OVIE'DO, a pleasant and healthy city of Spain, capital of the modern province of the srme name (the ancient Asturias, q.v.). stands on a plain between the rivers "Nalon and Nora, 61 in. n.n.w. of Leon, and 22 m. s.s.w. of Gijon, on the hay of Biscay. In the center of the city is a liandscme square, from which four principal streets tcrminntuer in nl•medas or prometindes, hunch off toward the n., s., e., and w., respectively. These main streets ere connected by oilers, and till are clean and well-paved. Pure water is alaindnetly supplied by means of a long aqueduct, and is delivered in the city by eleven fiddle ionntnins. The cathedral, a cruciform specimen of Gothic, the oinementation of which is as rich as it is elegant, contains (in the chapel of the Virgin) the remains of many of the early kings and princes of Asturias, and has a fine old library. Some curious, hut eminently questionable relics. tire to he fout.d in the
church of San hllt2ttl, which is the second oldest Christian building after the Moorish invasion. In the immediate vicinity of the city there are other churches in the early Saxon style, which are among the oldest chnraes in the peniusula. The convent of San Vincente, founded in 1281, has been seculatized, and is now occupied by government offices. etc. Linens, woolens, hats, and tire-arms are manufactured. Pop. 25,460.
Oviedo was known during the middle ages as Oivilas Ey/scope:rum, because many of, the Spanish prelates who lind been dispossessed of their sees by the Moors, took refuge here. This city, which is the see of a bishop, was twice plundered of its ecclesiastical and other treasures during the war of indeperelenee; first by Eoult, and subsequently by Bonnet.