Asturian pre-romanic art

Throughout its existence, the kingdom of Asturies was to legitimise its ideal of the State through an ideological programme whose fundamental base for the expression of a concept of civility, of prestige and differential singularity was artistic. In this way, between the seventh and tenth centuries, affirming itself in the unity of the kingdom and in the firm willpower of its monarchs, the genesis and splendour of an artistic production of rich variety within a characteristic pattern saw the light; that which Jovellanos would later call Asturian Art, and which would form an essential part of the complex world of western Pre-Romanic art. Scholars have since identified four stages or periods in the evolution of Asturian Pre-Romanic art:
a) The Paleoasturian (722-791), which coincided with the beginnings of the Asturian monarchy;
b) The reign of Alfonso II (791842), a period of political and ideological consolidation with the building of Oviedo as the Regia Sedes;
c) Ramirian art, which coincides with the reign of Ramiro I (842-850); and
d) The reign of Alfonso III El Magno(866-910), a period of expansion and repopulation of the kingdom and of the founding of palacial buildings which were to be the cause of a rich eclecticism in León, Palencia, Galicia and the north of Portugal.
Within this blossoming of culture we may emphasise an architecture of extraordinarily original beauty in its ornamental motifs and constructive solutions to architectural connundrums, especially in its painted murals (the church of San Julian de los Prados) and its very own architectonic decoration achieved through a plasticity of structural elements (Palacio de Santa Maria del Naranco, San Miguel de Lillo ... ), not forgetting work with jewels and precious metals such as the Cruz de los Angeles(Alfonso II), or the Cruz de la Victoria (Alfonso III), symbol of the kingdom of Asturias and the actual shield and flag of the country, mounted on a wooden standard which tradition states Pelayo carried into combat at the battle of Cuadonga.