It has a rectangular plan to which a portico with multi-lobed arches opens. One central, wider and taller, and three others on each side, supported by pilasters and four marble columns. It must be said that the structure of the portico is actually lintelled, so the arches do not have a structural function, so they fulfill a decorative function. This allowed them to dig deep into its ornamentation, using the work known as sebka, so characteristic of Almohad art and which reaches its maximum Sevillian expression in the decoration of the Giralda.

In front of this portico, on the other side of the cistern that occupies the patio, another one that has disappeared today would surely be located. What have been preserved are three horseshoe arches today blinded, which would give access to the rooms behind them. They are closer to the Caliphate tradition, framed by bishops and supported by marble columns.

In Seville there are several points where the figure of the Cid Campeador is remembered. The main one is with the magnificent equestrian monument that is located in the south of the avenue that bears his name. It is a work made in 1927 by the American sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, being placed on its site the following year. It was a gift from the New York Hispanic Society to the city of Seville on the occasion of the celebration of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. In fact, it was decided to place it right in front of what was the main entrance to the venue, between the Portugal Pavilion and the old Tobacco Factory.

The author of it stood out above all for her monumental bronze sculpture, frequently representing historical figures and specializing above all in the recreation of animals. In this field she achieved great mastery, especially with the figure of the horse, of which Huntington was a true lover of her.

These qualities are clear in the example of her statue for Seville. El Cid's horse is represented with great anatomical realism and conveying a strong sense of movement, which gives the entire work a great dynamism that does not detract from its solemnity.

The posture of Rodrigo's figure, turned to one side with respect to the axis of the horse, contributes to this dynamism. He wears a warrior's mail and raises an arm holding a spear, in an attitude of haranguing the troops. In the other arm he carries a shield and his sword.

It is a magnificent example of twentieth-century equestrian sculpture, which from the beginning was recognized and admired by both the Sevillians and the artistic circles of the time. The original sketch of the work was made in the same year 1927 and is located today at Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina. The success of the Sevillian monument led to several copies being made that are distributed throughout various parts of the Spanish and American geography, such as New York, Buenos Aires, San Francisco or Valencia.

The other monumental references that we can find in Seville about the Cid are not far from there and are also linked to the 1929 Exhibition. They are located in the Plaza de España, the central space of this event. In the plinth that runs along the entire concave façade of what was once the enormous Spanish Pavilion, the representations of scenes alluding to each of the Spanish provinces were located, with the corresponding shield on the upper part of each one of them.

They were made in tiles, constituting one of the most beautiful examples of the impulse in the ceramic industry that was experienced at the beginning of the 20th century, linked to the rise of regionalism and the immense demand generated by the preparatory works for the Exhibition.

In the space dedicated to Burgos, a scene alluding to the Cid is represented, framed by neo-baroque decoration, with Solomonic columns, plant motifs and cherubs. Specifically, it is La Jura de Santa Gadea, a legendary episode collected in an old romance. According to this story, at the coronation ceremony of Alfonso VI, Rodrigo would have required him to take a public oath that he had had nothing to do with it. the death of his brother and predecessor Sancho IV. This affront would not be ignored by the king, who for that reason would have ordered the first exile of the Cid.

It must be said that this episode only appears within the framework of the literary account collected in the old ballads and is not supported by any historical source close to the facts. Rather, what we know of the early days of the relationship between Rodrigo and Alfonso VI seems to deny that the famous passage actually occurred.

Real or imaginary, it was considered that The Jura de Santa Gadea was a scene worthy of serving as a symbol of Burgos in the Plaza de España, representing the illustrious past and the historical importance of this Castilian city. The work is from the Triana ceramic factory of Mensaque and the author of its original was Pedro Borrego Bocanegra, who knew how to capture the scene in a very beautiful way, in the historicist and romantic style predominant at the time.

In the same square, in the spandrels of the arches of the arcaded gallery that runs along the entire façade, there are forty-eight medallions with the high-relief busts of fifty illustrious figures from the history of Spain up to (there are two double medallions). They were made by the same factory in Mensaque and the author of the effigies was Pedro Navia Campos. Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar is also represented here, wearing a helmet and mesh, occupying the space between Alfonso X and Don Pelayo. In the molding of the tondo you can read the simple inscription of EL CID.

In fact, until the Triana bridge was built in 1852, there was no fixed connection between the two banks of the Guadalquivir south of Córdoba, where a bridge has existed since Roman times.

On the other hand, the Romans did not undertake the work of equipping Hispalis with a bridge, despite the importance that we know that the city and its neighbor Italica reached, probably for the same reasons of fluvial instability that we have already commented on.

In the Almohad period, around the year 1171, the first and only stable bridge that the city had until the construction of the current Isabel II or Triana bridge, already in the middle of the 19th century. It was in the same place as the current one and consisted of about ten boats moored together with chains on which two large wooden platforms were arranged.

This structure made it possible to solve with a certain guarantee the connection of the city with its suburb of Triana, thus facilitating the supply of products that arrived from Aljarafe. However, the regular floods of the river made it a rather unstable infrastructure, which had to be subjected to constant repairs and replacements of some of its boats, with the consequent problems that this entailed for the access and exit of people and goods from the city. town.

These circumstances led to the idea of ​​equipping Seville with a construction bridge from very early on. There are numerous projects since the 16th century, but all of them were successively parked, until in the 19th century the idea prevailed that it was necessary to tackle this problem definitively, finally deciding on the execution of the current Isabel II bridge project or Triana, which was completed in 1852, becoming one of the icons of the city.

From then on, many others were built in the surroundings of Seville, until today there are more than twenty, among those that cross the living riverbed of the Guadalquivir and those that do so on the Alfonso XIII dock that runs between the center and Triana. There are very diverse characteristics, from those that fulfill a merely functional function to those that meet notable artistic values, representative of the time in which they were built.

The 1992 Universal Exposition would be a decisive event in terms of this type of infrastructure in the city. To condition its surroundings, in the years immediately preceding, some of the most beautiful bridges that Seville has today were built, such as the Barqueta bridge or the impressive Alamillo bridge, which has become one of the icons of the city. town.

It would be very extensive to talk about each and every one of the Sevillian bridges, but it is possible to sketch a route from south to north, dealing with the most emblematic of the city.

In addition, at the same time the main door of the building was added, which is a beautiful example of a baroque door from the 17th or 18th century. Apparently, the owner had it brought from a palace or convent in Écija. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary, as we see by the image of its central niche, and by the reliefs of the two medallions on the jambs, in which we see a well and a fountain, alluding to two of the invocations of Mary in the litanies, such as Puteus Aquarum (well of living waters or wisdom) and Fons Signatus (sealed source). On the lintel we see another relief with the Ave Maria anagram.

This recovery of architectural pieces from the past to incorporate them into new buildings perfectly matches the historicism of regionalist architecture. It has a romantic character that agrees perfectly with the evocation of literary or legendary episodes such as that of the Barber of Seville.

In short, we cannot say that Rosina heard from this beautiful balcony the serenades that her lover offered her at midnight from the square, but it is a beautiful example of regionalist architecture and its historicist character, which also serves to remember the Seville's fundamental role as one of the most recurrent settings in the history of European literature since the Renaissance.

However, much of the artistic heritage that was treasured over the centuries was lost in the monastery's tumultuous history during the 19th century. During the disastrous French occupation of Seville, it was converted into a barracks for the Napoleonic troops and most of its works of art were dispersed or destroyed, in addition to undergoing profound alterations in its appearance. The monks would return for a time after the expulsion of the French, but the monastery would be definitively confiscated in 1836.

It was then that it was used to house the famous ceramic factory of Carlos Pickman, one of the main Sevillian industries in the 19th century, whose pieces would achieve enormous fame for their quality, to the point that even today many Spanish homes treasure pieces of the Charterhouse of Seville. When used for this purpose, the monastic space would logically undergo great transformations, adding for example the large bottle-shaped chimneys, which over time have become one of the most recognizable elements of the entire island of La Cartuja, as well as in a very important testimony of the industrial heritage of Andalusia.

Already in the 20th century, the ceramic factory was moved to Salteras and all its facilities became publicly owned. During the 80s, important rehabilitation works were carried out, especially with a view to the Universal Exhibition of 1992, in which the old monastery served as the Royal Pavilion, where the heads of state and government who attended the event were received.

At present, its facilities are the headquarters of several institutions dependent on the Board: the Rectorate of the International University of Andalusia, the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage and the Andalusian Center for Contemporary Art.

The latter is generally known by its acronym, CAAC, and has its headquarters in the Cartuja since 1997. It brings together an interesting collection of works of art with a chronology ranging from the mid-50s of the 20th century to the present day, which can be seen regularly enriched by the numerous temporary exhibitions that take place in its premises and that make it somehow a living museum, open to the most current artistic trends.

Since 2013, the CAAC has among its collection the work that we have looked at in this article. It is an installation called Alicia, by the Ubeta artist Cristina Lucas. It is inspired by a passage from Lewis Carroll's famous book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865. Specifically, it refers to the episode in which the protagonist tastes a cake on which the word “Eat me ”, Which causes her an instantaneous and uncontrolled growth, which makes her not fit in the room and have to stick her arm out of a window.

Thus, in Cristina Lucas's work, located next to the main entrance to the enclosure, we see a large head through a window, while a large arm comes out of the other, managing to convey the feeling that we are facing a giant, who it occupies an entire interior space that we do not see, to the point of "overflowing" through its windows.

The work was originally conceived for an exhibition held in Córdoba in 2009, entitled El patio de mi casa. Contemporary art in 16 patios of Córdoba. The artist's starting idea had a clear component of social denunciation and pointed to the traditional conception that women should remain in some way attached to the domestic space, in a certain way secluded and oppressed by historically prevailing non-egalitarian values ​​and of which unfortunately many reminiscences remain.

This critical aspect fits perfectly into the whole of Cristina Lucas's work, characterized by a clear feminist component, which uses metaphorical and satirical resources to channel her complaint, through means as diverse as performance, video, installation, sculpture or drawing.

The example of the CAAC is one of the interesting reasons why it is worth visiting the old Cartuja Monastery, which with the arrival at its facilities of contemporary art collections has become a very interesting set of spaces in which they intermingle the traces of a long history with all kinds of highly topical artistic contributions. To this is added the educational and informative work carried out by the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage. All together, it forms an almost magical atmosphere, in a beautiful monumental setting, which constitutes one of the main focuses of the cultural life of Seville throughout the year, with constant events such as exhibitions, conferences, concerts or festivals.

The popular theme that characterizes this type of painting and the fact that most of the works are framed in Andalusian settings mean that visiting the collection in some way serves to make a beautiful trip to the past. Through many of the works we can imagine the Seville of the 19th century and glimpse what remains of it in today's city and what has been irretrievably lost over time.

Although the essence of the Bellver Museum is the collection of traditional paintings, the collection also includes works in other formats, such as furniture, clocks or pieces of sculpture. Among them, we enter this maternity hospital entitled Paz, a terracotta work by the sculptor from Mairena del Alcor, Antonio Gavira Alba.

He is one of the most valued Andalusian sculptors of the 20th century and in this work he shows some of the essential characteristics of his style, which participates in the so-called Mediterranean classicism. He combines the simplicity of the forms, the undulating tendency and the smoothness in the treatment of the surfaces. The joint representation of the mother with the son was one of the recurring themes throughout his career and in the example of the Bellver collection we see one of the most beautiful expressions of him.

It is a splendid piece that manages to convey all the emotion of the wonderful spiritual and magical thread that unites a mother with her child. Without a doubt, it constitutes one more reason to visit the Casa Fabiola, a true treasure of the Santa Cruz neighborhood, in which a palatial architecture of beautiful classical lines is combined with a splendid artistic collection that is everyone's heritage thanks to the priceless generosity of the great man who was Mariano Bellver.

The tower was originally part of the residence of the Infante Don Fadrique, son of Fernando III and Beatriz de Suabia, who built his palace on a previous one from the Almohad period. This area was within the walled enclosure of the city, reason why the tower would not have a defensive purpose towards the outside too prominent. Most likely, his main motivation was prestige, wanting to show the power and importance of the titular character of the palace.

The infant had a rather tumultuous life, since apparently he had a certain tendency to conspiracy. He participated in various conspiracies against his brother and was finally executed in Burgos in 1277 on his orders. The circumstances surrounding this event are not entirely clear, since there are different versions of both the execution of it and the reasons that motivated it.

In one of the explanations for the enmity between King Alfonso and Don Fadrique, the tower we are talking about today has a prominent role. There is a story, with a rather legendary character, that tells that there were love affairs between the infant and his stepmother, Juana de Ponthieu, second wife of his father, King Ferdinand III. The queen and her stepson were barely a few years old and, apparently, rumors spread through Seville about their relationship, placing the love affairs between them in this tower. When these news reached the ears of Alfonso X, he would have ordered the exile of Juana to France and initiated a process against his brother Fadrique for violating royal decorum, having maintained relations with the widow of his father.

As we said, although widely spread, this story has all the signs of being just a legend. Be that as it may, once Fadrique died, his possessions in Seville once again belonged to the Crown and in 1289 they were ceded by King Sancho IV for the foundation of the Santa Clara convent. The nuns progressively transformed all the spaces of the infant's residence for monastic use, but they respected the tower, which has allowed it to remain in a magnificent state to this day.

To its indisputable historical value is added its exceptional artistic significance, since it is one of the very few examples of Romanesque art that we find in Seville and probably the first manifestation of Gothic art in the city. Furthermore, the fact that both styles succeed one another in the same building is shown as a beautiful analogy of the transition between the Romanesque and Gothic worlds. In its solemn simplicity, the Don Fadrique tower is one of the great artistic jewels of Seville.

But this beautiful modernist building is made just at the time when it was beginning to move between this style and regionalism, in which many of the masterpieces of Sevillian architecture of the twentieth century were built.

Both styles largely share their original spirit, such as their strong aestheticism, which is manifested above all in the ornamental richness of the facades, or their reaction to the corset represented by the academicism and historicism prevailing in the 19th century.

The difference is that while modernism is more open to innovation in terms of materials, techniques and decorative forms, regionalism postulates a look to the past, to the architectural tradition considered vernacular in Andalusia, as the main source of inspiration for the new constructions.

Thus it seems to be glimpsed in the third body of this work, in which the sinuous forms of the modernist decoration are combined with a small gallery of semicircular arches on marble columns, one of the most present elements in Sevillian and Western architecture throughout the long of the time.

In short, it is a magnificent example of a certain moment in the history of art in the city, which fortunately has survived practically intact to this day.

Around the main door were placed a series of reliefs alluding to the conquest of America as an indispensable historical precedent for the development of the tobacco industry in Seville. In this way, in each of the jambs the mills that were used to crush the tobacco leaf are represented, and two Indians, one with a bow and arrows and the other smoking a pipe. In the archivolt you can see two naves and the busts of Cortés on the left and Columbus on the right. Above the key, a huge molding of scrolls and plant decoration frames the sign "FÁBRICA REAL DE TABACOS".

In the next body a balcony opens on which the inscription “DEL REYNADO DE FERNANDO VI. YEAR MDCCLVII ”(1757) and, occupying almost the entire triangular pediment of the façade, a huge shield with the royal arms.

The whole set is finished off by what is probably the most recognizable element of the façade: a sculpture of "Fame", the work of Cayetano de Acosta himself. He represents her graceful, perched on a cloud, with beautiful open copper wings and playing a trumpet, also made of copper.

In general, in classical mythology, "Fame" was the goddess responsible for the spread of facts and rumors, causing in many cases of disputes and misunderstandings. In fact, she has usually been artistically represented carrying two trumpets, the one of truth and the one of lies, as a symbol that she spread the information regardless of whether they were true or not.

In the case of Acosta's “Fame”, she carries a single trumpet, since in this case she has more of a sense of celebrity. In some way, she would come to symbolize the prestige and historical reputation of the Spanish Monarchy, under whose authority the enormous building of the Tobacco Factory is made.

In any case, it is a beautiful culmination for an exceptional Baroque façade, to the point that the University of Seville, which has occupied the building since 1954, included it in its logo and since then it has been its most recognizable emblem.