Santa María del Naranco

The church of St Mary at Mount Naranco (Spanish: Iglesia de Santa María del Naranco; Asturian: Ilesia de Santa María'l Narancu) is a Roman Catholic Asturian pre-Romanesque Asturian architecture church on the slope of Mount Naranco situated 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Oviedo, northern Spain. Ramiro I of Asturias ordered it to be built as a royal palace as part of a larger complex that also incorporated the nearby church of San Miguel de Lillo, 100 meters away. It was completed in 842 and consecrated in 848. Its structural features, such as the barrel vault — with transverse ribs corresponding one-to-one with contraforts at the exterior, make it a clear precursor of the Romanesque construction. The exterior decorations, as well as the use of stilted arches mark the intended verticality of the composition.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa María del Naranco