OVIEDO, an episcopal city and capital of the Spanish prov ince of Oviedo; 16 m. S. of the Bay of Biscay, on the river Nalon, and on the Leon-Gijon Oviedo-Trubia and Oviedo-Infiesto rail ways. Pop. (1930) 75,463. Oviedo is built on a hill rising from a broad and picturesque valley, which is bounded on the north-west by the Sierra de Naranco. Oviedo, founded in the reign of Fruela (762), became the fixed residence of the kings of the Asturias in the time of Alphonso II., and continued to be so until about when the advancing reconquest of Spain from the Moors led them to remove their capital to Leon. The university was founded by Philip III. in 1604. The Gothic cathedral, founded in 1388, occu pies the site of a chapel founded in the 8th century, of which only the Camara Santa remains. The Camara Santa (dating from 802) contains the famous arca of Oviedo, an 11th century Byzantine chest of cedar, overlaid with silver reliefs of Biblical scenes. In
it are preserved two crosses dating from the 8th and 9th centuries. The cathedral library has some old mss., including a deed of gift made by Alphonso II. of Asturias in 812, and a collection of illuminated documents of the 12th century, called the Libro gotico. On the Sierra de Naranco is the ancient Santa Maria de Naranco, originally built by Ramiro I. of Asturias in 85o as a palace, and afterwards turned into a church. Higher up the hill is San Miguel de Lino, also of the 9th century; and on the road to Gijon, about a mile outside the town, is the Santullano or church of St. Julian, also of very early date. Oviedo is the centre of an agricultural trade. Other industries are marble-quarrying, the manufacture of arms, cotton and woollen fabrics, iron goods, leather and matches.