Santa Maria del Naranco Church, Oviedo (must see)

Church of Saint Mary of the Naranco is a compact, two-storey stone building that began not as a church but as the royal hall of King Ramiro I in the mid-9th century. Its elevated loggias open to the landscape, giving the former palace the look of a lookout pavilion as much as a ceremonial space.

Sometime in the 10th century the palace was converted into a church, a function it keeps today alongside its status as a historic site. It’s one of the best-known monuments in Asturian pre-Romanesque art and part of the UNESCO listing “Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of the Asturias.”

Architecturally, the building shows some of the key innovations of the early medieval period. The upper hall is covered by a long barrel vault, reinforced with transverse arches that help support the weight and keep the structure stable. On the outside, the walls are supported by buttresses, while the narrow arches-slightly raised in height-create a sense of vertical emphasis.

These elements are often seen as early steps toward the Romanesque style that would develop later. At one end of the building, an exterior staircase provides access, while at the other, open galleries serve as viewpoints overlooking the city and surrounding hills.