Ss-
- Name of the work: San Nicolás – parish church
- Location of the work: Villoria, Laviana
- Date of completion of the work: principles XIII (original monument) – 1944 (reconstruction)
- Author: Francisco y Federico Somolinos
- Investigator: Noelia Fernández García
- Search on the map: Ecclesiastical heritage
Work collected in: Fernández García, Noelia. De la reconstrucción a la renovación. La arquitectura religiosa durante el franquismo en Asturias (1938-1965). Gijón: Trea, 2021.
The first news we have about this temple appears in the Libro Cerro de la Catedral de Oviedo (1385-1386), although we can say that this monument has a long history in terms of interventions. It has been dated as a construction from the first decades of the 13th century. Subsequently, two interventions were carried out in the 16th century – when the body of naves was enlarged, from one to three – and in the 18th century.
The future of this temple during the civil war was not different from that of other temples in the area since, as specified in the report of the restoration project, it was set on fire and numerous explosions took place inside it in 1936. This project (1944 ) was developed by the brothers Francisco and Federico Somolinos and thanks to their plans, and their coloring, we can know exactly which areas were intervened by them in the temple, such as the portico, roofs, perimeter walls and openings, among others. others. Simply looking at the façade of the temple we can observe two important issues already raised by Italian restoration theory and the Athens Charter: on the one hand, a clear differentiation can be seen between the stone materials used in the portico wall and those present in other elements such as the façade with its portals or the belfry and, on the other hand, the pillars of the portico – originally columns as can be seen in the plans – are visibly built from reinforced concrete, which implies the integration of new materials in the restorations, but always respecting the overall appearance of the monument itself.
Fernández García, Noelia. “Restauración y recreación de la Dirección General de Regiones Devastadas en las iglesias parroquiales asturianas. Los casos de Lué y Villoria”. En Actas del VI Congreso Internacional Arte y Sociedad: paradigmas digitales, 2017.
Fernández García, Noelia. «Re-conociendo el patrimonio religioso asturiano. Restauración y reconstrucción tras la Guerra Civil». Gremium-Editorial Restauro, 11 (2019): 12-20.