Today we are touring several sites in Seville. First on our agenda is a visit to the Museum of Fine arts. In the afternoon we are meeting our guide, Antonio, for a tour of the city. First the art museum.
The Fine Arts Museum houses a collection of mainly Spanish visual arts from the medieval period to the early 20th century, including a large group of works by artists from the golden age of Sevillian painting during the 17th century. The building itself is housed in what was originally home to a convent. Many such buildings became available for civic use after the shuttering of religious monasteries and convents between 1835 and 1837.
After our time at the Fine Arts Museum, we make our way to the square in front of the Giralda Tower and the Cathedral to meet up with our guide, Antonio. We stand around for 40 minutes until 2pm watching people and horse-drawn carriages. A bride and groom are having photos taken. This would seem to be a pretty uncomfortable proposition as the wind is blowing briskly.
Senor Antonio arrives pretty close to schedule. We start with the Alcazar, originally a Moorish fortress/palace located right next to the main mosque (later re-built as Seville’s cathedral). The original Moorish palace was reworked in the 14th century by the re-conquering Spanish king Peter I. Since the majority of skilled craftsmen of the time were Muslim, they mostly preserved the Islamic style of tile decoration: intricate geometry and calligraphic Koranic verses. These are interspersed with occasional symbols of Spanish royalty.
One of the most curious of these was the “Plus Ultra” motif. Originally, the motto was “Ne Plus Ultra”: Nothing Beyond Here. This referred to Spain as being the western end of the known world. Then came the discovery of the Americas, with the entire Spanish effort sailing in and out of Seville (which became incredibly rich in the process), so the motto was quickly re-written as “Plus Ultra”: More Beyond Here.
Antonio advances a theory that the sign for the US dollar was based on this phrase, snaking around two columns symbolizing the Pillars of Hercules used to adorn the first coinage in the new world.
We view many magnificent rooms and gardens and then proceed to the old Jewish Quarter, the Juderia. Back in the era of Moorish Al-Andalus, the rulers kept their bankers and merchants just beyond the palace walls. This persisted through the early reconquista until 1492, when the Jews were expelled from Spain and the neighborhood was renamed Santa Cruz.
Notable residents of Santa Cruz included the legendary Don Juan, the opera composer Rossini (who wrote the Barber of Seville), the painter Murillo, and US ambassador Washington Irving. There are many beautiful small squares: lots of restaurants, churches and flamenco establishments. Antonio tells us that, unlike many European cities, the old section of Seville is a very prestigious address.
[One of the cool things in Santa Cruz was the modern trash collection system. High-tech trash bins are connected to an underground vacuum system that sucks trash out to a central collection point 2km away. The streets are so narrow that garbage trucks would be impossible.]
We proceed on to the Cathedral. It’s the third-largest in the world, after St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London. At the time of its initial construction in 1434 it was the largest house of worship in the western world (larger than Hagia Sophia in Istanbul), and still the largest Gothic church anywhere. The planners wanted it to be so big that anyone who came to Seville would remark that the builders had to be crazy.
The Cathedral was built over the earthquake-ruined (1356) main mosque, whose most notable feature, the minaret, became (with suitable modification) the Giralda tower, the symbol of Seville, about 300 feet tall.
The interior is indeed huge. We pray for someplace to sit, and lo and behold, there are pews! We see dozens of side chapels and some really ornate silver and gold work. A highlight is the tomb of Christopher Columbus, who in 1492 set sail from Seville in order to celebrate Columbus Day on a warm Caribbean island.
It’s been an awesome two and a half hours. We thank Antonio, say adios, and make our way to the strategically-placed taxi ranks just beyond the courtyard’s exit. We are beat, but totally enamored with Seville. What a beautiful city!