The collection

The confiscation of church property in 1837 was circulated many religious artworks. To safeguard this heritage were created Comisiones Provinciales de Monumentos in imitation of the French model.

The Comisi贸n de Monumentos de Asturias met throughout the nineteenth century the remains of a large number of monasteries and churches sold and abandoned in order to someday open a Museum of Antiquities. This museum of the Comisi贸n opened in various periods in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, first in a chapel of the former convent of San Francisco de Oviedo and later in the Escuelas Normales in the Uria Street.

Francisco Jord谩 in the Archaeological Museum of Asturias
Earl de la Vega del Sella. Ricardo Duque de Estrada

Besides the architectural and sculptural remains, la  Comisi贸n received a donation of several of its members and collectors and scholars of the time worried about the past Roman or ancient coins. In its work force, their main concern was the restoration of the pre-Romanesque churches, which resulted in the collection of pieces from the ruins of some of these buildings.

Reached the twentieth century, the development of scientific archeology, involved expanding the horizon into Prehistory, after discovering the presence of Palaeolithic cave art in Asturias.

In this way and throughout the twentieth century the museum collection was expanded markedly by the results of the archaeological in Asturias.  The initial funding of the former Comisi贸n de Monumentos are added funding of private collections such as those made by the heirs of  Earl de la Vega del Sella, the Marquis de la  Rodriga and Aurelio de Llano and Roza de Ampudia. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s the  Diputaci贸n de Oviedo conducted the purchase of different sizes, furniture and objects. Major purchases were three collections of the inheritors of the Soto Cortes , comprising all kinds of antiquities archaeological, numismatic collection of Pedro  Hurl茅 Manso, and the collection of weapons and coins of the heirs of Tom谩s Bataller.

The progress of the investigations from especially from the 1970s steadily expanded collection Paleolithic era, the age of the metals and the Roman period. The birth of archeology management, with a remarkable development since the 1990s, has seen the entry of many materials of all ages, but especially in the Middle Ages, from the historic centers of cities and towns of Asturias, as well as numerous churches and monasteries that have been previously involved in the restoration of their buildings.