El Fontán

In Oviedo, El Fontán is synonymous with a bustling market, a place where the few countrywomen who come to the capital to sell their products every Thursday and Saturday meet, with the essence of Oviedo in the shops and taverns under the arcades.

El Fontán Square was built in 1792 by Francisco Pruneda on a lagoon of stagnant water that the authorities had decided to drain to prevent the spread of infections.

As you access the area from Town Hall Square or Constitución Square, visitors leave behind the town hall, which was almost completely rebuilt between 1939 and 1940 after collapsing almost entirely during the siege of Oviedo in the Civil War.

To the left of the Town Hall is the church of San Isidoro El Real. The façade of this church was recently cleaned, revealing such curious messages as “Prohibido jugar a la pelota” (Do Not Play Ball), perhaps from the times when this temple was the church of the old Jesuit school that once stood on the site of the “19 de octubre” covered marketplace, next to San Isidoro.