Spain · UNESCO World Heritage series, 8th issue, Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias

The Kingdom of Asturias emerged in the early Middle Ages in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, after large parts of the Visigothic Kingdom had come under Muslim rule. Under Alfonso II, Oviedo became the political and ecclesiastical centre of the kingdom. The architecture developed there in the 9th century is now generally referred to as Asturian pre-Romanesque. It combines Late Antique and Visigothic traditions with independent structural and decorative forms.

Santa María del Naranco was built under King Ramiro I and completed in 848. The building was originally not a church, but presumably a royal reception hall within a palace complex on the slope of Monte Naranco near Oviedo. It was only used for ecclesiastical purposes later. The rectangular, two-storey building has a stone barrel vault, external buttresses and open arcades on the narrow sides. Columns, medallions and relief bands structure the interior. San Miguel de Lillo, which also belonged to the royal complex of Ramiro I, stands in the immediate vicinity.

The protected World Heritage site officially bears the name “Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias”. It includes several 9th-century buildings, including San Julián de los Prados, Santa Cristina de Lena and the Cámara Santa of Oviedo Cathedral. La Foncalada, a historic fountain complex, is also included. The group documents both the courtly and ecclesiastical architecture of the Asturian kingdom.

The issue is part of a Spanish coin series dedicated to the UNESCO World Heritage sites located in the country. Since 2010, one of these sites has been featured each year, generally in the order in which they were added to the World Heritage List. This explains the selection of the Asturian ensemble for the 2017 issue; the individual building serves as an easily recognisable representative of the entire group of monuments.