SEVILLE PER SQUARE METER – BLOG

In almost all of the works that have described Seville since the 16th century, they speak of its “Roman” walls. Official historiography did not hesitate to trace its origin back to the times of Julius Caesar, as reflected in the founding legend of the city that appeared inscribed on a plaque at the Puerta de Jerez: “Hercules founded me, Julius Caesar surrounded me with walls and high towers. In fact, until just a few decades ago, the guides continued to allude to the Roman origin of the Seville fence. Thus, they were endowed with much more antiquity, within the tendency to extol the Roman past as the main cultural substratum over the Islamic contribution. It is true that Seville had some Roman walls that have been verified archaeologically, but they enclosed a much smaller space that was limited to an area that extended approximately between Martín Villa, Laraña and Imagen streets, to the north, and the area from the cathedral and the fortress, to the south. The wall that reached contemporary times is the one built by the Almohads in the 12th century, although there are authors who trace its origins back a few decades and attribute them to the Almoravids. They built an enormous wall marked out by towers of more than 7 kilometers in length, which closed off a space of 273 hectares … ➪

The building of the Aurelio Murillo Pharmacy, currently the Santa Ana pharmacy, is one of the most emblematic in Altozano de Triana. It was built between 1912 and 1914 by the architect José Espiau y Muñoz and is one of the jewels of regionalist art in the neighborhood. We have spoken of its author on other occasions, since among his works are some of the most iconic of the 20th century in Seville, such as the Hotel Alfonso XIII in Puerta de Jerez, or the magnificent building of La Adriática, on Avenida de the Constitution. Specifically, the facade of the pharmacy shows a beautiful neo-Mudejar style. It is made of exposed brick and the windows and balconies are shaped like lobed semicircular arches, framed by alfices that combine ceramic decoration with plaster reliefs. Fortunately, the interior of the pharmacy has largely retained its original appearance. Especially outstanding are its tile panels, made by Montalbán ceramics following the design of Francisco Murillo and Manuel Vigil-Escalera. The furniture and the so-called botamen, the collection of pharmaceutical containers, which has around 200 pieces, have also been magnificently preserved. It is one of the most interesting buildings that surround this beautiful Triana square. And it is that the Altozano has been in some way the nerve center of the life of the neighborhood throughout its history. The main reason … ➪

Christopher Columbus is one of the most famous characters in the history of mankind. It is true that in the last century the almost epic narrative of his achievements has been nuanced, giving way to a more critical view of the figure of the admiral. Today, it is questioned everything related to his behavior with the inhabitants of the newly discovered territories and the process of conquest of America that begins with him. In any case, there is no doubt that his determination to travel to the West, although his initial calculation was wrong, ended up being a turning point in the history of the incipient Hispanic Monarchy. That Columbus undertook his journeys under the flag of Castile would end up having incalculable repercussions on the historical future of our country, Europe and America, so the relevance of the character is indisputable. Columbus’s relationship with Seville was intense even before his first voyage and we know that he had frequent and prolonged stays in the Carthusian monastery of Santa María de las Cuevas, between 1484 and 1492. There he obtained advice and the support of the monks in all the process prior to the approval of your project by the Crown. He established a special relationship with the monk Gaspar Gorricio de Novara, who in addition to being his friend, came to act as his … ➪

The Cathedral of Seville is a splendid display of the history of art in the city. It ranges from the Almohad style of the 12th century in which the original mosque was built, and which is visible above all in the first sections of the Giralda, to the neo-Gothic style in which its last doors were completed at the beginning of the 20th century. The defining features of the building as a whole are those of a huge Gothic cathedral, the largest in Christendom in this style. It is a late Gothic style, from the 15th and 16th centuries, which is why a large part of its sculptural decoration and the Royal Chapel at its head already show Renaissance features. Most of the magnificent altarpieces, paintings and works of imagery that populate its numerous chapels correspond to the Baroque period. The Door of Baptism that we are talking about today corresponds to one of the first moments of this passage between the successive styles. It corresponds to the beginning of the 15th century, a time in which the replacement of the old Almohad mosque, which had been used as a cathedral with many reforms, was addressed by a new building with Gothic traces, more in keeping with the relevant role that Seville already occupied in the Crown of Castile. The old mosque is demolished except … ➪

The Puerta del Perdón of the Cathedral of Seville and its surroundings constitute an enclave of great artistic and aesthetic value in which it is possible to read about some of the most significant episodes in the history of the city. To begin with, it should be noted that it is the main entrance to the aljama mosque on which the Christian cathedral was built. The new construction from the 15th and 16th centuries is a grandiose Gothic building in its general conception, but retains some of the elements of its predecessor. Among others, the space currently occupied by the Patio de los Naranjos coincides with the old ablutions patio of the mosque, while its main entrance is also preserved in the Puerta del Perdón. It is a large Almohad horseshoe arch framed in its upper half by a plasterwork decoration that follows arabesque patterns, but was already made in the 16th century. What has been preserved from the original work are the two magnificent bronze-coated leaves of the door, which are profusely decorated with geometric motifs, lacework, atauriques and Kufic writing with verses from surahs 15 and 24 of the Koran. The two large knockers stand out for their beauty, splendid examples of the mastery achieved in Muslim Seville for bronze work. In the 16th century, the Cathedral Chapter decided to reform the door, … ➪

Puerta de la Asunción Puertas del Bautismo y de San Miguel Puertas de Campanillas y de Palos Puerta del Príncipe o de San Cristóbal Puerta del Perdón 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 … ➪

The Magdalena church in Seville is one of the most outstanding examples of Baroque art in Seville. And this is saying a lot for a city whose heritage includes buildings such as the Hospital de la Caridad, San Luis de los Franceses or the Colegial del Salvador, to name just a few of the magnificent achievements of the 17th and 18th centuries. The current parish of La Magdalena was originally built as the church of the Dominican convent of San Pablo, which occupied an extensive area of ​​more than 30,000 m2 between the current church and Gravina street. The convent had a primitive temple in Mudejar style, but its dilapidated state made the friars decide at the end of the 17th century to demolish it and build a new church, which is the one that has come down to us. In 1835 it is expropriated by the State within the framework of the confiscation process and the monks are exclaustrated. All the land of the former convent is parceled out and sold for housing construction, with the exception of the Montserrat church and chapel, which remain to this day, and the main cloister, which for a time served as the offices of the administration until it was pulled down as early as the 20th century. The church of La Magdalena was a few meters further … ➪

Santa Catalina is part of the magnificent series of Mudejar Gothic churches that the city of Seville has. It is probably the one with the most “Islamic” air when viewed from the outside, especially due to its characteristic bell tower and the exterior of the Exaltation Chapel, which with its square floor plan covered by a dome is very reminiscent of the Muslim “qubbas”. However, we know that the construction of the temple began already in Christian times, in the second half of the 13th century, although it was profoundly reformed from the 14th century, probably after the damage suffered by the great earthquake of 1356. Today, after a profound restoration that kept the temple closed between 2004 and 2018, we can admire the church in all its splendor. It has three naves, divided by transverse arches, pointed and seated on cruciform brick pillars. The whole is covered with Mudejar wooden coffered ceilings, except for the head, very prominent from the rest of the floor, which is covered by Gothic ribbed vaults made of brick. Towards the outside, the main portal of the church stands out, with its characteristic ogival and flared shape, so similar to that of other Sevillian churches, such as San Marcos, San Román or Santa Marina. However, in this case we must point out the curiosity that this is not the … ➪

The Patio de las Doncellas (Maidens Courtyard) is the center of the Palace of Pedro I in the Alcázar of Seville. This palace was built in the mid-14th century, replacing earlier Muslim constructions and is probably the most outstanding example of all Mudejar civil architecture. Around this patio the spaces with a public purpose are articulated, while around the small Patio de las Munecas the palatial rooms are arranged with a more private character. The ground floor corresponds to the original work of the 14th century, while the upper gallery responds to the reforms undertaken in the 16th century in Renaissance style. This magnificent courtyard is surrounded by a gallery of polylobed arches, adopting one of the most characteristic decorative forms of Almohad art. The central arches on each side are larger, highlighting the main axes of the patio. They all rest on precious marble columns in the Corinthian style, brought from Genoa during the Renaissance to replace the original brick pillars. The decoration is based on stucco, following the diamond-shaped pattern, comparable in style and quality to similar works from Córdoba or Granada. Among the ornamental motifs we see some as characteristic as the shell, a symbol of fertility, or the hand of Fatima, which symbolizes protection. All of them framed in a rich composition of geometric and plant motifs. In the upper part, … ➪

The Monastery of Santa Paula, owned by nuns of the Order of San Jerónimo, is located in the heart of Seville, very close to the church of San Marcos and neighbor of another of the great convents of the city, that of Santa Isabel. It came to occupy a much larger area than the current one, since its orchards extended to the north, in what is now the area of ​​warehouses around the Mallol Passage. In its origin, two women of aristocratic origins played a fundamental role. The first of them was Ana de Santillán y de Guzmán, who, after being widowed and losing her only daughter, founded the monastery in 1473 after obtaining a bull from Pope Sixtus IV. Barely a decade later, the modest facilities of the new monastery seem to have become too small due to the influx of nuns. It was then that Mrs. Isabel Enríquez intervened as a sponsor, who, also after becoming a widow, took charge of its remodeling and expansion. It was she who paid for the construction of the conventual church that has survived to this day, where we precisely find her tomb and that of her husband, Juan de Braganza. The monastery complex presents a very complex structure, the result of its long history, and mixes the original Mudejar Gothic style, with Renaissance and Baroque elements, … ➪

The clay work has been an essential activity to explain the neighborhood from its origins. Apart from the beautiful founding legends, from a historical point of view we know that Triana dates back to Islamic times, around the 11th or 12th centuries. It began to grow strongly as a result of the construction of the Puente de Barcas and the Castillo de San Jorge and, practically since its inception, we have evidence of the presence of pottery kilns in the neighborhood. In the early days of the Muslim Isbiliya, they settled mainly in the so-called “Barrio de los Alfareros”, which would be located approximately in the area of ​​Puerta Jerez and south of the Avenida de la Constitución. When the rulers of the city began to increase their palatial residences in the Alcázar, they forced the transfer of these activities to more remote areas. You have to think that pottery was a rather polluting activity at the time, since it was necessary to operate ovens at high temperatures that generated a lot of smoke. So around this time the potters began to settle strongly in Triana, where in addition to more space, they had great availability of their raw material, a high quality clay offered by the Guadalquivir in several of its points. With it, all kinds of containers have always been made and soon … ➪

The Alcázar of Seville is considered the oldest royal palace in use in Europe and is one of the main monuments in the city of Seville, declared a World Heritage Site in 1987, along with the cathedral and the Alcázar. More than a palace itself, it is a set of palaces and gardens that have been built throughout history from an original medieval Islamic nucleus. However, almost everything of the Muslim palaces has been lost, since the space was completely reformulated after the arrival of the Christians, with new palaces in Mudejar and Gothic styles, with reforms and extensions of the landscaped spaces with Renaissance contributions , mannerists and baroque. We do not know the exact characteristics of the Islamic fortress, but it is certain that it was also subjected to successive extensions, especially during the 11th and 12th centuries, to form a set of various palatial rooms interspersed by patios and gardens, as would happen later in Christian era. Archaeological excavations have shown that the main nucleus of the complex was articulated around an area that would go between the current patios de Banderas and del León. In this context is framed the so-called Patio del Yeso, the only significant remnant of this primitive Muslim palace that has survived, in addition to a good part of the walls that surround the Alcázar, which are … ➪

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, the Cid Campeador, is probably the most famous figure of the entire Spanish Middle Ages. He was an eleventh century warrior from Burgos, who worked in the service of the kingdom of León, suffering successive exiles after which he went on to fight on his own with changing loyalties and alliances in the turbulent context of the Reconquest Peninsula. In the final phase of his life, he became lord of the city of Valencia, which maintained an independent status during this period. In the narration of his biography, historical accounts are mixed with literary and legendary sources. The famous Cantar del Mío Cid was composed about it, a deed or epic song dated around 1200 and which is the first extensive poetic work that has been preserved in Spanish. The very nature of the work makes many of the passages collected in it have a fabulous character and heroic praise of the exploits of the Cid. That is why the historical data from other sources qualify or deny many of the singing episodes. One fact that we do know is true is Rodrigo Díaz’s passage through Seville on one of his main missions in the service of King Alfonso VI from Leon. It was around 1079 and the Cid came to the city to collect the outcasts or tributes that the … ➪

Despite the intense population of the Guadalquivir valley since prehistoric times, the river has had very few bridges throughout its history, mainly due to the unstable nature of the terrain it crosses and its irregular character, with frequent and regular floods. , which always hampered the layout of engineering works in their surroundings. 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 … ➪

Seville is a city full of legends. It is full of corners about which beautiful stories are told, in which historical data are mixed with other literary or even fantastic ones. In the emblematic neighborhood of Santa Cruz, specifically in the Plaza de Alfaro, there is one of these corners whose legend the guides are almost obliged to relate. It is the so-called Balcón de Rosina, which opens from number four of the aforementioned square to the Jardines de Murillo. It is called like this when attributing it to be the setting in which part of the history of the Barber of Seville takes place. As it is said, this story, described for the first time in a Beaumarchais play from 1775, would be inspired by a real event that would have happened in this Sevillian house. As a synthesis of her argument, we can say that the Barber of Seville tells the story of Rosina, a young orphan who was in charge of an elderly tutor named Bartolo who wanted her as her wife. The young Count of Almaviva also falls in love with her, who follows the advice of her barber, Fígaro, in order to conquer her lady. In one of his courtship episodes, the lover gets to organize a serenade with other musicians at the foot of Rosina’s balcony, in a scene … ➪

The Monastery of Santa María de las Cuevas is one of the most important monumental complexes from the historical point of view among the many that Seville has. It is located near the old town, but on the other side of the river from the center, on an island formed in the Guadalquivir that is known from the Monastery as Isla de la Cartuja. It has an intense history dating back at least to Islamic times. Apparently, during the Almohad domination, towards the 12th century, there were pottery workshops and kilns in the area, which were supplied from the abundance of clay derived from the proximity to the riverbed. To extract these clay, the raw material for ceramics, a kind of caves were dug. Legend has it that an image of the Virgin appeared in one of these caves after the Christian conquest of the city in 1248. For this reason, a hermitage was built there to worship it, which would be the germ of the later monastery. Around this primitive temple, there was initially a community of Franciscans, but since the beginning of the 15th century they are replaced by the Carthusians as the titular order of the monastery. This order had been founded by Saint Bruno at the end of the 11th century in the vicinity of Grenoble (France) and was characterized by … ➪

In 2018, a new and very interesting museum space was added to the great cultural offer of Seville in the heart of the Santa Cruz neighborhood. It is the Bellver Museum, installed in the so-called Casa Fabiola. It is a palace that dates back to the 16th century, although it has been extensively renovated throughout its history and most of its current appearance dates from the 19th century, when it was owned by the Marquises of Ríos. It responds to the classic typology of Sevillian palace houses, articulated around a central porticoed patio, with marble columns and semicircular arches. It has an area of ​​almost 2,000 m2, with the main area on the first floor and a rich decoration based on tiles, paint, hardwoods and stucco. After changing ownership on several occasions, the City Council acquired it in 2016, with the aim of rehabilitating it to house the Mariano Bellver art collection, which he had donated to the city the previous year. Mariano Bellver was a collector from Bilbao, but settled in Seville since the 1940s, who throughout his life formed a magnificent collection of more than half a thousand pieces that cover a chronology that spans between the 16th and 20th centuries. The heart of the collection is the set of costumbrista painting, which is probably the most important set of works on this … ➪

The Don Fadrique tower, within the Espacio Santa Clara, is one of the first monuments from the Christian period that Seville conserves, since it was built very shortly after the conquest of the city in 1248. Specifically, according to the marble inscription that It is located on its entrance, it was ordered to be built in 1252 by the Infante Don Fadrique. It is a beautiful free-standing tower with a square plan, with dimensions of 7.75 m. sideways and about 65 meters high, which are divided into three floors, the last one topped by a graceful body of battlements. It is built for the most part in brick, although it is combined with stone blocks in some of its parts, such as in the lower half of the ground floor and in the corners and central parts of the rest of the floors. As we have said, the first body is built with ashlars in its lower half and in the upper half you can see some simple loopholes. On its northern side there is a beautiful doorway in Romanesque style, with two semicircular archivolts on columns that frame a multi-lobed opening. Both the central archivolt and the capitals have plant decoration and possibly there was also sculptural decoration on the tympanum, as can be seen by the fragments of figures that have been preserved … ➪

The Puerta de la Asunción, on Avenida de la Constitución, is the main entrance to the Cathedral of Seville. However, its completion was not addressed until well into the 19th century, at the initiative of Cardinal Cienfuegos Jovellanos. In a first phase, between 1827 and 1831, the façade was built according to a project by the architect Fernando de Rosales. It was made in a neo-Gothic style, with the aim that it would marry well with the rest of the cathedral and specifically with the doors that are on each side, the Baptism and San Miguel doors, which are Gothic from the 15th century. The lack of budget to continue the works meant that for the sculptural decoration it was necessary to wait even fifty more years. It was commissioned to Ricardo Bellver, one of the most prestigious sculptors in the country at that time, author of “El Ángel Caído” which is in El Retiro in Madrid. In 1885 he finished the sculptural decoration of the tympanum, for which he made the Assumption of the Virgin ensemble, and in later years he would carry out the series of sculptures of apostles and saints located in the niches on the sides of the door. A total of 40 were commissioned, but only managed to carry out 39, since, once again, the budget was exhausted again. The … ➪

The Maquedano hat shop is located on the emblematic Sierpes street, on the corner of Rioja. The firm was founded in 1896 and the building in which it is located is a work of the architect José Gómez Millán from 1910. It is, therefore, one of the oldest businesses within what is probably the most characteristic commercial hub of Seville. In addition, the titular family has managed to maintain its original style and spirit over time, so approaching the hat shop is like taking a little trip to Seville at the beginning of the 20th century. From that time are some of the modernist jewels that the city conserves and in particular this property shows many of the features of this style. We see it, for example, in the decoration of the pilasters that frame its shop windows and in the rounded shapes of the wooden “pediments” on each one of them. 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 … ➪

The Royal Tobacco Factory building is currently the headquarters of the University of Seville, where its Rectorate and some of its faculties are located. It is a huge construction with a rectangular plan, measuring 185 by 147 meters on a side, constituting one of the main industrial buildings that were built throughout Europe during the 18th century. It was also the second largest building in Spain in its time, only behind El Escorial. Around 1620, the world’s first tobacco factory had been founded in Seville, which was located opposite the church of San Pedro, in the area of ​​the current Plaza del Cristo in Burgos. It was owned by the Crown and with it the tobacco production was centralized, which until then had been dispersed in numerous workshops around the city. With the boom in the consumption and export of tobacco, the facilities of the old factory are clearly insufficient and the construction of a new building is decided, within the general idea that came with the Enlightenment to boost the industry to a certain extent through the establishment of large manufacturing centers under royal patronage. In the case of Seville, a colossal building was projected, in whose design and construction several architects intervened successively, since their works lasted for several decades from 1728. The original designs are by Ignacio Sala and later Diego Bordick … ➪

The church of San Juan Bautista in Seville, generally known as San Juan de la Palma, is located at the beginning of the emblematic Calle Feria. It is one of the temples in the city that have a medieval origin and it is still possible to glimpse some of its Mudejar elements, although today it retains very little of its original appearance. It is likely that it is located on the site of an old mosque and that during the first centuries of Christian domination the Islamic building continued to be used, adapted to the needs of the new cult. Although architecturally the church does not preserve any remains of that theoretical previous mosque, there are some indications that lead us to think that it actually existed. The most notable is an inscription, in Arabic and Kufic script, dated around the year 1100, which was found in the church tower until the end of the 19th century and is now kept in the Archaeological Museum. It is a commemorative plaque that recalls the construction of the minaret of the mosque. Says so: Basmala. Tasliyya. Ha ordenado la gran señora Umm Rasid Abu-l-Husayn Ubayd Allah, hijo de al-Mu´tamid `alá Allah, al-Mu`ayyad bi-nasri-llah, Abu-l-Qasim Muhammad b. ´Abbad (que Dios le ayude asistiéndole y apoyándole, e ilumine a ambos), la erección de este alminar en su mezquita (Dios … ➪

The Municipal Laboratory of Seville has its main headquarters in María Auxiliadora Street, which is part of the so-called “historic round” of the city. It is a building inaugurated in 1912, the work of the architect Antonio Arévalo Martínez. It is built in a very original eclectic style and stands out among the surrounding buildings for its monumentality and rich decoration. In it we find elements of clear modernist influence, such as the wavy cresting that runs along the upper part of the central body or the upper semicircular “pediment” on the central balcony, with a curious decoration based on circles. Historicist elements also appear, especially of the Neo-Plateresque type, which at the time was the style preferred by the City Council for public buildings. We see its influence, for example, in the large flames that appear on the upper cornice, or in the richly ornamented “balustraded” columns that frame the main openings of the upper floor. The Laboratory was created in 1883 in order to ensure the health of the city of Seville, carrying out functions related to hygiene and food. It was about putting a stop through laboratory analysis to the increasing adulterations and counterfeits in food products that had been detected and that led to important health problems. To the analysis of water and food, the functions of the Laboratory include the … ➪

The Carmen de Triana chapel stands like a small lighthouse next to the bridge, constituting one of the most recognizable and appreciated architectural elements in the neighborhood. It is one of the last works of Aníbal González, who completed it in 1928, just a year before his death. This architect is probably the one who has most influenced the appearance of Seville that has come down to us. After some initial works with a certain modernist character, from 1909 it turned to historicism and became the main example of regionalist architecture, which would mark the prevailing aesthetics in the city during the first decades of the 20th century. His most recognizable and famous works are those made for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, such as the current headquarters of the Archaeological and Popular Customs museums, the Royal Pavilion and, above all, the Pavilion and the Plaza de España. This last set, in a spectacular neo-baroque style that combines the use of elements such as brick, ceramic or wrought iron, has become one of the undisputed architectural icons of the city, despite the fact that it is less than a century old. of existence. The City Council commissioned the architect for this chapel to replace a previous one with the same dedication that existed in the vicinity, where today are the access stairs to the Triana … ➪

The Casa de Pilatos is one of the most outstanding examples of 16th century civil architecture in Andalusia, constituting a beautiful synthesis of Italian Renaissance art and the Sevillian Mudejar style. Its construction began at the end of the 15th century by the Adelantado Mayor of Andalusia Pedro Enríquez and his wife, Catalina de Ribera, although the bulk of their work was undertaken in the time of their son, Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, first Marquis of Rate. He carried out a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1518, traveling through much of Italy both on his way out and on his return, a fact that would largely mark the appearance of the palace. He was able to admire great works of the Italian Renaissance in cities like Venice, Milan, Rome or Genoa. In this last city he would commission the sculptor Antonio María Aprile, the tombs of his parents that are in the Monastery of the Cartuja and that would be the first work of Renaissance sculpture that could be seen in the city. To this same sculptor the magnificent portal that constitutes the main access to his palace. It is made of white marble and reproduces the shape of a Roman triumphal arch, with Corinthian pilasters framing a semicircular arch. In the spandrels there are two classic medallions with the effigies of Julius Caesar … ➪

Pedro I of Castile, called “the Cruel” by his detractors and “the Justiciero” by his supporters, reigned between 1350 and 1366, being one of the monarchs most historically linked to Seville. He established his capital in this city for a good part of his reign and his strong and conflictive character have made it possible to narrate numerous legends linked to his passing through the city even today. One of the most famous is the one that has left its mark with the name of Cabeza del Rey Don Pedro street and the bust with the figure of him that can be seen in a niche at number 30 of the same. Legend has it that in one of his usual nocturnal raids, Don Pedro met a member of the rival Guzmanes family, supporters of the king’s half-brother, Enrique de Trastámara, in the dispute between them for the throne of Castile. Apparently, they got into a brawl and Don Pedro ended up killing his opponent, fleeing after him, confident that no one had witnessed the event. But an elderly neighbor from the same street was leaning out of her window, lighting herself up with a lamp and she was a witness to the events. The woman could not make out the faces of the knights, but she did recognize the king when he left, since … ➪

The walls of Isbiliya were notably increased during the last stage of the Muslim rule. Specifically, between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, the city’s walled enclosure was expanded, fully encompassing what is now the old town. Some authors indicate that it was by Almoravid initiative, although it seems that the bulk of the group would already be Almohad. The main fragments that have come down to us are from this period, such as the section that goes from the Arco de la Macarena to the Puerta de Córdoba or the visible canvas in the Jardines del Valle. Around 1220 the surroundings of the Alcázar were fortified in turn. As part of this process, the Torre del Oro was built to reinforce the defense of the port. It was linked by a wall canvas to the Alcázar complex, so it was possible to get there from the palaces without stepping on the street. Forming part of this fragment that disappeared almost in its entirety would be the towers of La Plata and Abdelaziz, which we can see today on Santander Street and on Constitution Avenue respectively. The Torre del Oro is the most famous of those that have survived from the walled enclosure of Seville. It was built between 1220 and 1221 and apparently owes its name to the golden effects that its color produced when … ➪

The church of the Divine Savior (iglesia del Divino Salvador) in Seville is the second largest temple in the city, only after the Cathedral. It is one of the great architectural jewels of the city and inside it houses a magnificent sculpture collection, with works by the most prominent Sevillian Baroque authors. We know that in the space it occupies today was the so-called Ibn Adabbas mosque, created around 830 as the aljama or main mosque of the city. It held this rank until the new great mosque was built in the 12th century, on the site that is now occupied by the Cathedral. Some elements of the mosque that was located in El Salvador have been preserved, such as part of its patio and the start of its minaret, which corresponds to the lower part of the tower that we find at the north end, on Córdoba Street. Once the city was conquered by the Christians in 1248, the mosque began to be used as a church, while maintaining the essentials of its structure. Thus it remained for centuries, with the architectural characteristics of an Islamic temple but serving for Christian worship, as it continues to happen today, for example, with the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. However, after the seventeenth century, it seems that its condition was quite dilapidated and the construction of a new … ➪

Pureza street is one of the most emblematic of Triana and surely one of the first that the neighborhood had (Pureza literally means ‘Purity’). This is due to the fact that it joined two of its main and oldest landmarks: the Barcas bridge, which was located for centuries where the Isabel II bridge is today, and Santa Ana, the main temple of Triana, ordered to be built by Alfonso X to late 13th century. The layout of this street is the shortest path between both points, so it is very likely that it was one of the main axes around which the inhabitants of the neighborhood settled their homes. In fact, we have news that it was already an inhabited area since Islamic times. Archaeological excavations have shown that it was an area with numerous workshops and pottery kilns. In the first centuries of the Muslim Isbiliya, these activities were based mainly around Puerta Jerez and the south of the Avenida de la Constitución, where some authors even place a “potters’ neighborhood” due to the amount of remains found. However, as the palatial rooms of the Alcázar grew larger, these artisans were pushed to more remote areas, since the rulers did not like having them so close to their homes. It must be remembered that pottery was a fairly polluting activity for the time, especially … ➪

It is about 104 meters high, making it the tallest cathedral tower in Spain and was the tallest building in the country for centuries. The lower two thirds of the tower are from the Islamic period, Almohads from the 12th century. It began to be built using reused ashlars from Roman, Visigoth and Abbasid monuments, but it was soon decided to continue it in brick. Each of its sides is decorated with sebka, which form a kind of rhomboid geometric interlacing. In the central axis of each side there are a series of openings with a central mullion framed by arches with different shapes. Around 1198, four large bronze spheres, superimposed and of unequal size, were placed at the top, which were placed by order of the Caliph Abu Yaacub al-Mansur, to commemorate the victory over the Christians in the Battle of Alarcos. They finished the tower until 1356, when they collapsed due to a great earthquake. By then, the city had already been in Christian hands for more than a century. The Giralda has two clear stylistic references in Morocco: the minaret of the Koutoubia mosque in Marrakech and the Hasan Tower in Rabat, both also built in the 12th century. The upper third is in the Renaissance style and was built in the 16th century under the direction of Hernán Ruíz el Joven … ➪

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 … ➪

The Plaza de España in Seville rises majestically at one end of the María Luisa Park, constituting a beautiful space in the city and one of its essential visits, despite being less than a century old. Its construction began in 1914 with the aim of serving as the central area for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is the most monumental work of the brilliant architect Aníbal González, who directed his works until 1926, and is probably the most outstanding example of regionalism. The building is the largest of those built in Seville during the 20th century and is built in a style reminiscent of the Renaissance and Baroque. It takes place around a large semi-elliptical plaza, with more than 30,000 m2 of surface, symbolizing the embrace of Spain to the Ibero-American peoples. It consists of a central building from which the two arcaded wings that delimit the square start, with two beautiful neo-baroque towers 74 meters high at each end. The construction of these towers was very controversial at the time, since from some sectors they were considered excessively high and it was believed that they could compete with the Giralda in its dominance over the landscape of the city. In the central part of each of the wings there are two buildings that balance their great length and give the whole a great … ➪

The Palace of Pedro I is the heart of the Alcázar of Seville. Its original nucleus dates from the 14th century, although it has been remodeled throughout history, adapting it to the tastes and artistic tendencies of different times, since its use as a royal residence has continued from its origins to the present day. It is one of the greatest exponents of Mudejar history and one of the most artistically unique and outstanding palaces in all of Spain. Its great promoter, Pedro I of Castile, reigned between 1350 and 1366 and was closely linked to Seville, residing in the city for long periods. In fact, he is buried in the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral, next to whom was her great love, Doña María de Padilla, whom he made recognized as the wife of the King of Castile once she died. He had a very tumultuous reign, due in large part to the wrath of his character, and to his interest in strengthening the royal power against the nobility and against any type of detractor, sometimes acting quite cruel. Although he was the only legitimate son of his father Alfonso XI, he had several stepbrothers, who ended up revolting around the eldest of them, Enrique, who would dispute the throne in a long civil war. In the Hall of Justice, next to the Patio … ➪

El Costurero de la Reina (literally, the Queen’s sewing box), dating from 1893, is the first neo-Mudejar style building in Seville. It was commissioned by the Infanta María Luisa, Duchess of Montpensier, to serve as accommodation for the guards of the gardens of her palace in San Telmo. Juan Talavera y de la Vega was its architect and conceived the project as a small and romantic castle, with towers at the ends. On its facades, the color albero and almagra alternate, in an arrangement in stripes to which the architect would also resort a few years later in another of his most famous works, the Casa Mensaque on Calle San Jacinto, current headquarters of the Triana district. . Elements such as the arches that frame doors and windows, or the beautiful battlements that finish off the entire complex, directly evoke the Islamic past of the city, following the historicist trend that has so much weight in Sevillian regionalist architecture. The name of Seamstress of the Queen comes to it because tradition places there María de las Mercedes, daughter of the Dukes of Montpensier, sewing during the afternoons while awaiting the visit of her lover, the young King Alfonso XII, who would come to woo her. from the nearby Alcazar. Both were first cousins ​​and despite opposition from the king’s mother and from the government, they ended … ➪

“Ad utrumque”. This is the inscription carried by the famous lion represented on a tile panel above the main entrance to the Alcázar. It is the abbreviated version of the motto “Ad utrumque paratus”, from Virgil’s “Aeneid”, which could be translated as “prepared for one and for the other” or “prepared for everything”. This door dates from the 14th century and was opened on the Almohad walls in the time of Pedro I. The objective was to give direct access to the magnificent Mudejar palace that the king was building inside the Alcázar. The representation of the lion that we see today was made in 1892 in the Triana ceramic factory of Mensaque, following a design by José Gestoso, art historian, researcher and great popularizer of Sevillian themes. The panel shows a lion with an open royal crown, who bears a cross on one of his legs and perches two others on a spear, all framed by a cord with knots at the corners. It follows the prevailing historicist criterion in the restorations of the time, since it must be remembered that the lion has been the animal most used historically to represent the king and, in general, the Spanish sovereignty. Specifically, Gestoso’s design is very similar to that used in the times of Felipe III and Felipe IV, who also made use of the … ➪

The Basilica de la Macarena, headquarters of the brotherhood of the same name, is the third most visited monument in Seville, behind only the Cathedral and the Alcázar. Every year it receives almost a million visitors, moved by the devotion that awakens the image of Esperanza Macarena, a painful anonymous woman from the 17th century, which is probably the most popular Marian invocation in the city and one of the most prominent both within and outside of Andalusia. The temple was built during the 40s of the 20th century, according to the project of Aurelio Gómez Millán. Following the guidelines of the brotherhood, it was built in a neo-baroque style, which fits perfectly into the historicist character that characterizes most of this architect’s work. It has a basilica plan, with a single nave covered with a barrel vault with lunettes, four side chapels and a very pronounced front, in which the main altar with the image of the Virgin is located. As for its façade, the most characteristic element is the atrium, with a central span covered by a semicircular arch and two lintelled openings on each side, supported by six pairs of marble columns. Above it, a niche covered by a split curved pediment houses a sculpture representing the theological virtue of hope. In the background, a graceful belfry rises, which originally had a … ➪

Casa Nogueira is one of the magnificent works that the architect Aníbal González left in Seville and that have survived to this day. It is located on the corner of Martín Villa and Santa María de Gracia streets, in one of the nerve centers of the city, a few meters from La Campana. Its construction was carried out between 1907 and 1908, within the framework of the urban policy undertaken by the City Council in the first decades of the 20th century, which pursued the transformation of the fabric of the city with the creation of wide streets that crossed the historic center , as happened with the Avenida de la Constitución or with this axis of the streets Campana, Martín Villa, Laraña and Imagen. The property was conceived as a residential and office building commissioned by the developer Manuel Nogueira. Hence comes the name by which it is known. From the artistic point of view, it represents an important turning point in the production of the great Aníbal González, since it is the first work in which he moves away from the modernist style that he had been practicing, to enter the regionalism and historicism of what would become the great teacher. Specifically, it is his first neo-Mudejar work, a style that he later used profusely and that would have its culminating point in … ➪