Category Archives: Guide of Seville

The most complete guide of Seville. All the monuments and points of interest in the city over a beautiful map. Don’t miss anything about the city

HIGH HALL OR SALÓN ALTO

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This set is made up of a rectangular base with a slatted floor that is raised by means of a three-step tier. In the corners are a series of four Rococo pedestals made by Cayetano de Acosta in the 18th century. On them we see four vases made of artificial stone. They are replicas of those made for the Jardines de Cristina, in front of the Palacio de San Telmo. They were arranged here during the remodeling of the garden undertaken in 2007. Originally, a series of sculptures representing the Greek gods Apollo, Zeus, Ares and Hera were located on the pedestals, all of which have now disappeared.

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GRENADE OF THE COLOMBIAN PAVILION

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This small monument was shaped as we can see it today in the remodeling of the Garden of Earthly Delights undertaken in 2007. It consists of a marble pedestal made in the 18th century in the Rococo style by Cayetano de Acosta. A grenade was placed on it, coming from the nearby Colombian Pavilion, built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929.

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FOUNTAIN OF NEPTUNE CHILD

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Baroque sculpture from the 18th century, made in Italy and from the Archiepiscopal Palace of Umbrete. It is a child figure of 1.70 m. approximately, holding a sea shell in an attitude of touching it. It is not clear if it is a representation of Neptune, the Roman god of the seas, or of his son Triton, who was believed to be capable of calming or fanning a storm by touching the shell. The marble vase of the fountain is 2.60 m in diameter and, like the mosaic that surrounds it, has an octagonal shape.

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Monumento a Urania en el Jardín de las Delicias de Sevilla

MONUMENT TO URANIA

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Urania was the Greek muse of astronomy and astrology, generally considered the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Here she appears in an Italian baroque sculpture from the 18th century, from the Archiepiscopal Palace of Umbrete. We see the muse bare-chested, holding a world sphere in her left hand and some documents, probably astronomical charts, in her right, in an arrangement full of elegance and beauty.

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Monumento a Venus en el Jardín de las Delicias de Sevilla

MONUMENT TO VENUS

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It is a set of sculptures that represents Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty, accompanied by her son Cupid, the Eros of the Greeks, also considered the god of loving desire. They were made in Italy in the 18th century in the Baroque style and come from the Archiepiscopal Palace of Umbrete, from where they reached their current location in 1864. The pedestal also dates from the 18th century and was sculpted by Cayetano de Acosta in the Rococo style. The set measures about 3.5 meters.

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Jardín de las Delicias de Sevilla con el Pabellón de Argentina al fondo

JARDÍN DE LAS DELICIAS (GARDEN OF DELIGHTS)

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The Garden of Earthly Delights is one of the oldest public gardens in Seville. It was called Arjona's Garden of Earthly Delights, since it was set up during the mandate of the Seville Mayor José Manuel de Arjona y Cubas, between 1825 and 1835.

They were made within the general remodeling process of the eastern bank of the river. With the same objective, the wall that linked the Torres del Oro and Torres de la Plata crossing the current Paseo Colón was demolished, and the Jardines de Cristina were created in front of the Palacio de San Telmo.

Since their creation they have undergone various modifications. Artistically, the most significant occurred around 1864, when a series of Italian sculptures from the 18th century were brought in. They came from the Archiepiscopal Palace of Umbrete, which had suffered a fire in 1862. Some of them can still be seen in the garden, but most of them were replaced by replicas in 2006, while the originals were returned to Umbrete. For the arrangement of the sculptures in the palace, the Portuguese-born sculptor Cayetano de Acosta made a series of pedestals that we can also see today in the Garden.

The Garden gained great prominence as a result of the celebration of the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929, since it became one of the landscaped spaces around which the event was held. In fact, it lost part of its original dimensions when the pavilions of Argentina and Guatemala were arranged to the North and that of Morocco to the South, pavilions that fortunately have survived to this day.

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THE MACARENA ARCH

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The Macarena arch is one of the few entrances to the walls of Seville that have come down to us, along with the Puerta de Córdoba and the Postigo del Aceite. It is attached to the longest wall canvas among the few preserved in the city.

Its construction was part of the expansion of the walled enclosure that was undertaken in the 12th century, under Almoravid rule. It was built by order of the Emir Alí ibn Yúsuf and initially it would have an angled layout, as we know that most of the Seville doors had in Islamic times. This form facilitated the defense of the city, since the attackers had to overcome several successive gates placed at an angle one after the other, while they could be harassed from the upper part of the walls. As the Christian conquest of the Peninsula was completed, these defenses became increasingly unnecessary and were replaced by straight accesses, like the one we see today. This facilitated access to the city, especially for the growing use of horse-drawn carriages, which had very difficult entry through the old angled gates.

There is no certainty about the origin of the name of the door and there are theories that point to a remote Roman past or even earlier. However, it is most likely that the name also comes from the Islamic period, when it would be called “bab Maqarana”. Apparently, Maqarana would be the name of a landowner who had large properties north of the city and which were reached by the road that started from this gate. That's where the name would have come from.

Already in Christian times, we know that it was for a long time the main entry point for the kings when they visited Seville. Then they followed the so-called Calle Real towards the center, coinciding with the layout of the current Calle San Luis. On these occasions, a kind of altar was mounted next to the door in which the monarch swore to respect the privileges, uses and customs of the city before entering it. To cite some of those who entered Seville through this Gate, we can mention Isabel la Católica, Emperor Carlos V or Felipe IV.

The aspect with which the door has come down to us corresponds for the most part to the remodeling to which it was subjected in the 18th century, when its structure was simplified and the decorative elements that crown its upper part were added. Already in 1923 the magnificent ceramic altarpiece of Esperanza Macarena was added, which occupies the center of the pediment. It is a work carried out at the Manuel Rodríguez Pérez de Tudela Factory in Triana. At the foot of the image of the Virgin can be read "SHE IS GOD'S TABERNACLE AND GATE OF HEAVEN." This work highlights the historic link between the arch and the Brotherhood of the Macarena, which has its Basilica a few meters away. The scene of the Macarena crossing the archway back to her temple on Good Friday morning is one of the most emblematic of Holy Week in Seville.

For a few decades, the Arch has generally been painted in a very intense white color, combined with the details and the cornices in white. At the moment a deep restoration is being carried out at the initiative of the City Council and among the objectives set is to recover a polychrome more in keeping with its original appearance. In this way, it is possible that in a few months we will be able to contemplate this historic entrance to Seville with a renewed appearance. We will have to wait a bit!

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