Oviedo

At Alfonso II el Casto square, following Eusebio González Abascal street as far as Porlier square, you have to stop to admire the proportions of the two beautiful Baroques which follow on the right: first of all, the Valdecarzana, then the Camposagrado, two gems which help to enrich the set of monuments in the square yet further.

Balesquida chapel, at the corner of the square with Eusebio González Abascal street, crowns the architectonic series of the Rúa with a Baroque building containing the image of the Our Lady of Hope and which constitutes a perpetual homage - as borne out by the scissors hanging from the corner balcony to the guild of tailors. the brotherhood of Balesquida was, in the 13th century, the beneficiary of the will of a lady from Oviedo, Velasquita Giráldez, and the feast day of this entity, Martes de Campo (Country Tuesday), is a local holiday in Oviedo.

After passing through Carbayón square and admiring up close the grace of the figures on the Monument to the Concord (1997) by Esperanza dʼOrs from Madrid, we run into the Campoamor theatre.

A neoclassical 19th century building, the Campoamor theatre is not only an international icon referred to every year with the handing over of the Prince of Asturias awards, but also a non-stop cultural engine which keeps the Asturian capital busy all year long.

The extraordinary presence of the cathedral of Oviedo defines the profile of Alfonso II the Chaste square, the most central one in the city, located right on the heart of the medieval city. Endowed with flamboyant Gothic style, the San Salvador cathedral started to be erected in the 14th century on the site of the previous church of the same name at the behest of Bishop don Gutierre, a champion of the fight against the Jews, though the set was not completed until the 16th century.

In addition to its architecture, the cathedral of Oviedo stands out for the numerous jewels it holds in its interior such as the Holy Chamber, declared by Unesco in 1998 as Heritage of Humanity, where the relics donated to the cathedral by Alfonso II the Chaste are kept; the Lignum Cricis, or Victory Cross, a symbol of the Principality of Asturias. Wamba, the bell which can be heard every day at the top of the belltower, is said to be the oldest cathedral bell in Spain.

In addition to its status as an episcopal seat, the cathedral of Oviedo also served as the Royal pantheon of the kingdoms of Asturias and León. The Kings and Queens of Asturias buried here include: Fruela I, Bermudo I the Deacon, Alfonso II the Chaste, Ramiro I, Ordoño I and Alfonso III the Chaste; those of the Crown of León include García I, Elvira (the wife of Ordoño II), Fruela II, Urraca of Navarre (the wife of Ramiro II) and Teresa, the wife of Sancho I the Fat.

Cimadevilla and Rúa streets form one of the main thoroughfares which crossed the walled city and led from its main access to the Jewish quarter. At Rúa street you will find the house of Oviedo-Portal which forms part, along with the adjoining house of Solís-Carvajal and the Velarde palace, of the Museum of Fine Arts of Oviedo (currently undergoing expansion and remodelling) whose rich heritage with over eight thousand pieces catalogued have made it one of the most important of its kind in Spain; the house was erected in 1660 in line with the project by the architect Melchor de Velasco to serve as the home of the alderman of the city don Fernando de Oviedo-Portal.

From Fontán, Fierro street, where the church of St. Isidore is located, leads to Constitución square, a broad space dominated by the colonnades of the town hall whose central arch coincides with the old access gate to the walled city.

The Torre del Reloj (Clock Tower) is one of the references of this building endowed with good proportions, dated as being from the 17th century, serving as a time tunnel to leap, once again, from the Baroque to the Middle Ages, in an environment which draws us a little closer to that of the historic Jewish quarter of Oviedo.

Travelling through time from the years of the Inquisition and the persecution of Judaizers which coincide with the foundation of the university of Oviedo, the route to Fontán street - where the current La Casina synagogue is located – starts on Ramón y Cajal street whose initial stretch as far as Riego square coincides, on the left, with the layout of the former medieval defensive wall.

Still outside the walls, and after leaving behind us in the square the beautiful Bernaldo Quirós palace, Los Pozos street intertwines with Rosal street which opens out, also on the left, into Fontán street. The Zapatos arch symbolically marks the entrance to Fontán street and square, the closed market and street market which is open every day; a space for popular architecture and for the merry cider bars which splash the ground with fermented apple juice... The stone columns mark the modern character of this everlasting market where the sculptoric reference of the traditional pottery dish sellers is not lacking. Vamos al Fontán (Let´s go to Fontán) is the phrase which defines the fondness of the Oviedo residents for this space awash with colour where number 11 of this street houses the contemporary synagogue.

The palace of the Count of Torreno, on the opposite side of Eusebio González Abascal street, overlooks Porlier square, at whose western end the Castiello gate used to be located, in other words, one of the castle gates located here and which served to access the city inside the walls and the Jewish district.

Annexed to Porlier square, Juan XXIII square marks another of the limits of the Jewish quarter. More at less at the place where the square meets the start of Jovellanos street must have been the Socastiello gate or Nova gate referred to in the Ordinances of 1274.

No sooner do we pass the threshold into the old city, than we meet Huevos alleys which leads to Trascorrales square where, in addition to the monument to the Lechera asturiana (Asturian Dairy), there is the building of the former Fishmonger´s which some researchers relate to the Jews and some nearby butcher´s where the Jewish community would get their Koshermeat.

According to the purchase and sale document of 1412, the cemetery of the Jewish community of Oviedo was situated at a plot near St. Clare´s convent, outside the walls of the city, located more or less where the Campoamor Theatre is currently to be found. The purchase and sale document for the land, owned by Mencía Fernández, the daughter of the doctor Yuçaf, and her husband Pedro Fernández Carrio, states that this plot was called la huerta de los judíos (the Jews´ garden).

A subsequent document dated 1530 confirms that this plot from 1412 was the Jewish cemetery. After the expulsion decreed by the Catholic Monarchs, the Council seized the cemetery, but left it in a state of abandonment which was taken advantage of by some residents to enter and farm the land and the Council bestowed them these rights. In the dispute the residents declared that the plot had been a tomb for the Jews and that they had seen many monuments and tombs there. One of the witnesses, Juan González de Lampajúa, was mentioned who told of a conversation with someone called Solomon, a Jew, who had said to him that the garden was a tomb for the Jews who lived in the city and that their forefathers were buried there. Another witness, Juan de la Podada, confirmed he had heard that the garden had always been a tomb for Jews and that he had seen there six or seven monuments and Pedro Menéndez del Estanco stated the same.

Entre el cementerio y la judería debió de haber, como mandan los cánones hebreos, una corriente de agua que separara el mundo de los vivios del de los muertos; hoy seguramente discurre de manera subterránea.

Between the cemetery and the Jewish quarter there must have been, as the Hebrew canons order, a stream of water separating the world of the living from that of the dead; today it probably runs underground.

In 1999 Oviedo City Council granted the building known as «La Casina» at number 11 of Fontán street to the Jewish community, Principality of Asturias. In addition to a synagogue, a Jewish cultural centre has been set up in this building dedicated to studying, disseminating and promoting the Jewish culture such as the Jewish Book Fair or acts with schoolchildren to remember the holocaust. They also collaborate with the Zibia Lubetkin group to educate about the memory of the Shoah.

In 2005 Oviedo city council, at the behest of the Israeli Community of the Principality of Asturias, inaugurated a Monolith in homage to the victims of the Nazi holocaust. The Monolith, situated at Parque de Invierno, near the bread basket, is a place commemorating a historic occurrence which should never be forgotten.

The stern look on the face of Fernando de Valdés Salas in the statue representing him at the center of the cloister of Oviedo University, undoubtedly incarnates the pompous character of the founder of this institution, but it is also, if you want to look at it that way, a certain examination of conscience after his work as the grand inquisitor between 1547 and 1566 when he was the central figure, amongst other cases, in the famous proceedings against Bartolomé de Carranza, the author of a big Índice de libros prohibidos (List of Prohibited books), but also an unflagging driving force behind cultural and charitable ventures; perhaps today don Fernando would not have been surprised to know that the volumes kept at the University library include two magnificent editions of the Ferrara Bible from 1553, a Bible in Spanish translated word for word from the Hebrew truth by most excellent academics and seen and examined by the office of the Inquisition.

Design in 1574 by Rodrigo Gil de Hontañón, the building, surrounded by the mandatory university quarry which established the higher jurisdiction of the chancellor, accommodated the faculties of Arts, Canons, Laws and Theology after its solemn inauguration in 1608 which its main promoter Valdés was unable to attend as he died a few years previously. The magnificent building which can be seen today is the culmination of profound restoration after the damage caused to the property during the October Revolution of 1934 and the subsequent Civil War.

It must have been via this Socastiello gate, or via the other of Castiello, that the Jews of Oviedo in the Middle Ages came out to bury their dead in the fossar (graveyard) or cemetery which stood in the place currently accommodating the Campoamor theatre. On one of the theatre walls which give out onto 19 de julio street, the following part of the document recalling the purchase and sale is reproduced on a plaque:

At Juan XXIII square, where there is little to remind us of the traditional labyrinth of Separdi Jewish districts, a plaque, placed on the pharmacy wall, recalls a fragment of the chapters of King Sancho IV addressed to the Council of Oviedo in 1286:

At the same Porlier square, the sculpture by Eduardo Úrculo El regreso de Williams Arrensberg (The return of Williams Arrensberg - 1993),a lifesize portrayal of a traveller with a hat and overcoat, resting on his suitcases, has become a true symbol of the city de Oviedo.

On the northwestern side of the square an explanatory Jewish settlements´ plan situates in this square the main Jewish landmarks of Oviedo, at least since the period when the members of the aljama ceased to be free to elect their place of residence in the city to focus on a specific place as from the Ordinances of the Council of Oviedo of 1274.

The space occupied by this square, plus that part of the block formed by the building on the northern side and that of the current Juan XXIII square, constitutes the essence of the Jewish quarter of Oviedo from the Castillo gate to the Socastiello Nueva gate and from the gate outwards, should they so wish. Those who drafted the Ordinances justify these limitations by the fact that the Jews»se esparzían a morar por la villa, por que venja danno ala villa, en muchas maneras que non queremos declarer», but they use this opportunity to establish a series of impediments to their activities. From this point onwards the Jews of Oviedo can no longer accept the pawning of stolen objects, grant loans to women without the autorisation of their husbands or carry out financial activities after nightfall.

At the confluencia of Rúa street with Alfonso II el Casto square lies the house or palace of Rúa, from the 15th century, also known as the palace of Marqués de Santa Cruz del Marcenado and regarded as the oldest civil building in the city.

Its solidity contrasts with Llanes House which stands by its side and which is dated 1740 as the residence of the Knight of the Order of St. James Menendo de Llanes-Campomanes. Opposite both constructions the statute La Regenta (wife of the Regent) displays its melancholy, a work by Mauro Álvarez from 1997, one of the numerous works of art occupying the city where the presence of the sculpture in the street has become one of its most genuine distinguishing features.

After the Ordinances of the Council in 1274, the Jews of Oviedo were required to live in the Socastiello district, alongside the Citadel and the city walls. The Jewish quarter of Oviedo occupied the area from Castillo Gate to the Socastiello New Gate. They could also live outside the walls should they so wish. It should be borne in mind that at that time the houses had already gone beyond the walled area and it is likely that some Jews had settled outside the walls as in the 15th century in the Western area there were still estates with the nickname de los judíos (of the Jews).

The Royal Castle and the Citadel in the 13th century occupied more or less the place where today the Telefónica building is located, alongside Porlier square, the Castillo Gate was on the left of the latter and the Nueva gate of Socastiello could have been either near the former San Juan street or the end of Cimadevilla street, as both gates are called Puerta Nueva (New Gate) in documents from the time. The internal limits of the Jewish quarter inside the city are harder to define.

No material remains of this Jewish quarter have been conserved. Neither have the same, narrow streets shared by Christians and Jews in the old Oviedo for centuries and the historic documentation which enables us to reconstruct and imagine the inhabitants of said Jewish community: Bartolomé Guion, notary; Beneito, moneychanger; Adan Giraldiz, Pedro Giraldiz, moneychangers; Petro Giraldiz, weaver; Petro Michaeliz, furrier; Aben Arsar, Asur Falconis, Bartolomé Alfageme, Don Symon, Annaias Tanoz and many more.

Following the tracks too of one of the most well-known Jews of our time, in Milicias Nacionales Street, opposite San Francisco park and slightly set back from the traffic on Uría street, stands the statue of the film-maker Woody Allen, a work by Antarúa from 2003, walks absent-minded as if pondering the long history of the Jews of Oviedo in the old district from where its steps appear to come... A final contemporary homage to the memory of a collective which formed part of the history of the city for a large part of the Middle Ages.