2.- Historic town of Oviedo The city of Oviedo has a history of Roman settlements in its area. as the now gone village of Paraxuga or the recently discovered fountain of La Rua. In the 8th century AD. the hill was already filled with religious buildings which included the primitive church of San Salvador and the monastery of San Vicente. However. its birth as a city is linked to the patronage of the kings of Asturias. especially Alfonso II. who made it the political capital and endowed it with a rich display of pre-Romanesque civil and religious architecture. Among them. the ones who are preserved are the Holy Chamber. the wall of the church of San Tirso. the palatine vestiges of the Garden of Pachu and. in the outskirts of the city. the monastery of San Julián de los Prados and the churches of San Miguel de Lillo and Santa María del Naranco. After the transfer of the court to León during the 10th century. Oviedo was transformed into a thriving ecclesiastical city. dependent on the bishopric of San Salvador de Oviedo and a mercantile city linked to the port of Avilés. In the 11th century. the medieval cult of the relics of the Holy Ark acquired international renown and the church of San Salvador de Oviedo became the second most important pilgrimage centre on the Way of Saint James. The cathedral or the palace of the Rua. one of the main examples of medieval civil architecture in Asturias. are from this period. Its prominence as the capital of the Principality of Asturias during the 16th to 18th centuries attracted a high nobility which made Asturias its residence and proceeded to build great palaces such as Camposagrado. Valdecarzana. Toreno or Velarde and to rebuild religious buildings. which was the case with the monasteries of San Vicente and San Pelayo. From the 19th century on. Oviedo became a bourgeois city and gave way to the development of large expansion districts and public spaces such as Uría Street and San Francisco Park. endowed with extraordinary examples of contemporary architecture.