San Francisco. The present cathedral was commenced in the fourteenth century, the previous church, erected in the ninth century, being taken down, and nothing is now left of it save the Camara Santa. The west front
has a fine portico of ornamented arches, with two lateral towers, of which the completed one rises 200 feet; the uncompleted tower was surmounted in 1575 with a pyramidal top. Of the lateral chapels, the most remarkable are the Capilla del Rey Casto (Alonso II.), where are the remains of many successive princes of the House of Pelayo; and the Camara Santa, containing in an area the relics saved by Don Pelayo when he fled to the Asturias. Besides the cathedral, there are four parish churches and six convents in Oviedo. The churches remarkable for their early architectural style have been already mentioned. Outside the town, on the Gijon road, is a black marble monument to Jovellanos, re-erected in 1835. The industry of the town, and productions of the neighbouring country, have been indicated in the preceding article. Pop. (1847) 9384.