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As long ago as the Prehistory,
in the Stone Age, human sites are known scattered along the Asturian
geography, as it is proved in the sites found in the caves of
Tito Bustillo (Ribadesella), El Pindal (Ribadedeva), El Buxu (Cangas
de Onis), San Román de Candamo (Candamo), Covaciella (Cabrales),
-recently discovered, it is not open to the public yet-, besides
many others less important. |
Other prehistoric remains such as dolmens, tumulus
and the idol of Peña Tú (Llanes) are found along the
recondite Asturian geography.
In the Iron Age, the Asturians and the Cantabrians bequeath, after
a Long resistance to the Romans during the Cantabrian Wars (29 b.C.
- 19 b.C.) in Emperor Augustus' times, their Celtic culture in the
hillforts, fortified enclosures, among which those best preservad
are Coaña (Coaña), San Chuís (Allende) and that
of Pendia (Boal).
Apart from interesting artistic manifestations and remains of sume
buildings such as the Roman Baths of Campo Valdés (Gijón),
Romanization in Asturias leaves a road network that connected us with
the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, out of which the Calzada Romana
de la Mesa or Camín Real has been preserved. This communicated
Torrestio in Leon with Gijon, and with no end of western minings,
among which we must point out the gold minings.
After his victory against the Moors in the Battle of Covadonga, the
birthplace of the Reconquest of Spain, Don Pelayo starts the period
of the Asturian monarchy. A royal lineage that fights for liberty
and independence, offering a period of splendour and leaving to us
an architectural art, rustic and plain: the Asturian Pre-Romanesque
architecture, declared as Humanity Heritage by the UNESCO in 1985.
The Pre-Romanesque develops through three epochs coinciding with the
reigns of three different kings, thoogh it is previously seen in the
church of Santianes de Pravia (8th century, 774-783).
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The age of Alfonso II (9th
century, 791-842): Holy Chamber, San Tirso, San Julián
de los Prados, Santa María de Bendones and San Pedro de
Nora (Oviedo). The age of Ramiro I (9th century, 842-850): Santa
María del Naranco, San Miguel de Lillo (Oviedo) and Santa
Cristina de Lena (Lena).
The age of Alfonso II (9th - 10th centuries, 866-910): San Salvador
de Valdediós and San Salvador de Priesca (Villaviciosa),
San Salvador de Gobiendes (Colunga), Santo Adriano de Tuñón
(Santo Adriano) and Foncalada Fountain, the only civil monument
preserved in Oviedo.
Being the court
moved to León in the tenth century, Asturias suffers a
long period of isolation, only saved by the pilgrims' road to
Santiago de Compostela, which forces the entry of Romanesque and
the building of many churches, monasteries and hospitais for pilgrims'
care. |
Gothic leaves also
its trace, being the cathedral its most representative monument. Built
between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, it keeps in the interior,
besides the altarpiece, the relics of the Cross of the Angels, the
Cross of the Victory, the Agate Coffer, etc.
From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century,
Asturias romains locked itself in and with very little capacity to
make progress until the Enlightenment, when Jovellanos, Feijoo and
Campomanes promoted culture, economy and politics.
Those Asturians enriched in their emigration
fill the Principado of Asturias with peculiar small palaces and modernist
mansions, known as Casas de Indianos.
By the middie of the nineteenth century, and
with the iron and coalmining, the way to the industrial development
starts, which helps, with the appearance of the railway, the arrival
of workers from all over Spain who make a considerable influence in
the syndicalist politics, such as the Revolutionary Movement in 1934.
After the Spanish Civil War, and in recent history,
Asturias is established as an independent region with the name of
Principado de Asturias.
Asturias kept in the past
and as a consequence of its geographic isolation, a very important
craft industry, that disappeared with the arrival of new methods of
production. However, it still has a very varied range of hand-made
articles: cutiery, pottery, wooden articles, "madreñas"
making, basketmaking, modelling, jet, mesh needlework, carpets, tapestry,
woodcarving, regional dress, leather.
The geography and the climate of
Asturias have shaped a varied architecture, mainly:
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"Teitos",
rectangular stone buildings with a plant roof.
"Corros",
circular stone builUings with a stone roof.
Huts,
stone tiled roof buildings.
These constructions are predominant in the mountains to protect
herdsmen and livestock. |
| "Horreos",
all across the region. Elevated barns built with wood and with a
squared ground plan, over stone or wooden columns called "pegoyos",
roofed with four slopes of tile or slate, depending on its location
in the western or the eastern area. They preserve harvests from
humidity.
"Mariñanas"
houses, Farming house, with only one ground with two spaces: stable
and rooms.6 |
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