GATES OF THE CATHEDRAL OF SEVILLE

The Cathedral has numerous doorways to the outside:

– On the west side, three on the facade of the feet, towards the Avenida de la Constitución, called Baptism, Asunción and San Miguel.

– Two on both sides of the transept, called de la Concepción and de San Cristóbal or del Príncipe, made at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th under the direction of the architect Fernández Casanova.

– Two at the head, called Palos and Bells.

– One at one end of the pseudo-girola, at the foot of the Giralda, known as Puerta del Lagarto.

– Finally, the so-called Puerta del Perdón, through which the Patio de los Naranjos is accessed from the outside.

 

Facade of the west side (Avenida de la Constitución)

It has three portals, the ones on both sides being known as Baptism and San Miguel or Birth, Gothic from the 15th century. In the center, the main gate, called the Asunción, was not built until the 19th century in a neo-Gothic style.

The two Gothic doors have sculptural decoration by Lorenzo Mercadante and Pedro Millán

In the tympanum of the first the Baptism of Christ is represented and on both sides of the door, the saints Justa and Rufina and the four saint brothers of Cartagena: Leandro, Isidoro, Fulgencio and Florentina.

In the tympanum of the second, a Nativity is represented and on the sides of the door appear, among others, the four evangelists, Saint Laureano and Saint Hermenegildo.

In the tympanum of the central doorway we find an Assumption of the Virgin made in the 19th century by Ricardo Bellver.

 

Facade of the eastern side (Plaza Virgen de los Reyes)

At the head of the cathedral are the doors of Palos and Las Campanillas, which owe their names to previous ones located in the same place that connected the cathedral with the Corral de los Olmos, the former seat of the Cabildo that was located in the current Virgin of the Kings square.

Both are made in the 16th century in Gothic style, although the sculptural decoration is already Renaissance. On the tympanums, an Adoration of the Magi and the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem are represented, respectively, completed with various figures of angels and prophets on the sides of the doors. They are works in fired clay by Miguel Perrin.

 

Puerta del Perdón (Gate of Forgiveness)

It gives access to the Patio de los Naranjos. It is made up of a pointed horseshoe arch from the Almohad period, decorated in its archivolt with plateresque plasterwork from the 16th century.

On both sides of the door are the figures of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and an Annunciation. Above it a relief depicting the Expulsion of the Merchants from the Temple. They are all made in plaster by Miguel Perrin between 1519 and 1520.

The theme of the Expulsion of the Merchants was chosen by the Cathedral Chapter to send a message to the numerous merchants linked to trade with America who used spaces in the cathedral to make their deals. At this time the Lonja or Casa de Indias that would serve this purpose had not yet been built.

The doors are an Almohad work from the 12th century, made of wood covered with bronze sheeting and decorated with lacework, atauriques and Kufic inscriptions.

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