Cathedral of San Salvador

Gothic cathedral with the pre-Romanesque Cámara Santa and its Romanesque apostle columns

The Gothic cathedral dominates the old town and has been a pilgrimage site since the Middle Ages. The exterior is mostly 14th to 16th century, with a single asymmetric tower that gives the building an oddly lopsided charm. Inside, the main attraction is the Cámara Santa — a pre-Romanesque chapel built into the cathedral that predates the Gothic structure by several centuries. Its 12th-century paired apostle columns are masterpieces of Romanesque sculpture.

The cathedral museum displays the Cruz de los Ángeles (808 AD) and the Cruz de la Victoria (908 AD), jewelled processional crosses that are symbols of Asturias and appear on the regional flag. Allow at least an hour for the cathedral and museum together. The cloister is a quiet retreat from the busy plaza outside.

things to do sight architecture
A story
The Cámara Santa, a 9th-century chapel within the cathedral, holds the Arca Santa — a reliquary chest said to contain relics brought from Jerusalem via North Africa during the Muslim conquest. For centuries, pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago detoured to Oviedo specifically to see it, giving rise to the saying: "He who goes to Santiago and not to the Salvador, visits the servant and not the master."

Other places in Things to Do