CÁMARA SANTA DE OVIEDO
- Declared National Monument and World Heritage site by UNESCO, being added in 1998 to the set of Pre-Romanesque Asturian monuments that under the name of “Churches of the Kingdom of Asturias” had been included in 1985.
- In the 12th century the second storey was built elevating its height and replacing the wooden roof by a half-barrel vault upon transverse arches, supported by columns, on which a magnificent Romanesque apostle was sculptered on each.
- It was blasted during th October revolution in 1934 and rebuilt in 1939 by L. Menéndez-Pidal and the sculptor Carlos Hevia, following previous studies by M. Gómez Moreno and A. Ferrant.
Martyrial double plan building following a design that comes from the Roman world, in which the lower part is used for burials and the upper part for worship. In Spain there are precedents at least since the Paleo-Christian art, since we find structures of the same type in the Mausoleo de la Alberca in Murcia, Santa Eulalia de Bóveda, although in this last case it is not a martyrial building, and La Cripta de San Antolín in Palencia, Visigothic of the seventh century. This model will reach its maximal expression within the High Medieval Art in the palace of Santa María del Naranco, also built in Oviedo some 50 years later than the Holy Chamber.
Though the chronicles of the time do not mention it until the one of Silos, from the beginnings of the twelfth centurry, both its structure and bond, based on rough ashlar, like the Tower of San Miguel, to which is attached, locate the construction during the reign of Alphonse the Second, the Chaste, at the beginnings of the ninth century, probably as a palatial chapel. The higher plan was modified in the twelfth century to make the nave higher, replacing the original flat roof by a barrel vault, supported by fajones arches that lean on six double columns, decorated with the apostles,one of the most interesting group of sculptures of Spanish Romanesque. Unfortunately, as it also happens with many other Pre-Romanesque monuments it suffered wild barbarity in Asturias in 1934 causing serious damage. It was rebuilt between 1938 and 1942.
Other interesting information
Information Telephone: Arzobispado de Oviedo: 985 20 31 17. e-mail; email@example.com.
Arte Pre-románico Asturiano: Antonio Bonet Correa
SUMMA ARTIS: Tomo VIII
L’Art Preroman Hispanique: ZODIAQUE
Ars Hispanie: Tomo II
Arte Asturiano: José Manuel Pita Andrade
Guía del Arte Prerrománico Asturiano: Lorenzo Arias Páramo
La intervención en la arquitectura prerrománica asturiana: Jorge Hevia Blanco, Gema Elvira Adán Álvarez
Cámara Santa – Enciclopedia de Oviedo
Capilla de San Miguel (Cámara Santa de la Catedral)
El sello de Augusto en la Cruz de los Angeles
Cámara Santa de la Catedral de Oviedo