World Heritage – Monuments of Oviedo and kingdom of Asturias
Spain – Correos issues a new block of the World Heritage series, this year, dedicated to Monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias.
In 1985, Unesco decided to include as a World Heritage Site Santa María del Naranco, San Miguel de Lillo and Santa Cristina de Lena. Thirteen years later, in 1998, the enrolment was extended to San Julián de los Prados, Cámara Santa de Oviedo and Foncalada.
The reasons given were about the disputes between Arabs and Christians. As a Christian nucleus in resistance against the Arabs, it created a special architecture, away from other styles that were given in the Spanish Middle Ages.
The main monuments of Oviedo and the Kingdom of Asturias began to be built at the beginning of the 8th century and throughout the 9th century. In the first moments of consolidation of the Asturias kingdom, the capital moved from Cangas de Onís to Oviedo and with it is settled the Asturian monarchy.
The location of these monuments is mainly the countryside and the surroundings of Oviedo, although three of them are in the interior of the city. Its fundamental characteristic is that this artistic style is linked to the surrounding landscape, forming with it an aesthetic unity.
The foldable block sheet has, among its die-cut arches, an image of the green Asturian landscape, with a lake surrounded by mountains and vegetation, crowned with an intense blue sky adorned with white clouds.
The stamp that is issued, has a round shape and represents the front of the two-euro coin that is put into circulation this year. The image that collects the coin, is one of the most emblematic buildings of this set that is part of the exclusive list of World Heritage, the palace of Santa Maria del Naranco, located four kilometers from Oviedo, on the hillside South of Monte Naranco. Originally not projected as a church, it was the Aula Regia of the palace complex that King Ramiro I had built on the outskirts of the capital of the kingdom of Asturias.
Issue Date: 16.05.2017
Process: Offset
Size: Circular 32 mm, Minisheet: 150 x 104.5 mm
Values: 5€
