Oviedo becomes the capital of the Way of Saint James to present Xacobeo 2022

Oviedo celebrates the Xacobeo 2022 highlighting its role as the origin of the Primitive Way. The city organizes an exhibition about its history and heritage, focused on the figure of King Alfonso II. You are invited to walk this Way from Oviedo in a special Holy Year.

More news for the Holy Year 21-22, a continuous flow. The Xunta de Galicia has honored the city of Oviedo as the capital of the Camino de Santiago to present the Xacobeo 2022, in a gesture of recognition of its historical importance and as the starting point of the Primitive Way, one of the oldest Jacobean routes, and in support of the recovery of tourism and its promotion in the Principality of Asturias.

Galicians and Asturians, sibling cousins

This is the close relationship that is traditionally attributed to Galicians and Asturians. Perhaps for this reason, last November the first vice president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, presented the Xacobeo for the upcoming year 2022 in the Trascorrales square of the Asturian capital. "Here the Camino de Santiago was born and the Primitive Way has already become the third most important route. The capital of the Camino is this one and it is something worth promoting", Rueda acknowledges, who was accompanied at the presentation by the mayor of the city, Alfredo Canteli, the vice-counselor of Tourism of the Principality, Graciela Blanco, and Cesáreo González, president of the Tourism Cluster of Galicia, among other personalities and authorities.

"The bridges we have built (between Oviedo and Galicia) will never be broken again and collaboration is the only possible way," recalls Canteli

For the city of Oviedo, the extension of the Holy Year should not be wasted, "it should serve as a boost in the promotion of this intangible heritage of humanity and in which Oviedo has once again taken the place that history corresponds to it after thirty years", as the mayor states. The capital of Carbayona treasures monuments declared World Heritage, just like the Primitive Way itself since 2015.

Oviedo begins the Xacobeo year 2022 celebrating with an exhibition

Well, the people of Oviedo have rolled up their sleeves and are already celebrating the Xacobeo 2022. Since September, and, like the Holy Year 21-22, extended until January 16, you can visit the exhibition "Primitive Way. Oviedo". Organized by the newspaper La Nueva España, in the Newspaper Hall, at number 5 on Calvo Sotelo Street in the capital, you will be able to visit a display about the historical, heritage, and cultural legacy of Asturias as the origin of the Jacobean route.

Usually visited after traveling the French Way of the Camino de Santiago, with several thousand visitors so far, a success that has motivated its extension, in it you will be able to take a journey, a pilgrimage through time, to deeply understand the era of King Alfonso II the Chaste, between the late 8th century and the mid-9th century. The main attraction of the exhibition is a huge model of the young city of Ovetao, as it was known in the time of that king, who, besides having been born there, although he was raised in the Monastery of Samos, made it the capital of the kingdom.

Designed by Jesús Díaz Jubete, and with the sponsorship of the City Council of Oviedo, the Department of Culture, Linguistic Policy and Tourism of the Principality of Asturias, Banco Santander, and the EDP Foundation, the exhibition is curated by María Álvarez, a tenured professor of Medieval History at the University of Oviedo. It consists of six exhibition areas, to learn how King Casto ascended to the throne, the threats looming over his kingdom, the consequences of the discovery of the remains of Santiago, the impact of pilgrimages on the towns crossed by this new Primitive Way of Santiago, and the subsequent evolution of the Asturian capital into an important pilgrimage center, as from its cathedral the way to Compostela begins and also concludes the Way of the Savior from Leon.

If you wish to visit, you can do so from Tuesday to Friday, from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, and on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM in the mornings and from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM in the afternoons. During Christmas, there are some days with special hours:

• from December 24 to January 9: open every day of the week from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM;
• December 24 and 31 and January 5: from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM;
• December 25, January 1 and 6: from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

The entrance fee for adults is 5 euros. Children under 12 years old who come with an adult enter for free, although if the adult comes with more than one child, the price per child will be 3 euros starting from the second.

An unknown role in the Way of Santiago

Indeed, many people are unaware of the place that Oviedo holds in the history of the Jacobean itinerary. "For many, it is a true discovery", states José Fernández Uría, a retired individual with a passion for sharing knowledge and founding member of the Astur-Leonese Association of the Camino de Santiago, who is promoting the campaign "Oviedo, origin of the way" across Spain, an initiative of the local City Council where you can learn more on their website. The speaker, who has walked ten routes since the late eighties and travels throughout Spain giving lectures, advocates for the role of Oviedo as the origin of the Camino de Santiago, and explains the fundamental role of the Asturian king Alfonso II the Chaste as the first pilgrim in history, remembered this Jacobean year.

In recent days, we have heard him in the Canary Islands, where he also spoke about the existing Jacobean routes in the islands. "There are important projects to connect the islands of El Hierro, La Palma, and La Gomera with Tunte and Gáldar, the two points in Gran Canaria where one earns the jubilee through a papal bull from John XXIII", he explained, determined to continue sharing the history of Oviedo and the Camino de Santiago wherever needed.

Uvié xacobeo

Mixing Asturian and Galician we encourage you to enjoy the Jacobean Year 2022 in the Asturian capital, which as you have seen is very important for the entire pilgrim community. A good excuse to embark on that mythical Primitive Way of Santiago from Oviedo, in a Holy Year 2022 in which the Asturian capital will undoubtedly be a reference point for all pilgrims. And if you seek another experience, you can always take the Way of Santiago from Tui, all stages and tips.

¡Bonu camín!