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This is the bell tower of the cathedral in Seville. It dominates the town... refered to as the La Giralda which means roughly "The Triumph of Faith" and named after the windvane on its top, this was originally (minus the top section) the minaret of the Almohad mosque that once stood on the site.
The cathedral was started in 1401 and took over 100 years to complete. At the time was the largest in Europe. It is now the third largest behind St. Peters and St. Pauls. Started immediately after the Christian reconquest of Seville, the legand has it that the designs said "Let us build a church so big that they will think us mad."
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Street scene around the cathedral... narrow steerts and bistros. |
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Inside the cathedral they were doing some structural work on a couple of the columns... I thought the supports were interesting. |
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Chapel of XXX |
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Section of the ceiling... but the Moors had them beat. |
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Big massive silver stuff.... a "monstrance" (16c) by Juan de Arfe... weighing over 1000 lbs. |
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Capilla Mayor... the high alter... (1482-1525) a Flemish alterpiece, the largest in Spain (60ft tall) ... depicting scenes from the life of Christ. This is as close as they will let you get |
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Each little guy is different... |
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This is the "Tomb of Christopher Columbus"... you really would have figured that it would have been more busy. Well... there is a bit of controversy as to if this is really Chris, of if it is his brother Diego.
The four pall bearers shown are the Kings of Aragon, Castile, Leon and Navarra. The tomb was moved from Cuba after it declared independence from Spain.
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Outside in the courtyard/orchard "Patio de los Naranjos"... left over from the mosque. The fountain is Visigothic (pre Moorish Christian) and dates from XXXX |
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Climbing the tower... instead of stairs it has 34 ramps... allowing XXXX of the conquering Christian army to ride his horse to the top. |
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A view from the top towards the Alcazaba and the Plaza del Triunfo... which we will visit later... |
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What knockers!
Oh, Thanks you doctor.
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This is one of the really neat things about Southern Spain...
Here you have a Moorish gate with a horseshoe arch... a design they copied from the Visigoths and exported to the middle east... framing a gothic church... the tower of which began its life as a minaret of a mosque built upon Roman foundations.
The combinations here are unqiue.
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Into the Alcazaba... which is a collection of royal palaces... this is the The Patio del Yeso (Stucco Courtyard) one of the few orginal Almohad (Moorish) areas of the complex. |
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The Hall of Justice (14t c) , and no... the Justice League does not live here. Don Pedro (Pedro the Cruel) dispensed "justice" from this room. |
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The Capilla or Sala Capitular (Chapel or Chapterhouse) Sailors going off to the "New World" would pray here. Seville was the "offcial" hopping off point for Spaniards going to the Americas and in reverse, where they had to bring their trade. As such it became very wealthy.
The perimiter of the room is decorated with the coat of arms of the "Admirals of Castille" including Columbus.
The painting is of Madonna of the Seafarers (1535 Alejo Fernandez)
It is historically notable because the artist painting a complete set of contemporary Spainish ships... and this is one of the few surviving historical documents that describe them. It is referredd to in one book as "the earliest work in which a religious theme is related to the discovery of the new world." The Madonna is sheltering a cast of charcters that includes Ameirican Indians.
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Palacio del Rey Don Pedro
The is the facade of the royal palace complex of the Alcazaba.
Constructed during the reign of Pedro the Cruel, who was a big admirer of Moorish architecture and design, it was build with the assistence of Moorish craftsmen from Toledo and Granada. It is quiet odd to think that Pedro helped restore the moorish king to his throne in Granada even though the Christian and Moslem "kingdoms" were technically at war... the king later loaner Pedro craftsmen for his palace.
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An example of this odd mix...
The blue and white tile is arabic calligraphy that repeats the Nasrid "motto"... "There is no conquerer but Allah" this is surrounded by Latin that says "XXXX"
The wooden overhang was made by craftmen from Toledo.
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Since this is our first real "encounter"... most of the light white/tan stuff you see is stucco or plaster and most of it here was created by Mudejar craftmen. "Mudejar" means a former moor that was living in a Christian kingdom... I say "former" since you pretty much had to convert to Christianity or leave the country. Here at the palace, as mentioned, there are also sections done my imported Islamic craftsman... hench again this Islamic calligraphy... which usually contain the Nasrid motto, or in some longer sections, passages from the Koran.
It is the source of some debate as to how much of this work orginally had paint on it and what the palletes were.
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Ceiling... always have to remember to look up. |
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Tile!
Ok, also as an introduction...
the repeating patterns in some respect not only adhered to the Islamic prohibition against the depection of human/animal forms, but also expressed the moorish interest in mathematics and the Islamic belief that "Infinite" is one of the prime attributes of God (my words).
In any case, I love the stuff.
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Another wooden ceiling. |
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Floor |
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ceiling |
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Crappy picture in the Hall of the Ambassadors...
It was at this point that I got yelled at for having a tripod :( so I didn't get to cover this the way I would have liked.
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XXXX ceing of the hall of ambassadors.
Yes it is fuzzy, I was still reeling from not being able to use a tripod. I should have gone back and done this again... it was amazing.
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Out in the gardens... moorish gardens preferred "bubbling" water to shooting fountains. This distinction is one of the ways you can tell if work is new or old... and if it is a faithful reproduction. |
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So here is one that is not moorish... a large section of the garden built in the XXX by YYYY has a distinctively "grooto" theme. |
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Big 'ol Bougevilla |
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Torre de Oro, built by the Almohads in 1220 as part of the citys defenses... it had a companion tower across the river. A large chain would be streached across the river to prevent boats from passing. The "Oro" (Gold) part either comes from the tile that once adorned it, or the New World treasure that was once unloaded it. |
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Our hotel... the Puerta de Sevilla
Good location, clean, a little small, but eh... we were out walking most of the time.
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Next day... the Casa de Pilatos named after "Pontius Pilates" house, was constructed starting in the 1520's by the Marguess of Tarifa after a pilgrimage to Europe.
This again is Mudejar craftsmanship.
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Again, just a little bit out of focus... but the medallions were like beehives on conch shells coming out of the ceiling... wonderful! |
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How true, how true...
There are Starbucks in Seville, Madrid and Barcelona.
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This is the Plaza de Espana the centerpiece of the 1929 Exposition... seemed like a lot of empty buildings??? |
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Museum of Popular Arts and Costumes
We were going to the Archeology museum across the street... but this caught our eye... this is housed in the 1929 Mudejar Pavilion of the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition.
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The Archeology Museum and the Plaza de Espana are located in the Parque Maria Luisa which was constructed for the 1929 Exposition. |
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Seville: Italica
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Italica is the Roman town just outside (NW) of Seville. Founded in 206BC by Scipio Africanus after his defeate of Hannibal, it is notable as the birthplace of the emporers Trajan and Hadrian.
If you don't know squat about Roman history, maybe this will make it relevent to you... the character played by Russel Crowe in "Gladiator" came from the part of Roman empire that is now Spain... he would likely have been born in/around this town.
Anyway... I digress... Italica has a fairly well preseved/excavated colusseum... most of the town seemed to still be unexcavated, which is probably a good thing. Still... nice to walk about for an hour or so... Look at the size of those stones and how well put together they are... built to last.
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Seville: Mensaque "Showroom" |
So... what seems like ages ago... I imported some tile from this company to make some tables for a friend. I really imagined a much larger operation, but we stopped by their little showroom, just north of Ithica anyway. They have a lot of designs based on the Moorish designs and it is wonderful stuff, and I got some soveniers off the scrap heap. In large fields the designs can be a little "much" but in small doeses it is stunning. The tiles behind me use a copper infused glaze.
Mensaque Rodriguez & Co.
http://www.mensaque.com
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