Iglesia de San Julián de los Prados

Also known as Santullano, this is one of the largest surviving pre-Romanesque churches in Spain, built in the early ninth century by the Asturian monarchy on the edge of Oviedo. Its plain exterior conceals an interior covered with rare Roman-influenced wall paintings of architectural fantasies, curtains and crosses rather than figures, a decorative scheme almost unique in early medieval Europe. Part of the UNESCO listing of Asturian monuments, it offers a vivid glimpse of the art of a small Christian kingdom in the mountainous north.