Tag Archives: XX

ELECTRICITY SHED OFF THE 1929 PARK

This small electricity booth, with its Neo-Baroque style, is the only remainder that has survived to this day from the great amusement park that was built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It occupied an area of almost 43,000 square meters between the avenues of La Raza and de la Palmera and at the time it was considered in quality to be on par with the best in the world. Unfortunately, despite initial plans to keep it, the park was eventually dismantled and sold. Some parts of its attractions are still preserved today in the historic amusement park of Monte Igueldo, in Bilbao.

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BASILICA OF EL GRAN PODER

The Brotherhood of El Gran Poder has its headquarters in this Basilica in the Plaza de San Lorenzo. They do their penance station in the 'Madrugá' from Thursday to Good Friday, in the midst of absolute silence, being one of the brotherhoods that arouse the most devotion among Sevillians.

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Historians trace the foundation of the Brotherhood to the 15th century, initially settling in the Benedictine Convent of Santo Domingo de Silos, of which the current church of San Benito Abad, in Luis Montoto, remains as testimony. From there, it would go through various locations throughout its history.

Already in the fifteenth century it appears located in the Convent of Santiago de la Espada and in the sixteenth century it was moved to a chapel of the Franciscan Convent of Santa María del Valle, where today is the Sanctuary of the Brotherhood of the Gypsies. From the Valley they would move to San Lorenzo at the beginning of the 18th century and the current headquarters would be built in the middle of the 20th century.

The temple was built between 1959 and 1965 in a neo-baroque style with a very classical air inside, following the traces of the architects Antonio Delgado Roig and Alberto Balbontín. The floor plan is that of a large, almost circular space, covered by a large coffered vault, which seems directly inspired by that of Agrippa's Pantheon in Rome. As in the Roman case, this space is preceded by a large rectangular atrium through which it is accessed, covered by a quarter-barrel vault, also coffered.

The temple has been a Minor Basilica since 1992, the result of a concession from Pope John Paul II.

The holders of the Brotherhood are Jesus of Great Power and the Virgin of Greater Pain and Transfer.

Jesús del Gran Poder is an image of Jesus carrying the cross made by Juan de Mesa around 1620. It constitutes a masterpiece of Sevillian Baroque, with a splendid anatomical treatment and an expressionism in the face that manages to convey the sensation of deep suffering and great solemnity at the same time.

The image of the Virgin is an anonymous work from the 18th century, with successive restorations in the 20th century. She is in procession under a canopy accompanied by Saint John the Baptist, an image carved for the Brotherhood by Juan de Mesa at the same time he sculpted the Lord.

ROYAL AUDIENCE OF SEVILLE

The Royal Court was the highest judicial institution in the city and settled in this space since the beginning of the 16th century, when it moved from its previous headquarters in the Casa de Pilatos. The current building would be built in the Renaissance style at the end of the same century by order of Felipe II.

However, the building that we can see today is far from the original, due to the numerous historical vicissitudes it has gone through.

In 1918 there was a great fire that destroyed it to a large extent and forced the transfer of the courts to Almirante Apocada street, to the place where the General Archive of Andalusia is located today.

After the fire, Aníbal González was in charge of remodeling the property, giving it its current appearance. In the 1970s it underwent another important transformation with the aim of making it the headquarters of the old Caja de San Fernando. Today it houses the headquarters of the CajaSol Foundation.

WALL OF THE PASEO CATALINA DE RIBERA (CONTEMPORARY)

As part of the urban redevelopment works in this sector of the city, undertaken at the beginning of the 20th century, this wall or fence was built to separate the gardens of the Alcázar from the Paseo de Catalina de Ribera and the Jardines de Murillo. It is almost 400 meters long and is made in the historicist style that was so popular at the time. In fact, it is a crenellated wall, despite the fact that it does not have any defensive purpose.

Also historicist and with a certain monumentality are the two portals that are located at both ends of the Paseo, which today serve as auxiliary accesses to the gardens of the Alcázar.

ALLEGORIES OF IBERIA, THE GUADALQUIVIR RIVER AND THE MAGDALENA RIVER

In a small meadow inside the Garden of Earthly Delights we find these three allegorical sculptures made around 1928. They were originally made as part of a large monumental fountain that was located in what was called Plaza de los Conquistadores, in the southern sector of the city. Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929. This space was redeveloped after the Exhibition, the square and the fountain disappearing, and it is currently occupied by part of the Reina Mercedes university campus.

The allegory of Iberia occupied the central space of the fountain. It was made by the Valencian Francisco Marco Díaz-Pintado, who conceived Iberia as a female figure carved in stone about 3.5 m high. With an attitude between hieratic and solemn, she appears dressed in a wide tunic and a headdress and some jewels of clear Iberian inspiration. She seems to be directly inspired by Iberian sculptures, especially the Ladies of Elche and Baza. With her left arm she holds a large garland of flowers and fruit, symbolizing the agrarian wealth of the Peninsula.

On both sides of Iberia were the allegories of the Guadalquivir and Magdalena rivers, which today are also found in this area of the Garden of Earthly Delights. Both rivers are represented as two men, who appear naked and reclining, each showing some element that allows them to be identified.

The Allegory of the Guadalquivir River was made by Agustín Sánchez Cid and next to him we see a bull's head and a cornucopia. For its part, the Allegory of the Magdalena River is the work of José Lafita Díaz. She rests on a small alligator, a very abundant animal in this Colombian river, and we can also see various American fruits, such as pineapples.