Oviedo - Ayuntamiento de Oviedo

Oviedo was founded on a hill that the Romans called Ovetao. The monks Máximo and Fromestano founded a monastery on the Roman road in 761 and built a hermitage. Later, two dozen monks from the Muslim south joined the founders and, according to a document, chose Fromestano as their first abbot. They were under the protection of Fruela I, who chose the place as a residence for his wife Munia, who gave birth here to their son and later King Alfonso II.

Alfonso II (aka "the Chaste", "el Casto" moved the capital here in 812 and made Oviedo the seat of the bishopric. In 912, however, Oviedo lost its function as capital to León under García I in the course of the reconquest. Alfonso II fortified Oviedo and furnished it with palaces and churches.

During his reign, a tomb attributed to St James the Elder was discovered in Santiago de Compostela in 812. The king travelled from Oviedo to Santiago and is said to have been the first pilgrim to Santiago. He is also said to have opened the first Way of St James, the Camino Primitivo. Until the city of León was established as both the capital of the Kingdom of León and the nexus of a safe route — the Camino Francés — the Camino Primitivo remained the most frequented route for those going to Santiago.

The city hall was designed by Juan de Naveda and built between 1622 and 1623. It was renovated and extended in 1939