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Church of Santa María de la Oliva

Villaviciosa, Gijón, Asturias

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Spain › Principality of Asturias › Gijón › Villaviciosa › Church of Santa María de la Oliva

Church of Santa María de la Oliva

Monument · Villaviciosa, Gijón, Asturias

The church of Santa María de la Oliva, also popularly known as Santa María del Conceyu, was built from the founding charter granted by Alfonso X the Wise in 1270, between the late 13th and early 14th centuries, in transition from Romanesque to Gothic. It has three doorways: the main one, splayed, with four archivolts and eight columns with decorated shafts, shows an Annunciation on the keystone and six saints mutilated during the fire suffered in the 1936 civil war; the other two, simpler, open on the sides. It was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (an earlier Spanish heritage protection category) on 3 June 1931 and restored in the mid-20th century by Luis Menéndez Pidal. It lost its parish function in 1838, and between 1873 and 1885 its surroundings were reorganised, separating it from the urban fabric.

Photo: David Álvarez López (CC BY 2.0)

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