3.- THEATRE

The city council of Oviedo carries out a varied theatre programme throughout the year: an autumn season, a spring season, a Asturian Customs-and-Manners theatre cycle, etc. The larger productions of these shows take place in municipal theatres (The Campoamor and The Filarmonica theatres) whilst the smaller productions take place in alternative venues as The Fontan square and Trubia’s theatre.

These stages of Oviedo have been host to the country’s best actors, and the most prestigious playwrights have been represented: Shakespeare, Brecht, Buero Vallejo.

4. MUSEUMS

4.1. Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias (Museum of Fine Arts): Inaugurated in 1980, this museum started with the primitive art collection of the old Diputación Provincial. It is situated within three buildings in the Old Quarter: the Palacio de Velarde, an 18th century building to which a further 20th century building has been annexed and the Casa de Oviedo-Portal, built in the 17th century. It includes more than 8,000 pieces on its inventory .This constitutes one of the best public art collections in Spain, with pieces spanning from the Middle Ages to modern times.

www.museobbaa.com

4.2. Archeological Museum: Situted in the cloister of St Vincent Benedictine Monastery. Its origin seems to be somewhat related to Máximo and Fromestano –city founders-. It keeps archeological remains dating from prehistoric times, from the so-called “cultura de los castros” (Pre-Roman protohistoric age), Roman times and magnificent pieces of Asturian Preromanesque style, ethnography, epigraphy, heraldry...It is temporarily closed for repairs.

4.3. Oviedo Church Museum: Inaugurated in the year 1990, It is located in the so-called “High Cloister” high above the Gothic Cloister of Oviedo’s S. Salvador Cathedral (Our Holy Saviour’s Cathedral). It is made up of 8 rooms, having each of which a guiding epigraph to highlight the message inherent to the sacred objects it shows through biblical passages. It mainly diplays religious works of art as Chalices, Diptychs ,Triptychs (Altarpieces), Paintings and sculptures, Religious Garments etc. It also displays pieces spanning form the 6th c to the middle of the 20th c ,being the oldest of them all the DIPTYCH OF FLAVIO ESTRATEGIO APIÓN (Marble Byzantine diptych dating from the 6th c). Among the more recent pieces BISHOP LAURIZICA’S MITRE is well worth mentioning, It dates from the middle of the 20th c. Other remarkable pieces are: a Romanesque Diptych dating from the 12th c and a Gothic Diptych from the 14th century.

4.4. The Sacred Chamber: located in the Chapel of Saint Michael in Oviedo’s San Salvador Cathedral, this was the upper worship space located on top of Saint Leocadia’s Crypt. It is furthermore the only construction- rebuilt- still in existence dating from the original buildings that formed the central nucleus of the City of Oviedo. In this Chapel, also known traditionally as The Sacred Chamber, the treasures and Sacred Remains of Oviedo’s San Salvador Cathedral have been kept since the 11th century, being some of the most venerated relics in Mediaeval Christian Spain. Amongst the relics are the following : the Holy Arc, allegedly made from cedar wood in Jerusalem by the disciples of the Apostles to keep relics relating to the life and passion of Our Lord; the Holy Shroud, this most important and venerated relic is kept in a silver-plated wooden frame dating from the 17th-18th century; the Cross of the Angels, donated by Alfonso II and the symbol of Oviedo, and the Victory Cross, donated by Alfonso III and the symbol of Asturias.

5.- MUNICIPAL EXHIBITION SPACES

Café Español: located in Cimadevilla Street, very close to the Council Hall, this place is characterised by the diversity of its art events.

The exhibitions space in the ‘Prince Philip’ Auditorium-Palace of Congress. Its arched structure belonged to the old Oviedo water deposit, a masterpiece of civil engineering, having been preserved as a synthesis of designs dating from different ages.