The church of San Pedro stands on Campo Valdés, at the end of San Lorenzo beach and at the foot of Cimadevilla. The present church was built between 1945 and 1955, to a design by Francisco and Federico Somolinos inspired by Asturian pre-Romanesque, because the 15th-century one was dynamited in 1936.
It is the silhouette that closes San Lorenzo beach to the west: a stone tower and portico at the foot of Cimadevilla, with the sea a few steps away. It looks old and it is not: the church of San Pedro you see today was built between 1945 and 1955, on the remains of the one destroyed in the war. Its story is the story of Gijón itself in the 20th century, with shelling, dynamite and a city that argued over where to put it back.
The town's church
San Pedro stands on Campo Valdés, at one end of San Lorenzo beach and at the foot of the Cimadevilla quarter. Turismo Asturias calls it «a true symbol of the city», and for centuries it was something more: according to Wikipedia, it was Gijón's only parish church until 1893.
The old church dated from the 15th century, Gothic, the work of the master mason Lucas Bernaldo de la Quintana, and it grew through successive alterations: it was widened in 1617, and the tower, commissioned in 1618 from the mason Juan Bercedo, was not finished until 1645. It became too small for the town, and Jovellanos himself pushed, without success, for a new church to be built.
1934 and 1936
On 8 October 1934, during that year's revolution, the cruiser Libertad shelled Cimadevilla from El Musel and destroyed the top of the tower, which was rebuilt in 1935. Two years later came the worst: on 24 August 1936 Gijón's three parish churches, San Pedro, San José and San Lorenzo, were set on fire, and on 27 September San Pedro was dynamited, on the grounds that its ruined state was a danger.
A few days later the writer Pachín de Melás rescued the remains of Jovellanos, which rested in the church, and took them to the Escuela de Comercio. While there was no church, Mass was said in the collegiate church of San Juan Bautista.
Where and how to rebuild it
Even before the war was over, Gijón was already arguing about the rebuild. Part of the city council did not want it back on the same spot, because it got in the way of the seafront promenade and blocked a view of the sea, and moving it to the Plaza del Marqués or the Plaza Mayor was proposed. It stayed where it was.
A competition was held, and on 26 November 1939 the «Resurgit» project by the brothers Francisco and Federico Somolinos won. Work began in May 1945 and finished in 1955.
A new church with a pre-Romanesque air
The Somolinos brothers looked to Asturian pre-Romanesque, the style of Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo. Gijón City Council lists what they took from it: vaults set perpendicular to each other, slender buttresses, a raised transept and details such as stone lattices, rope moulding on the columns and triple windows.
It has five naves, and according to Wikipedia its architects sought that horizontal line so it would sit well with Campo Valdés, the beach and the sea. It also has an ambulatory, more typical of a cathedral than a parish church: an archbishop ordered it closed off with curtains, it was walled up and used as a storeroom, and since 2012 it has been a chapel.
When to see it come alive
At Holy Week it is the centre of everything. In 2025, according to Turismo Asturias, the Procession of Silence on Tuesday and the Holy Burial on Friday both left San Pedro at 20:00, and the opening proclamation was given there.
Under the square in front of it lie the Roman baths of Campo Valdés, and behind it begins the climb to Cimadevilla and the Cerro de Santa Catalina, so San Pedro is a good starting point for the oldest part of Gijón. Bus line 4 stops nearby, at the Instituto stop.
Checked
Facts checked in October 2026 against: Gijón City Council (Iglesia de San Pedro Apóstol Mayor de Gijón page in its directory), Turismo Asturias (Guía para visitar Gijón and the 2025 Semana Santa en Gijón listing) and Wikipedia (Iglesia de San Pedro, Gijón).
Quick questions
Is the church of San Pedro in Gijón old?
No: the one you see was built between 1945 and 1955. The previous one, from the 15th century, was set on fire and dynamited in 1936.
What happened to the remains of Jovellanos?
They rested in the church; after the 1936 demolition, Pachín de Melás rescued them and took them to the Escuela de Comercio.
Which processions leave from San Pedro?
At Holy Week 2025, according to Turismo Asturias, the Procession of Silence and the Holy Burial, both at 20:00.