The Royal Alcázar of Seville. Ten centuries of history 8419370436, 9788419370433

Table of contents :
Cover
Index
I. Introduction
1. Historical antecedents
II. Entrance
The Lion Gate
Lion Courtyard (Theatre of Vermondo Resta)
Hall of Justice
Plaster Patio
III. Courtyard of the Hunt and House of Contracts
Courtyard of the Hunt
House of Contracts. Historical introduction
Audience Chamber
Hall of Fans
Patios of the Asistant
IV. Upper royal apartments and permanent pottery exhibition
Introduction
Staircase to the upper royal apartments
Vestibule
Ante-oratory
Oratory of the Catholic Monarchs
Anteroom
Gala Dining Room
Billiards Room
Upper Gallery
Smoking Room
Aides-de-Camps’ Dining Room
Anteroom to Family Dining Room
Family Dining Room
Belvedere of the Catholic Monarchs
King Pedroʻs Bedroom
Upper Gallery of the Maidens’ Courtyard
Anteroomto the Official Study of H.M. the King
Audience Chamber
Official Antechamber
The Carranza Collection
V. Mudéjar Palace of Pedro I
Historical introduction
Façade
Vestibule
Maidens’ Courtyard
Bedroom of King Pedro I or Royal Chamber
Hall of Lost Steps
Patio of the Dolls
The Prince’s Hall
Hall of the Catholic Monarchs’ Ceiling
Hall of the Philip II Ceiling
Ambassadors’ Hall
Rooms to the side of the Ambassadors’ Hall
Hall of the Charles V Ceiling
Quarters of the Infantes
VI. Gardens
Introduction
Hispano-Muslim gardens
Baths of María de Padilla
The Mercury Pool
Gallery of the Grutescos and Fountain of Fame
The Ladies’ Garden
Garden and Pavilion of the Alcoba
Garden of the New Maze
Pavilion of the Lion
Garden of the Cross or of the Old Maze
English garden
Garden of the Poets
Marchena Gate
Garden of the Water Spout
Garden of the Alcubilla
VII. Gothic palace and carriage entrance
Introduction
Gothic hall
Cantarera Hall
Chapel
Hall of Tapestries
Courtyard of the Crossing
Carriage entrance
Translator’s glossary

Citation preview

T

he Royal Alcazar of Seville: ten hectares of land inter-

woven with the intangible web of a thousand years of history. Between ponds and plasterwork decoration, the shaded gardens and radiant rooms that make up the oldest Royal Palace in Europe still in regular use, the visitor is escorted on a stroll to contemplate all the artistic styles that have succeeded each other from the early Middle Ages to our own days. A fascinating path over tile floors, chiselled tilework created for the glory and enjoyment of those who wrote the history of East and West ... and of those who never emerged from anonymity, voices lost in time that today come to our encounter.

ISBN 978-84-19370-43-3

9 788419 3 70433

MANUEL ANDRES HURTADO GARciA (Jerez

de la Frontera, 1973) holds a Diploma in Tourism from the University of Cadiz. He has dedicated his professional career to cultural management, especially in heritage spaces. Since 2003 he has been Head of Activities at the Royal Alcazar of Seville. He also undertakes teaching duties and cultural promotion, including the Master's course in Protocol at the Universidad San Pablo CEU in Seville, and the Master's Heritage Course at the University of Dublin.

MERVYN SAMUEL, translator of the text, was born in Bristol (England) and studied at Bristol Cathedral School and the University of Oxford. He lived and worked in Argentina and Peru before taking up residence in Seville and then Madrid. Inspired by Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra he has written Tales of the Royal Alcazar of Seville (Sial Pigmalion, 2016), and two other works on Peruvian themes: Ayacucho and Reflections of Peru. He has also translated books on several Spanish royal palaces and museums. In 2022 he published Carmen Ortueta de Salas y el patrimonio hist6rico espanol. At present he divides his time between Spain and England.

Cl . Bravo Murillo, 123 - 6. 0 D - 28020 Madrid Telefonos: 91 535 41 13 I 686 500 013

[email protected] • www.sialpigmalion.es

MANUEL ANDRES HURTADO

THE ROYAL

GARCIA

ALcAzAR OF SEVILLE

Ex Libris. Literatures of Memory

Ten centuries of history Editors Basilio Rodriguez Canada (Grupo Editorial Sia! Pigmali6n) Pedro Marmol Avila (Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid and Universite de Geneve)

ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY M ERVYN SAMUEL

Advisory Committee Dr. Juan Carlos Abril (Universidad de Granada), Dr. Manuel Alberca (Universidad de Malaga), Dr. Carlos Alvar (Universite de Geneve y Universidad de Alcala), Dr. Luis Beltran Almeria (Universidad de Zaragoza), Dr. Justo Bolekia Boleka (Universidad de Salamanca y RAE), Dra. Anna Caballe (Universitat de Barcelona), Dra. Ana Casas (Universidad de Alcala), Dra. Fram;oise Dubosquet (Universite Rennes 2), Dra. Anna Forne (University ofGothenburg), Dr. Francisco Gutierrez Carbajo (Universidad Nacional de Educaci6n a Distancia), Dr. Jose Manuel Lucia Megfas (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Dra. Patricia L6pez-Gay (Bard College), Dra. Catherine Orsini-Saillet (Universite Grenoble Alpes), Dr. Jose Maria Paz Gago (Universidade da Corufta), Dra. Fanny Rubio (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Maria Sanchez Cabrera (Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid), Dra. Isabelle Touton (Universite Bordeaux Montaigne), Dr. Jose Ram6n Trujillo (Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid) y Dra. Carmen Valcarcel (Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid). The richness and variety of biographical and commemorative texts that have in recent times featured in the Spanish literary landscape -memoirs, biographies, autobiographies, journals, diaries, fictional autobiographies, etc.- have made a collection such as this a necessary part of Sia! Pigmali6n's publishing portfolio. The collection is home to books in which the relationship between biography and memory is central: some works favour one or other tendency, while in others both interact intimately and in detail. As Borges -and many others- have said, the creator is always present in his work (A veces en /.as tardes una cara I Nos mira desde el fondo de un espejo; I El arte debe ser como ese espejo I Que nos revela nuestra propia cara. "Sometimes, in the evening, a face looks out at us from the depths of a mirror; art should be like that mirror, revealing to us our own face"), to such an extent that memory, together with life, provide the basic ingredients for any composition. However, biographical and memorial writing can take on different forms, implications and degrees, and the degree is fundamental in this case. Degree detennines how each work can be read in terms of its own intentions, or seen in relation to other works. These ideas define Ex Libris. Literatura de la memoria, a collection brought together after an anonymous process of evaluation and revision in peer reviews by two specialists in the subject. All of the works published reflect their expert judgement and follow the criteria on style and ethical norms established in the collection's foundi ng ideals.

ft..

PIGMALION

Ex

LIBRIS,

55

INDEX

I.

INTRODUCTION

Historical antecedents....................................................

II.

ENTRANCE

Ill.

Iv.

14

The Lion Gate..............................................................

27

Lion Courtyard (Theatre of Vermondo Res ta)...................

31

Hall ofjustice...............................................................

35

Plaster Patio.................................................................

39

COURTYARD OF THE HUNT AND HOUSE OF CONTRACTS

Courtyard of the Hunt........................... ..... .......... ... ... .. .

45

House of Contracts. Historical Introduction....................

51

Admiral's Hall................. ...... ........................... ... ..... ....

58

Audience Chamber.........................................................

61

Hall of Fans.................................................................

69

Patio of the Assistant......................................................

73

Patio of the Levi Family .. ... .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .. .. ... .. .. .

73

Patio ofJoaquin Romero Murube ..................................

74

The Prince's Patio .. .. . .... ............ .. . ...... .... .. ..... ...... .. ... .... .

74

UPPER ROYAL APARTMENTS AND PERMAN ENT POTTERY EXHIBITION.

THE CARRANZA COLLECTION

Introduction .. ... . ... .. ...... ... ........... . ..... . ..... ...... .... ... .. . . .. .. .

77

Staircase to the Upper Royal Apartments.........................

78

Upper Royal Apartments. Vestibule ....... ... ........... ......... ...

79

Hall of Lost Steps..........................................................

136

Ante-Oratory ........ .... . ... ... ................ .. ....... . .. .. .............. .

81

Patio of the Dolls .. .... ............... .. ..... ... . ...... .. ......... . ... ... ...

13 7

Oratory of the Catholic Monarchs...................................

83

The Prince's Hall ..................... ....... .. .......... ... .. .............

141

Anteroom to Gala Dining Room ..... ........ .. .. . .. ........... .. ....

86

Hall of the Catholic Monarchs' Ceiling...........................

142

Gala Dining Room......... ........ ................. ..................... .

87

Hall of the Philip II Ceiling . .. ...... .. ... . .. ..... .... ....... ... . .....

144

Billiards Room............................................................. .

89

Ambassadors' Hall.. .. ................ ............... ............ ......... .

14 7

Upper Gallery of the Prince's Rooms........... .. .... .... .... ......

90

Rooms to the side of the Ambassadors' Hall ........ ...... .. ... .. .

149

Smoking Roorn .. ... ... ... . .... .............. ... ... .... .. .. .. ........ ..... ..

91

Hall of the Charles V Ceiling.........................................

150

Aides-de-Camps' Dining Room. ....... .. .. ........ .. ......... ........

92

Quarters of the Infantes.. .. ...... ... ... ...... .. ... ....... ...... . .. . .... .

153

Anteroom to the Family Dining Room ..... ..... .. .... .......... ...

93

Family Dining Room............................... .... ........... .......

95

Belvedere of the Catholic Monarchs.................................

97

King Pedro's Bedroom....................................................

98

Upper Gallery of the Maidens' Courtyard........................

GARDENS

Introduction .. .... ........ .... ... ... ..... ... ...... .. ..... ... .... ..... ........

155

Hispano-Muslim Gardens..............................................

159

100

Garden of the Galley . .. ... .. ... .. .... .... .. ...... ........ ... .... .. ..... .....

159

Anteroom to the Official Study of H.M. The King .......... ..

102

Garden of Flowers ....... .. ... ................. .... .......... ..... .. .. ........

161

Audience Chamber............................................. .... ........

103

Garden of Troy . .. ... .... .. .. .. ... .. ... .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .... ... .. .. .. .. .. .... .. .

162

Official Antechamber.................................... .................

105

Garden of Dance ... .. .. .......... .. .. .. .. ....... .... .. . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .

166

Baths of Maria de Padilla..... .. .. .. ......... .................... ... ...

169

The Mercury Pool........ ... ........ ........ .... ...... ..... ....... .. ... ....

173

Gallery of the Grutescos and Fountain of Fame (Water Organ) .... ... .. .. .......... ......... ............... ....... ... ... .. ..

175

The Carranza Collection.Exhibition of Pottery and Tiles from Triana.................... .. ................. ... ........................

V.

VI.

M uDEJAR P ALACE OF PEDRO

107

I

Historical Introduction..................................................

111

The Ladies' Garden.......................................................

181

Far;ade..................................................................... .....

115

Garden and Pavilion of the Alcoba..... .. ............. .... ..........

185

Vestibule .................. .. .. .. ..... .... ...... .......... .. ... . .... ..... ..... ..

118

GardenoftheNewMaze .... ... ..... .... ... ...... .................... ..

191

Maidens' Courtyard................... ... ..... .. ... .......... ... .. ....... .

125

Pavilion of the Lion........................................ .. ....... ......

191

Bedroom of King Pedro I or Royal Chamber....................

135

Garden of the Cross or of the Old Maze...........................

194

English Garden.............................................................

195

VII.

Garden of the Marques de la ~ga Inclan or Garden of the Retiro ......... .. ... . .............................. .. .. .. ...............

196

Garden of the Poets............................. ...........................

199

Marchena Gate.............................................................

201

Garden of the Water Spout.............................................

203

Garden of the Alcubilla.......... .. ... .......... ... .. .. . ..... .. .... ... ...

203

GOTHIC PALACE AND CARRIAGE ENTRANCE

Introduction ...... .. ..... . ... .. .. ... .............. .. .... .. .. . ............... .

207

Gothic Hall..................................................................

211

Cantarera Hall ....................... .... ...... .. .... ........ ......... .....

218

Chapel.........................................................................

219

Hallo/Tapestries ..... ................. ................. .... ...............

221

Courtyard of the Crossing...............................................

228

Carriage Entrance . ... .. .. ... .. ....... ............ ... .. .. .. .... ...... .... .

233

TRANSLATOR'S GLOSSARY·························································

237

I. Introduction

T

he year 900 before Christ. A ridge of red earth and yellow sand running between rivers looks towards the coast where, only ten thousand paces away, the Atlantic bathes with foam and salt the shores of the world's end.

In its upper part, sheltered from tides and storms, a spiral group of cabins stands on wooden posts like reeds in the river. Ispal, the settlement on posts, is the main population centre of Turdetania, the Iberians of the most southerly We t. With the rhythmic beat of its oars a new ship approaches the jetty; the seagulls flying above its wake draw silver curves above the meanders of the river. Every week more ships arrive from Phoenicia, from Greece, from Egypt ... East and West merge in this land with the same generosity as the metals in the furnace of the aged blacksmith. The pride of Tartessos. Ispal. Turdetania. Tartessos. Iberia. The seed of Seville is enshrined today in the Royal Alcazar of Seville. The world's oldest Royal Palace still in use.

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I. 1. Historical antecedents Origins/ The landscape of the city of Seville and its surroundings has undergone profound physical changes over what in geological terms is a very short period of time. To such an extent, indeed, that some 2,900 years ago Ispal was born on an island since, for most of the year, its highest area around the present-day Royal Alcazar remained above water level. We are talking of an epoch when the mouth of the Guadalquivir formed the celebrated Lagus Ligustinus, an enormous estuary where the salt waters of the Atlantic mixed with the fresh ones of the river. This marshland occupied much of what are now the provinces of Huelva, Seville and Cadiz, so that the port of Seville was more Atlantic than fluvial. Beaches extended upstream as far as Coria del Rfo and Jerez de la Frontera (Asta Regia). This does not mean that human presence in the area is limited to the last three millenia. In the Patio de Banderas of the Royal Alcazar remains have been found of Neolithic pottery with cord decoration dating back seven thousand years, as well as campaniform pots from the Calcolithic, the end of the Copper Age, created by our predecessors four millenia ago. In all probability these were nomadic populations using the area for hunting and foraging. The first traces of a stable population in Seville are also to be found in the Patio de Banderas of the Alcazar. These are circular hearths a metre and half in diameter with remains of ash and bones of different animals, lying at a depth of more than 7 metres below the ground level of today. Possibly they were used as communal kitchens for the city. We are talking of the 1Oth century or beginning of the 9t1i century BC. Ceramics produced on a wheel have been found from a similar date, which demonstrates a Phoenician presence, as well as pottery of Tartessos and Turdetania. This native population with oriental influences (people ofTartessos? Iberian Turdetani? Native settlement and a Phoenician trading post?) maintained a stable

TIIE IIOYAL ALCIIZA/1 OF SlY ll.1./o·

Ten ceuturies ofhisl.ory

presence until the 4th century BC. This was a culture with advanced metallurgical skills and well-developed agriculture and stockbreeding. Trade was another important feature, both with other peoples of the Peninsula and with civilisations from around the Mediterranean.

From Ispal to Hispalis / In 237 BC a Carthaginian army under Hamilcar Barca arrived in the Guadalquivir Valley. This marked a new era throughout the Iberian Peninsula since Carthage had come to stay. After it defeat in the 1st Punic War and consquent loss of control over the large islands in the Mediterranean, Carthage was seeking new resources. The ideal geographical situation of Ispal made it a major trading emporium as its port was in the best situation to receive the riches of Iberia and despatch them towards Carthage. Already in this period its shipyards and factories achieved widespread recognition. It should be stressed that though military control was in Punic hands, the native elites continued to direct the daily life of the population, in a precarious balance upset by frequent risings against North African exploitation. The inevitable clash between Carthage and Rome for supremacy in the Mediterranean culminated in the 211 d Punic War (218-201 BC), with the heat of combat reaching the very gates of Ispal. In 207 the city of Turdetani and Carthaginians fell under the dominion of Rome. This marks the birth of Hispalis.

The Roman city / The ashes found in several archaeological ex cavations indicate that the entry of the great Roman general Scipio Africanus was anything but peaceful. The native population fought alongside the Carthaginians, whether voluntarily or otherwise, and this was its downfall, neither the first nor the last occasion when Seville linked its destiny to the losing side. Ispal dissolved for ever in the smoke of the fires consuming it in 207 BC. We know little of what happened in the following century and a half, though there is evidence of the maintenance of an urban nucleus of some entity.

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Manuel Andres H URTADO GARC IA

History is written by the victors and so it is no surprise that Seville only reappears in the historical registers on the occasion of the civil wars tearing apart the great power of the moment, Rome. The struggle between Pompey and Caesar reached Iberia. After the victory of Gaius Julius Caesar at Munda he entered the city in triumph and refounded it, according to a majority of historians, with the name of Colonia Julia Romula Hispalis in honour of the new Roman leader: Julia for the dictator of Rome, Romula as a little Rome, and Hispalis as the Latin evolution of Ispal. All this in the year 45 BC. However, ever more voices now cast doubt on the relationship between Caesar and Seville. It is known that the city helped Pompey and that Caesar exacted his revenge against a good part of the population. Moreover, he returned to Rome ·that same year and so his links with the city could not have been profound. What is indisputable is that the port of Hispalis never lost its importance. The olive oil of Baetica was essential for Rome's economy and legions, while Seville was the port of the Aljarafe, the largest olive-growing territory in Iberia during the first century BC. We might say that the olive groves of the Aljarafe formed the basis for the renamed colony's brilliant future. For centuries the site of the present-day Royal Alcazar formed part of the port of Hispalis with its different auxiliary structures, including the largest shipyards in the Peninsula. So important was the city's trade that probably two fora existed in Hispalis, the political forum like that of any city worthy of the name, and also the port forum, reserved for cities with a larger population, economic activity and influence. In the mid-first century BC all of the area now occupied by the Patio de Banderas and its environs was occupied by a new complex of brilliant public buildings. There were some more than eleven metres in length probably used as warehouses for the commercial activity of the river. Perhaps, in addition to being silos for cereals, olive oil and other agricultural products destined for export, one of these buildings was the headquarters of the local traders' guild.

1'1/E NOYAL ALCAZAR OF S li ll!LL E

·1,11 ceut,,,.i,s of history

Where the gateway of the Carriage Entrance opens onto the Patio de Banderas, remains have been found of a large porticoed building, possibly a temple dedicated to Isis as suggested by archaeological finds pointing in that direction. In 1605 Rodrigo Caro said that a black basalt statue of the goddess Isis with Horns was found in this space. Unfortunately, nowadays its whereabouts are unknown. We must remember that Isis was considered the protector of ships and navigation: at the start of every new maritime season, after the hard winte1~ a procession would be held (the Navigium Isidis) in which the statue of the goddess was carried from her temple on the shoulders of priests and laymen as far as the city gate, where it was placed on board a boat in a tradition recalling present-day celebrations of seagoers with Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and in which others see the origins of Carnival. These buildings remained in use with no major changes except for some modifications in the time of the Flavian emperors and despite the decadence of the Empire from the late second century of our era, until their sudden and violent destruction at the end of the third century. The results of different archaeological excavations tell of a great flood causing the structures to collapse under layers of sand and seashells. This leads us to think of a terrible tsunami devastating the city or at least its quarters nearest the port, to such an extent that this sector was abandoned until the late fifth century. Precisely from the beginning of the fifth century is a little hoard of coins discovered in the Patio de Banderas. Hidden in a small trench beneath a late-Roman ceramic plaque with profuse decoration of Christian symbols, including one of Bishop Marcianus, a treasure of twenty bronze coins was found during archaeological excavations under the direction of Miguel A. Tabales. They date from different periods of the Empire. The two least worn of them, from the reigns of Emperors Arcadius and Honorius, allow them to be dated between 411 and 429 AD. It seems that someone resident in the area

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Manu el Andres HURT AD O GARC IA

hid them hurriedly during the dramatic period when the barbarian invasions ravaged the Empire, doubtless hoping to return one day to recover their fortune. Today the treasure still awaits its return to the Royal Alcazar. Nothing is known of the original owner but we do know from the chronicles of Bishops Hidatius and Saint Isidore that in 426 Guderic King of the Vandals took and sacked Seville. From that moment and until the arrival of another people from the north, the Visigoths, destruction and anarchy reigned for years in once powerful Hispalis. This marks the end of the Roman period and the start of the barbarian kingdoms, with the treasure of Patio de Banderas as a symbol of the change in the course of our history.

Visigothic Period / The Visigoths dominated Seville from the mid-fifth century until the start of the seventh. Their arrival, after a first stage of conflict between different northern peoples, finally brought long-desired peace to a Baetica drained by two centuries of warfare. Nevertheless, the population had suffred a mortal blow after years of epidemics, tsunamis, armed conflict, economic crises and plundering, and the Visigothic presence could not undo the damage. The once flourishing trading area around the port was long abandoned, the space being repurposed for religious and funerary uses, now outside the walls of a diminished city with waning demography. Proof of the religious use is provided by the discovery of an important group of large paleo-Christian buildings in the area now occupied by Calle Romero Murube, Plaza del Triunfo and Patio de Banderas. The Visigoths, few in number, employed Christianity to weld together the extensive territory they had conquered, especially after King Recaredo abandoned Arianism and adopted Catholicism in 589. Returning to the area in question, excavations have revealed a large building erected over the ruins of ancient Roman remains, organised around a central courtyard and surrounded by a gallery with columns and ceramic paving. This building occupied an area larger

TIIE ROYA L A LGA ZA/1 OF SEVILLE

1

'!en cenlu.ries of hisl.ory

than the present-day Patio de Banderas, and on its northern edge adjoined another structure of the same period identified until now as the Basilica of Saint Vincent the Martyr, the great paleo-Christian church in which Saint Isidore of Seville was buried until 1063. Although the religious use is proven we cannot be sure that this is indeed the famous sepulchral basilica.

Isbilya, 81h.} Q1h centuries / In 711 the Visigothic kingdom was immersed in a profound internal crisis. Only in this way can we explain the fact that a kingdom occupying the whole Iberian Peninsula and the south-east of France could collapse so totally and absolutely in such a short period of time, when confronted by only a modest army (of not more than ten thousand men of various origins and fighting abilities) like the one that crossed the Straits of Gibraltar under the command of Tarik ben Ziyad. In the final years of the Visigothic kingdom's existence there were five different kings and the same number of plots and betrayals aiming to seize the throne. To this great political instability must be added an economic crisis caused by poor harvests and epidemics of plague, the escape of slaves, a lack of interest in society for the military profession, discontent among the Ibero-Roman majority whose presence in political life was prohibited, and the birth of a pre-feudalism that was disputing the power of the crown. All these factors led to the defeat of Rodrigo, last Visigothic king, between 19 and 26 July 711 on the banks of the River Guadalete, and the start of the Islamic domination of the Peninsula. It marks the birth of Al-Andalus, beside the Guad-al-It; the river of oblivion. During the early years of the Muslim occupation there were few major changes in the daily life of the Hispanic population. As had already happened with the Visigoths, the new arrivals were few in number and so opted for a peaceful occupation whenever possible, permitting the practice of the Jewish and Christian religions and

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respecting the possessions of the conquered. This right was guaranteed by the payment of a special tax, the dirnma, but with the passage of time the status quo changed radically. Laws became more severe, access to public appointments was prohibited to those who did not profess the Islamic faith, taxes on Jews and Christians were increased. Then with the arrival of the l l l 11 century there were massive deportations on the order of the Almoravids, and finally definitive expulsion from the Peninsula during the Almohad epoch. In 756 the Umeyyad Abd al-Rahman proclaimed the Emirate of Cordoba. This endured until 929 when his descendant Abd al-Rahman III declared himself completely independent of Baghdad and established the Caliphate of Cordoba. This development was crucial in the development of Seville because this is the period to which written sources date the birth of the Royal Alcazar or at least its kernel. Abd al-Rahman III ordered the construction for his governor of a palace-fortress known as Dar al lrnara. No remains of this building have been found and so there is some doubt as to its exact location. However, historical data invite us to believe that it really did exist, and one of these relates to an event in the mid-ninth century. Vikings in Seville/ In 844 ?l surprise Viking attack brought terror to Seville. On 25 September a fleet of eighty drakkars and 4,000 warriors appeared on the Guadalquivir. They rowed towards Isabilya spreading blood and fire in their path, destroying all the towns along the way including Sanlucar de Barrameda, Isla Menor and Coria. The men of the north, until that moment known as Norumandi or Mayus in the legends sung by the rawis, became a horrifying reality. On 3 October they conquered the city with scarcely any opposition, as such was the terror they provoked that the governor and garrison fled towards Carmona, leaving the population abandoned to its fate. The mosque of Ibn Adabas, at that time the largest in the city on the site now occupied by the Church of El Salvador (which preserves the original Islamic courtyard), was burnt and the survivors of the sack-

TIIE IIOY1JL A L CA ZA R OF S l:' VILLE I Ten cw lm·ies of history

ing of the city were enslaved. Not until November did an army sent by Abd al-Rahman II come to the rescue, defeating the invaders at the battle of Tablada due to their superior number and possession of cavalry, something unknown to the "demons of the north". However, the fear of another attack endured in the collective imagination and this could be the reason for building Dar al Imara, a fortress within the city walls to impose respect on anyone daring to attack Isbilya.

Isbilya, 11 th.13th centuries / The death of Al-Mansur, Almanzar to the Christians of northern Spain, marked the beginning of the end of the Caliphate of Cordoba, and I 031 is a key date in the history of Seville and of the Royal Alcazar. The collapse of the Caliphate opened the way to the rise of the Taifa kingdoms, of which Seville was one of the most important. The Abbad family, originally governors of the city in the Caliph's name, took power locally creating a dynasty that extended the frontiers of the new kingdom from the Algarve to Murcia. Abu al-Quasim Muhamad ibn Abbad was the founder of the dynasty, and soon he started a programme of public works and rebuilding throughout the city. It was his son and heir the warrior king al-Mutadid who extended the frontiers, consolidating Seville's hegemony in the region by conquering Niebla, Faro, Huelva, Algeciras, Ronda and Carmona. During the government of al-Mutadid, or indeed that of his son the famous poet-king al-Mutamid, construction must have begun of the new Alcazar of Benediction, or Alcazar of Dar al-Muwarak. As in the case of Dar al-Imara, for centuries its location was unknown and even its existence was in doubt. However, recent archaeological excavations by the team of M.A. Tabales in houses numbers 7 and 8 of the Patio de Banderas have discovered suprisingly well-preserved remains including columns and horseshow arches still preserving original colour, dating to the eleventh century. These must be spaces of the Taifa Palace from which al-Mutadid planned his campaigns to conquer a good part of Al-Andalus, and in whose halls al-Mutamid cultivated music and poetry, converting Isbilya into the cultural beacon of his time.

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Meanwhile, in the north pressure from the Christian kingdoms was ever greater, moving the constantly changing frontier to the heart of the Meseta. Toledo, the old Visigothic capital, was conquered in May 1085 by Alfonso VI of Castile. Fratricidal wars between the Taifa kingdoms made any coordinated response impossible, and so Kings al-Mutamid of Seville, al-Mutawakil ofBadajoz and Abd Alla of Granada sent from the Peninsula a desperate plea for assistance to Yusuf Ibn Tasufin, powerful leader of the Almoravids. These were a people of warrior monks who from their newly-founded capital, Marrakesh, had taken control of all the north-west of Africa and saw what was happening in the Iberian Peninsula with preoccupation. The response of Yusuf to the three Taifa kings was not slow in coming. In the summer of 1086 he disembarked in Algeciras, and in October of the same year won the important victory of Sagrajas against Alfonso VI. He returned to the Peninsula in 1090 but this time to conquer and unite under his control practically all the Taifa kingdoms, creating the new Almoravid kingdom that would endure until the midl 2th century with Isbilya as capital in the Peninsula. The Almohads were another people from North Africa who succeeded the Almoravids whom they accused of relaxed religious customs, also taking advantage of the disaffection of the African tribes towards the Almoravids caused by the increased taxes they were extracting. In 1146 the Almohads disembarked in the Peninsula and after fierce encounters succeeded in imposing their dominion. Isbilya, as capital and residence of Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf, enjoyed a period of great splendour especially after 1163. The city lived a veritable golden age during which a new mosque was built with its minaret, the Giralda, work of the architect Ben Baso begun in 1184. New walls were also built, impregnable for the technology of the period and made necessary by the notable demographic growth of the city. This increase in protected urban space permitted the creation of new districts in the northern area. Strong defensive towers

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were also built, including the Gold Tower and the Silver Tower. All of this without forgetting important public works such as the recuperation and improvement of the Roman aqueduct known as the Caiios de Carmona (Qalat Yabir), over 17 kilometres long and inaugurated on 13 Feburary 1172, supplying Seville with drinking water brought from Alcala de Guadaira. In the Royal Alcazar a new palace was built for Caliph Abu Yaqub, of which we still have the Plaster Patio and the Courtyard of the Crossing. In 1195 the Almohads defeated Alfonso VIII at the battle of Alarcos, but it was a mirage. In 1212 the Castilians, leading a coalition of Christian kingdoms, destroyed the Almohad forces at the battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, initiating the final decline of the North African kingdom. After a siege lasting a year and a half, Isbilya surrendered on 23 November 1248 to King Fernando III of Castile. In fulfilment of the terms of the surrender document, the Islamic population was to go into exile, abandoning their beloved city and heading for Jerez, Ceuta or Granada. Ferdando III, exhausted after years of unceasing conquests took possession of the Royal Alcaza1~ occupying the beautiful rooms of the Almohad palace. Here he died on 30 May 1252, being succeeded on the throne by his son Alfonso X, the Learned. Under the new king the control of Castile and Le6n over strategic and symbolic Isbilya was definitively consolidated. The building of the Gothic palace in the mid-thirteenth century over the former Almohad palace was the emblem of the new era, when Seville abandoned the breezes from the Orient to enter the Atlantic winds of the European Middle Ages.

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* Poem of Abiil Baqa al-Rundi, of Ronda, on the loss of Seville

Everything has an end, its object fulfilled. Let no one delude themselves with what the good life offers them. In this world everything is passing and changeable. Someone who one day overflows with happiness, the next is invaded by sadness. Where is Isbilya, with its grace and the delightful river that overflows, plethoric, fertilising its lands? Oh you, who live without a care, oblivious to the exhortations of Destiny; though you were sleeping Destiny would awaken you! What can you do with joy in your new land? Can a man entertain his leisure on his land, when Isbilya is lost? Such a calamity can never be forgotten, no matter how long the passing of time.

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II. Entrance

The Lion Gate Situated in one of the highest parts of the city of Seville, the Lion Gate is a magnificent example of a fortified access to a mediaeval castle and at the same time an imposing entrance to a Royal Palace. For this is the meaning of the word alcazar, a palace and a fortress merged in the same building. If we stand in the Plaza del Triunfo and look at the red walls of the Lion Gate, what we see is an eleventh-century construction. The new Taifa Isbilya, capital of a modern independent kingdom stretching from the Portuguese Algarve to the beaches of Murcia, needed a palace to symbolise its emerging power. The Abbasid kings Al-Mutadid and his son the famous soldier-poet Al-Mutamid, were responsible for it.

The walls and towers of this entire sector are made of stone from the nearby district of the Alcores in a proportion of 75%, and 20% of ostionera stone from Puerto de Santa Maria. They are blocks weighing almost two hundred kilos each, in stretcher and header arrangement and they mostly come from earlier Roman buildings, probably the old Roman walls of Hispalis refounded by Julius Caesar in the first century BC. Both the Roman engineers and the new Andalusi inhabitants used the same measurement based on the Roman cubit, equivalent today to 0.52 metres. This was a help in the re-use of materials and also in maintaining the same building techniques.

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TI/£ ROYA L ALC;{ZA /1 OF S £ V/LL/c· I Ten ten /u.ri,s of history

In the upper part of the walls, where the battlements and parapet walk look proudly down, the materials are quite different. Here, to reduce the weight and absorb structural movements, there are many fragments of Roman and Islamic bricks carefully reworked and combined with small stones, all set in a fine lime mortar. If we concentrate on the Lion Gate itself, the outstanding feature from a distance is the red ochre colouring of its stonework. Over the lintel of the gateway is a fine example of Andalusian tilework representing the Rampant Lion walking over flags of defeated enemies and bearing a crucifix. A band is wrapped round its front quarters with the emblem of the Palace: Ad Utrurnque ("Ready for anything"), a quote from Virgil's Aeneid. These tiles date from 1892 and were created in the workshop of Mensaque in Triana, to a design by Jose Gestoso.

The final feature between the ceramic crest and the battlements is a machicolation in stone and brick. Its threatening jaws, designed to pour boiling oil on any daring to threaten the fortress, still suggest the power of Abbadite Isbiliya. And, in passing, they remind today's traveller that it is better to go to the ticket office rather than chancing to luck ...

The Lion Gate (photograph of Paco M edina)

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TIIE ROYA l. 1IL CAZA R OF Sli V/Lll\

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Te11 reu.tnries of history

Lion Courtyard (Theatre of Vermondo Resta) It is almost certain that during the Islamic period there was no direct access from the exterior to this area, as both the Lion Courtyard and the Gate of the same name are the result of important changes carried out by Pedro I in the mid-fourteenth century. Until then and since the eleventh century all this space was occupied by a complex tangle of Islamic constructions in very different styles, u sed in their day as stables, warehouses, mounting-blocks and spaces for movement between rooms. In order to create a visual axis for his newly built Mudejar Palace at the southern edge of the Courtyard of the Hunt, Pedro I opened the Lion Gate as we know it today, demolished the buildings occupying the present-day Lion Courtyard, and opened up the central archway of the wall now with three arches separating this space from the Courtyard of the Hunt. In our days there still exists some doubt as to the origin of this wall: whether it is an Islamic structure modified by Pedro I, or whether it was built entirely by the Castilian monarch. What is clear is that in the state it has reached us today it is the result of intense work of restructuring and decoration with blind arches in brick and vaulted niches created in the fourteenth century. Courtyard of the Hunt from the Lion Courtyard

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Much later, in the seventeenth century and precisely in this courtyard Vermondo Resta, an architect from Milan, built the largest theatre in Seville, the famous Corral de Comedias de la Monteria. It was constructed entirely of pine wood and occupied the whole Courtyard of the Lion from the stretch of wall of the Courtyard of the Hunt to the Lion Gate. It was inaugurated in May 1626 and on its stage were represented masterworks of the Spanish Golden Age by authors such as Miguel de Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderon de la Barca. Until the Inquisition prohibited theatrical works in 1679, considering them sinful, the Corral de Comedias de la Monterfa was a brilliant setting outstanding for its proportions (it was 18 metres high, taller than the walls of the Royal Alcazar) and careful decoration, but also because of its original elliptical ground plan that contrasted with the usual rectangular design of this type of theatrical space at the time. The favourable acceptance of its aesthetics meant that henceforth it was to have a considerable influence on new theatres built all over Europe. After lying unused for twelve years the theatre was reduced to ashes after a violent fire in 1691, so illuminating the night of Seville for the last time. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and even in the twentieth, various minor buildings were erected in the Lion Courtyard, including storage spaces, stables and homes for people who worked in the Palace. They were low, unaesthetic constructions inserted in between the historic buildings which in some cases they obstructed, and they were in a poor state of repair. J oaqufn Romero Murube, Director-Curator of the Royal Alcazar from July 1934 until his death in November 1969, provides details of the sad aspect of this sector in the early 1930's in his text Curious and succinct Report on the work carried out in the Royal Alcazar in 1937. Stables attached

TIIE ROYAL ALCAZAR OF Slill/LL E I Ten rentu.ri,s of history

to the western wall extended from the Lion Gate to the wall of the Courtyard of the Hunt, blocking one of its three arches. The house of the last Palace Sacristan, with the surname Posadas, was situated directly inside the Lion Gate, occupying a good part of the entrance area to the Palace. Without doubt it was essential to clear the space and restore its original dignity. Juan de Talavera y Heredia was the author of the work carried out between 1936 and 1940 to give the Lion Courtyard its present appearance. The pre-existing buildings were demolished to create a garden with four parterres in which the dominant features are palm trees and others known as palo borracho, of South American origin, between box hedges.

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T/I E RO YA i. A LC!IZA R OF SEVILL E I Ten ren lnries of hislory

Hall ofjustice The Hall of Justice is the first and one of the most outstanding Mudejar buildings in Seville. Mudejar art, intrinsic to the Iberian Peninsula, is a fusion of Oriental and Western styles which in this frontier land coexisted for centuries, generating a new creative language of extraordinary beauty and originality.

Hall ofjustice

It was built on the orders of King Alfonso XI to commemorate his victory at the battle of the River Salado in 1340. This triumph, achieved close to the city of Tarifa, gave the Crown of Castile control over the Straits of Gibraltar, henceforth obstructing communication between the Muslims on the two shores and anticipating the end of their presence in Spain. In this area of the Royal Alcazar was situated the palace of the Almohad Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf, and so the Hall stands on remains of the older construction. It is square in shape in the style of the oriental qubbas and is covered by an impressive wooden panelled ceiling with an octagonal ribbon-like design. Today its walls have a simple decoration of vaulted recesses painted in lime, the upper third being covered with splendid plasterwork in the tradition of Toledo. It includes decorative Islamic elements as well as the arms of Castile and Leon and of the Order of the Band that was also created by Alfonso XI. Originally the walls bore fine paintings lost nowadays except on the north-eastern side.

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·n,,,. te'lll11.ries of history

The present floor is of brick with lines of decorative tile, installed half a century ago respecting traditional designs. A prominent feature is the marble fountain in the centre of the room, from which a little channel takes water out to the nearby space of the Plaster Patio. The presence of water, and of the doors opening on three of its fa«_;ades, creates a flow of fresh air vital to convert the Hall into a comfortable residence. We should remember that until the construction of the Mudejar Palace, the Almohad Palace and the Hall ofJustice were the residence of the Kings of Castile and Leon. We find the origin of the name in the tradition indicating that in this space was situated the court where monarchs imparted justice before witnesses and magistrates. Hence the presence of a brick bench covered in tiles that runs all round the walls of the chamber. And if we enter into the legends so deeply rooted in the ancient soil of the Alcazar, the Hall of Justice is remembered as the site of the execution of Pedro I's half brother the Infante Fadrique, Master of the Order of Santiago, accused of treason against the King in 1358. Some claim to see bloodstains on the marble of the fountain and on the bricks of the floor, although as mentioned already, the latter have not been in place for more than fifty years.

Hall ofJustice. Detail ofplasterwork

Today the two half brothers, so separated during their lives, rest together in the Chapel Royal of Seville Cathedral.

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TII H l?OY/11, II LCAZIII/ OF S IWILLE I Te11 t:e·11tnries of history

Plaster Patio

Plaster Patio

The Plaster Patio is an exquisite Almohad creation from the twelfth century. A warlike and religious people, this is the only example of their civil architecture to have come down to us today in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. It formed part of the great palace of Abu Yaqub, the Caliph who from here ruled over a wide area of the Western Mediterranean. It was the Castilians who knew it as the Plaster Palace, surprised by the profusion of plasterwork and tiles as the main decorative features in all its rooms. This Patio was hidden behind walls until being discovered by Tubino in 1885. As we see it today it is the result of restoration undertaken in 1913 by the Royal Commissioner of Tourism, Marques de la Vega Inclan, who carried out new excavations revealing the pond and the gallery with panels of sebka. It is a matter of justice to recognise the brilliant work of the Marques de la Vega Inclan, a man ahead of his time who in the restoration already opted to leave evidence of the original part of the Almohad plasterwork and the part reconstructed in the intervention. This was an unusual decision in his day as stressed at the time in his writings. The task of research and restoration continued in the last quarter of the twentieth century under the direction of Rafael Manzano.

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Tille' I/OY1I/, ALCA ZAR OF SJ: V/U .E I "fr11 renlnries ofh islvry

The Patio is rectangular in shape with a long central pond running east-west. On the southern side there is a porticoed gallery with a large central arch of mantelets, with rhomboidal decoration supported on brick pillars. On each side of this large arch there are three polylobed arches on marble columns prolonged in panels of open-work sebka up to the cornice. This is one of the first appearances of a system of construction and decoration known as "Almohad syntagma". Decoration in sebka panels is a contribution of the Almohad culture which used it abundantly throughout Seville. The most outstanding example is the Giralda, former minaret of the main Almohad mosque. The north fa century. At that time a mezzanine floor was created and the entire upper gallery was remodelled, its walls being decorated with new plasterwork obtained by taking mouldings of Andalusi work from the Alcazar itself. One product of these reforms carried out while Isabel II and the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier were resident in the Royal Alcazar, is the glass ceiling that nowadays turns this courtyard into an enclosed space. The present-day marble floor of the patio replaced the original tile flooring so frequent in Islamic architecture.

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TIIE ROYAL A LcAZA/1 OF SEVILLE I Ten cn1t11.1·i,s of histo ry

The Prince's Hall These spaces correspond to the summer bedroom of the Queen, but a matter of great transcendence in Spanish history has led it to be known since that time as the Prince's Hall. For here, on 30 June 14 78 was born Prince Juan (John) of Aragon, son of the Catholic Monarchs and legitimate heir to the throne. The monarchs of Castile and Aragon had arrived at the Royal Alcazar the previous yea1~ on 24 July 1477, in the midst of the war of succession in Castile they were waging against Juana de Trastamara. In accordance with the custom of the Castilian Court, the birth in this room was followed by four witnesses designated by the King: Garci Tellez, Alonso Melgarejo, Fernando de Abrejo and Juan de Pineda, who were able to testify to the lineage of the new-born baby. Also present was the midwife from Seville known as "la Herradera". Previously, the rooms had been decorated with rich velvet Venetian wall hangings embroidered in gold thread, a gift of the city's merchants. From his earliest childhood the heir was seen to be sickly, and those surrounding him feared for his future and that of the dynasty. Prince John married Margaret of Austria at Burgos in 1497, and tradition tells that his natural fragility together with the marital relations with the Princess Margarita, exhausted his already limited strength. He died at Salamanca six months after the marriage, from love sickness. Today his mortal remains rest in a majestic pantheon at the Monastery of Santo Tomas, in Avila. His death meant [141)

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that the crown passed in the first place to his eldest sister, Juana I of Castile, and then to Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire, nephew of the unfortunate prince. The hall is divided into three spaces separated by two lofty rounded arches with fine plasterwork decoration. The central space is the largest of the three, covered with a spectacular flat rectangular wooden ceiling from the time of the Catholic Monarchs and uniting Gothic, Renaissance and Mudejar stylistic elements, generating twelve-pointed stars and mocarabes in the interlaced decoration. The right-hand alcove, the bedroom as such where Juan of Aragon was born, has a floor of plain tiles with inserted lines of decorative tilework, like the rest of the hall. The ceiling is covered with fine eight-pointed woodwork decoration, and below it is a plasterwork frieze with heraldic motifs of the Crown of Castile. The left-hand alcove has a flat square ceiling which is one of the best examples of Renaissance carpentry in Seville. An inscription on it states that it is by Juan de Simancas, Master Carpenter of the Alcazar, and dates from 1543. He designed the interlaced decoration and mocarabes. This space communicates directly with what is known as The Prince's Garden, where there are stairs 'leading to the upper rooms that were the Queen's winter sleeping quarters.

Hall of the Catholic Monarchs' Ceiling From the Courtyard of the Dolls we can pass into this square room that is symmetrical to the Hall of Lost Steps which is opposite and also acts as a route of communication between the public and private areas of the Palace. Its name reveals the date of its current ceiling created during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs at the end of the 15 111 century. The emblems of both monarchs are present throughout the ceiling: the yoke, symbol of Queen Isabel, the arrows representing King Ferdi-

Mndejar Palace. Hall of the Catholic Monarchs ' Ceiling

nand, and the new shield including the heraldry of all the kingdoms now united beneath the wings of the eagle of Saint John (Castile and Leon, Aragon, Navarra, Two Sicilies and Granada).

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The choice of the eagle ofSaintJohn (Sanjuan) is no accident. For Isabel I, John the Evangelist was a person of maximum importance as the Apocalypse was one of her favourite works. She called her eldest daughter Juana, and her only son Juan. Returning to the ceilings, here we have a splendid piece of interlacing design with a gilded group of mocarabes in the centre. The wooden frieze below it contains the heraldic decoration of this room, with a repetition of the shields of all the kingdoms under the authority of the Catholic Monarchs. The paving of this room is of special interest, with its plain tiles adorned with insertions of decorated tilework, as it is one of the rare surviving examples of an original 14t1t_century floor. Thus, we are walking in the footsteps of Pedro I, Maria de Padilla, Prince John, Charles V, Magellan, Isabella Farnese and Joseph Bonaparte.

Hall of the Philip II Ceiling This is the longest room in the entire Palace and exhibits one of the most outstanding of its ceilings. It is the work of the Master of Carpentry of the Alcazar, Martin Infante, and is dated between 1589 and 1591, being coloured and gilded by the painter Baltasar de Bracamonte in 1592. It takes its name from the monarch during whose reign it was created. This Renaissance design is based on square coffering with geometrical decoration in the interior, following the influence of the Italian Mannerist architect Sebastiano Serlio who was so prominent during the 16th century. The right-hand wall of this Hall, entering from the Hall of the Catholic Monarchs' Ceiling, opens onto the Prince's Garden, while the left wall gives access to the most important room in the Mudejar Palace, the Throne Room or Ambassadors' Hall, entered through a great lowered horseshoe arch within a fine architectural frame dee-

THE ROYAL ALCl1ZA II OF SEVILLE I Ten centnries of history

orated in its upper angles by two peacocks in gilded plaster. Within the arch and in the upper area there are three latticework windows above a decorative frieze decorated with figures of different birds of prey. The whole structure 1s supported by a triple horseshoe arch which transports us for a moment to the C6rdoba of the Caliphs and its monumental buildings. Prominent features are two gilded capitals on marble columns, one from the Renaissance and the other Caliphal. As with so many other apparently purely decorative motifs, the

use of birds of prey is no accident, as the enthusiasm of Pedro I for hunting in general and falcontry in particular is well known. Equally, both for Catholics and for Muslims the peacocks are a symbol of the eternal, the incorruptible, the divine. And precisely these two birds give its name to what for centuries has been known as the "arch of the peacocks" .

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Ambassadors' Hall This is the most significant room in the Palace, as its primary purpose was to act as the monarch's Throne Room. It is built in the style of the oriental qubbas, its square shape with sides measuring nine metres symbolises the earth, while the wooden dome repre ents heaven, and God. It is an ancient example of the political use of architecture, for at a moment when his reign was insecure, Pedro I represents himself as itting on a throne over the Earth, and consequently above any other pretender to the throne, submitting only to the divine power. This early absolutism did not find an echo in a society that was still late mediaeval in character, subject to great lords and to the Church, and this led to his final defeat in the Castilian civil war. The whole space is designed to exalt the King's figure. The Caliphal style in the triple horseshoe arches evokes the formidable power of those who once governed Cordoba, the Mudejar plasterwork, the Islamic horror vacui filling even the most remote corners with decoration, the mocarabes inspired by the N asrids of Granada, and the heraldry of Castile and Leon over the high tile wainscot, all combine to underline the universal nature of royal power. The columns of green, black and pink marble are crowned by resplendent capitals from Medina Azahara created under Abd al-Rahman III in the 1ou century. 1

Mudejar Palace: Dome of the Ambassadors' Hall

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Above the arches we see one of the symbols common to the three monotheistic religions, the scallop shell. For Christians, Muslims and Jews it represents purification. However, like so many other traditions its origins are in Greece and Rome and are common to all the cultures of the Mediterranean, where the scallop shell symbolises fertility. The dome dates from 1427, having been reconstructed in the reign ofJuan II by Master Carpenter Diego Ruiz. Such is the grandiose nature and technical difficulty of this great work, maximum expression of the carpenter's art, that we can only find three other comparable examples in the world, two of them also in Spain and the fourth in Peru over the staircase of the Monastery of San Francisco in Lima (though this one dates from the 17u, century). It is a "half-orange" dome, with ten-point interlacing decoration giving the effect of stars in the heavens as though we were under a sparkling night-time sky. The gilding, the colours and the mirrors decorating it create a fascinating light effect, making use of the sun's rays that enter from the Prince's Garden and the Maidens' Courtyard, from east to west, illuminating it following the course of the sun and filling the room with subtle hues depending on the time of day and the season of the year. Beneath the dome, a wide wooden frieze contains the portraits of all the kings of Spain from Chindasvinto to Philip III, from the 11 6L to the l 6Lh century, a thousand years of reigns and dynasties immortalised in 1599 by painter Diego de Esquivel. A total of fifty-six paintings and beneath each one is shown the monarch's name, coat of arms, year of accession and length of reign. All the portraits show figures seated and crowned, with a sword in the right hand and the globe in the left, eternal symbols of regal power. This portrait gallery is interrupted in the centre of each of the four walls supporting the qubba by a wrought-iron balcony installed between 1592 and 1597 by the prestigious ironsmith from Seville Francisco Lopez, who was also responsible for the great screen of the Chapel Royal in Seville

TIIE IW Y1IL ALCAZAR OF SEVI LLE

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Cathedral. The most prominent feature of the decoration he chose for the balconies are the three winged dragons, also in wrought iron, which on their backs support the weight of the structure, the base of which is decorated with gilded rosettes . Above this line of royal portraits, and just below the mocarabes rising up to the dome, we can see the portraits of thirty-two women, all in elegant dresses and some wearing eyeglasse : their identity is unknown at the present day. With them are various animals with symbolic meaning, such as cats and owls. Probably they were ladies close to the Court, but we can offer nothing more to clarify this palace mystery. The historical and artistic importance of the Ambassadors' Hall has meant that over the centuries it has been the setting for all the most grandiose official, artistic and social events held in the city of Seville, which has established the Royal Alcazar as the emblem and indeed the ambassador of the city. An imperial marriage uniting the destinies of Charles V and Isabel of Portugal on 11 March 1526, shooting of films such as the popular Game of Thrones series, political summit meetings of NATO and the European Union, and concerts of the principal flamenco festival in the world, the Bienal de Flamenco de Sevilla, have taken place in the very same qubba with its star-filled dome that six centuries ago witnessed the dreams, the victories and the disappointments of Pedro I.

Rooms to the side of the Ambassadors' Hall These are two identical rectangular rooms situated to the side of the Ambassadors' Hall, one opening towards the Patio of the Dolls, the other communicating with the Quarters of the Infantes. Without doubt the most significant feature of these rooms is the presence in the plasterwork at the top of the walls of polylobed medallions portraying chivalric scenes. The Islamic religion prohibits all forms of figurative art, and consequently this type of decoration is infrequent in Mudejar arquitecture. Over the years different interpretations

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have been offered for these scenes, the most widely accepted being that they refer to the Libra de la Monteria (Book of Hunting) and the Cr6nica Troyana (Trojan Chronicle), two books that were widely read in the 14'11 century and must surely have circulated in the Castilian Court. They were originally coloured but the passage of time has caused them to fade. With reference to the original pigments, the horror vacui of Islamic art does not fit well with the walls whitened with limewash from Moron that we see today in the Mudejar Palace, especially in the space between the upper and lower friezes of plasterwork. In the 14th century these walls were decorated with mural paintings. However, the disinfectant powers of lime oxide have been known since antiquity, and so the deterioration of the original paintings together with the successive epidemics suffered in Seville, have led the walls to be covered with a succession of layers of quicklime. This procedure was particularly prevalent in the 1gu, century when the city succumbed to yellow fever (epidemic of 1800) and to cholera on four occasions (1833, 1854, 1865 and 1885).

Hall of the Charles V Ceiling Entering this room from the Maidens' Courtyard, surrounding the doorway we find an inscription in monastic Gothic script with the prayer, "Passion of Christ, comfort me. Water from the side of Christ, wash me". This corroborates the belief that we are entering what was originally the Chapel of King Pedro's palace. Its original ceiling is now in the Upper Royal Apartments, directly above this same area in what is known as the Belvedere of the Catholic Monarchs, and in its decoration can be seen prayers and supplications directed to the Virgin Mary, confirming the religious use of this area of the palace. The construction of the Oratory of Isabel I in the Upper Apartments influenced the change of use of this space. The room is divided into two parts, the main area in the centre and to its left an alcove where the altar or the sacristy would have been

Tilt: RO YA L ALCA ZAR OF SEVILL E

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placed. The two are connected by a fine rounded arch supported on marble columns with reused Caliphal capitals carved in the reign of Abd-al-Rahman III . The current ceiling giving the room its name is one of the most notable Andalusian examples of Renaissance woodwork, created by the Master Carpenter of the Royal Alcazar Sebastian de Segovia between 1541 and 1543, during the reign of Charles V. It is made of pine wood and consists of 7 5 octagonal rosettes and 56 square ones arranged in 15 rows, with alternating decoration based on foliage designs and busts of warriors, ladies and elders, all of them delicately carved and portrayed in a highly theatrical manner. At this point we should remember that when this ceiling was created only fifty years had passed since the discovery in Rome of the Domus Aurea of N ero, a revelation that soon became a source of inspiration for artists of the fifteen hundreds. The fame of what at that time was known as the Grotto of the Esquiline Hill soon spread beyond the shores of Italy and reached Seville in the form of the grutesco style, as witness by this room. As in Nero's mansion, here we find human figures merged into animal forms, while the animal kingdom itself melts into vegetable shapes in a prodigious exercise of hybridisation. This magnificent work by Sebastian de Segovia marks the evolution ofMudejar carpentry, with its complex assembly technique and decoration of coloured lacework designs, into Renaissance woodwork with carved monochrome decoration. The frieze immediately below the ceiling is also made of pine wood and carries fine Renaissance decoration dominated by the heraldry of the Emperor. On the one hand the imperial arms with the double-headed eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, holding in its claws a great shield containing all the quarterings of the imperial territories: Castile and Leon, Aragon, Navarra, Granada, Sicily, Naples, Austria, Burgundy, Brabant, Flanders and Tyrol, all surrounded by the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of Burgundian origin. On the other hand, a shield with the Pillars of Hercules, for the personal use of the Emperor, evoking the classical tradition of identifying the

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Straits of Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules) with the end of the world (Non Plus Ultra no further!), but modified by Charles V to turn the ancient prohibition into a positive statement, Plus Ultra (beyond!) underlining the fact that on the other side of the Atlantic is America, a new world also under Spanish domination. As an imperial symbol, the Pillars of Hercules with the ribbon bearing the words Plus Ultra appeared on Spanish coins of the period, and particularly in the Reales de a Ocho known in English as 'Pieces of Eight' or 'Spanish dollars', which were accepted and used all over the world. When the United States dollar was created in 1792, the emblem of Charles V was adopted by converting the ribbon into a letter S, and changing the two pillars into vertical bars cutting the ribbon from top to bottom, so originating the present-day dollar sign.

The walls of both parts of the Hall are decorated with wainscots of tiling with geometrical designs. Above them are two plasterwork friezes with alternate Castilian heraldry and Arabic inscriptions where can be read, "Glory to God our Lord the Sultan Don Pedro. May God protect him". Recent research carried out by Sebastian Fernandez Aguilera indicates that these two spaces and their continuation on the upper floor, the Belvedere of the Catholic Monarchs, are probably of an earlier date than the remainder of King Pedro's Palace. This hypothesis is based on three considerations. Firstly, the existence of a basement under these rooms that does not exist in other parts of the Palace designed by the King's architect Yusuf from the Aljarafe. Moreover, the walls of these rooms are independent of the rest of the Palace, and even overlap them, indicating that they existed before other parts of the building. Finally, the doors opening from the former Chapel into the Maidens' Courtyard are also different from those of the "Half Orange", and probably earlier. Thus, it would seem to be a construction that Alfonso XI, father of Pedro I, built between 1332 and 1350.

T/IE JIOYAL AL C!lZA !I OF SEVILLE I Ten ce·n lnries of history

Quarters of the lnfantes The quarters of the Infantes were the main rooms occupied by the royal children. They consist of three rooms, one in the centre and two to the sides, symmetrical to those of the Prince's Apartments that we visited in the northern secto1: Though they preserve the original ceiling, they underwent major modifications during the 19L1, century, especially those carried out to prepare the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier, Antonio de Orleans and Marfa Luisa de Borb6n, while work was underway on the Palace of San Telmo which was destined to be their definitive residence in Seville. This room witnessed the birth of their daughter Marfa Isabel de Orleans y Borb6n on 21 September 1848, as commemorated on a marble plaque on one of the walls. From this period dates the repainting of the plasterwork and the floor of plain tiles with interspersed decorative tiling. Its location makes it a key point in the Palace as it leads from the eastern sector to the former Chapel (known today as the Hall of the Charles V Ceiling), on the north to the Ambassadors' Hall, and on the south to the Hispano-Muslim gardens.

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VI. Gardens

Introduction Of the 9.63 hectares making up the Royal Alc.:izar of Seville in the 21 ' 1 century, its millenary garden occupy approximately three quarters of the total. This large area of vegetation represents almost half the space devoted to gardens in the historic nucleus of Seville, a notable fact if we bear in mind that the capital of Andalusia has the bigge t historic centre in Europe. However, their extensive size is not the most important aspect of the Alcazar's garden . Di tributed among their different parts there are more than 21,000 specimens of 187 different species of trees and plants, which each year absorb 200 tonnes of C02, allowing us moreover to travel to any corner of the world as all its continents are represented here. Those who obey God and His Emissary, He will introduce into Gardens beneath which rivers flow, in which they shall be eternally. Koran, Sura 4,

Aleya 13. As in so many other aspects of this monument classified as a World Heritage Site, the origin of the gardens lies in Muslim Isbilya. In the Islamic mentality the garden was a recreation of paradise, and their concept followed clearly defined patterns inspired by the sacred [155]

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scriptures. Maximum importance is given to water, which amazed the new settlers, many of whom had recently arrived from the deserts of Arabia, and it is a symbol of purification in the three main monotheistic religions. Similarly, geometry and mathematics played a more prominent role as they made it possible to decorate the spaces while respecting the Koranic suras by avoiding anthropomorphic motifs. Naturally, to this religious substratum must be added many other layers, influences and inspirations which over centuries and civilisations created the Gardens of the Royal Alcazar of Seville. This amalgam leads us to a new concept of garden, as a space receiving as much care and attention as any great hall within the palace complex. The gardens are now environments to be enjoyed with the five senses: taste, sight, touch, smell, and hearing due to the birdsong or the delicate music of the water flowing from the fountains. The garden emerges in levels, an area of greenery originally arranged at different heights as a protection against the hard climatic conditions of the desert. The canopy is formed by large trees providing areas of shade. A second level is occupied by plants with flowers that paint the air in a rainbow heavy with a thousand aromas. On a third level, the hedges of myrtle or box beside the paths, introducing order over the indomitable freedom of Nature in an equation of difficult resolution. And finally, the level of water, where the advanced hydraulic engineering of the peoples of the Orient made possible the genesis of ever more complex gardens. Your Alcazar is called Orchard of great enjoyment Where love was crowned And its praise blossoms ALFONSO ALVAREZ DE VILLASANDINO,

early 15th century

Howeve1~ if Islamic Seville was the origin of the gardens of the Royal Alcazar of Seville, the Renaissance and the discovery of America were also of capital importance in the transformation of the gardens we can see today. From the Prince's Garden, renewed by Isabel I as a tribute to her son, Prince John, to the great changes introduced by the Habsburgs in the Hispano-Muslim gardens during the 16111 and 17 111 centuries. It was then that the new airs and ideas of the Renaissance took root in the parterres of the Alcazar to create a combination of elements unique in the European continent. The discovery of America and the monopoly enjoyed by Seville as port of the New World led to profound changes in the palace, enriching the variety of plants and trees in its gardens in an exponential manner. Erudite figures such as Nicolas Monarde, Simon de Tovar and Hernando Colon used the ancient orchards of the palace-fortress as a botanic laboratory where they could test the adaptation of recently discovered American species to the European climate. This marks the birth of the scientific garden, and plants such as tobacco or chilli pepper and trees for ornamental use such as the ombu, began already five centuries ago and for the first time in history to flourish in Europe, growing in the ancient orchards of the Royal Alcazar of Seville. As happens with the architecture, a stroll along the paths of the gardens of Seville's Al-Quasar allow us to contemplate the last thousand years of history of East and West, for after the Islamic origin and the changes wrought by the Renaissance, the evolution continued in the palace orchards during the l 81h and 19'" centuries, with interventions in the full Romantic style such as those leading to the creation of the English Garden under the auspices of the Duke and Duchess of Montpensier, or the Regionalist gardens of the Marques de la Vega Inclan and of the Poets in the early 20 111 century.

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Hispano-Muslim Gardens What we know as the Hispano-Muslirn Gardens or the Lower Gardens of the Pool form a green belt that since the 11 '" century has surrounded the palatine rooms of the Alcazar. They consist of the Garden of the Galley, the Garden of Flowers, the Garden of Troy and the Garden of Dance.

Garden of the Galley This is the first garden we reach when descending the stairs framed by wisteria from the Quarters of the Infantes in the Mudejar Palace. Its origins go back to the Taifa kingdom of Seville, making it one of the oldest gardens in Europe in continuous use for over one thousand years. It owes its name to the topiary once practised by the skilful gardeners on myrtle bushes growing here, shaping them in the form of warships. Through complex networks of irrigation channels they simulated bombardment with jets of cold water by means of fountains concealed in the prows of the ephemeral plant galleys and galleasses.

Garden of the Galley

The most prominent feature of the small rectangular patio is a column dedicated to the memory of Al-Mutamid, poet-king of Seville from 1069 until deposed and sent into exile by the Almoravids in 1090. It bears the following inscription: "The city of Seville to its poet-king Almutamid Ibn Abbad on the ninth centenary

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of his sad exile. 7 September 1091 I Rachab, 384, Sevilla, 1991 ". On the rear side we can read the poem "May God decree my death in Seville and that there our tombs may be opened at the resurrection", as well as the Islamic motto, "There is no God but God". Despite the restorations carried out in this space, especially those from 1573 onwards under the Master of Works Ant6n Sanchez Hurtado, the Islamic concept of this garden remains clear to see in all its details and has been respected down to our own days. Prominent features are the high surrounding walls, isolating it from the orchards formerly situated beyond it and offering privacy to the monarch, while at the same time protecting the plants from the dry winds of summer. However, those walls that separate also unite spaces, creat-

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TIIE ROYAL ALCAZAR OF S E VILLE I Ten centuries of lt is /.ory

ing currents of air and directing them, moderated through windows and latticework, to the fountains and irrigation channels, in such a way that what started as flows of warm air are converted into damp breezes bearing water to refresh those who stroll through the Garden of the Galley. Another prominent feature is the hedge of orange trees pruned to clothe all the walls in the garden, while the acanthus plants flourish within the parterres.

Garden of Flowers To the right of the Garden of the Galley and through a narrow passageway we reach the delicate Garden of Flowers. Documents signed by the Master of Works Ant6n Sanchez Hurtado, indicate that until 1575 in this sector there was a yard for livestock called "the corral of the pigs", and an orchard of orange trees watered from a small pond. Work to create the present garden began in 1576. The first thing to attract our attention is the rectangular pond against the wall adjoining the Garden of the Galley, which welcomes us to this space. It is the old pond of the corral, but adorned with Renaissance tiles magnificently worked by the Italian potter Niculoso Pisano. In them the prevailing tones are blues, ochres and whites, following the tradition of ceramics in Seville. In the pond aquatic plants such as water lilies and papyrus grow. This quiet garden expresses a clear Islamic concept, with high walls lined with espalier orange trees, assuring privacy and refreshing the atmosphere. It is divided into four parterres where bitter orange trees and acanthus reign. Protected by their shade, violets and lilies complete the vegetation. In the centre of the four segments, a sunken stone fountain stands out against the ceramic flooring covering the patio.

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In 1589, Lorenzo de Oviedo started work to open up a large Mannerist-style grotto in the western wall of the Garden of Flowers, in which was situated a fine bronze fountain decorated with sculptures in terracotta on mythological themes. Its construction was delayed until 1601, due both to the technical and artistic complexity of the scheme, and to the difficulty of obtaining the materials, particularly the "ostionera stone" that decorated it to achieve the desired rusticated effect known as grutesco. Nowadays little remains of that excellent arrangement because around 1625 it was redesigned by Vermondo Resta to achieve its present-day appearance, being dedicated to the Emperor Charles V who was born at Ghent in 1500 and whose bust occupies the niche.

Garden of Troy Resuming our walk from the left side of the Garden of the Gallery, through a narrow doorway on the eastern wall we enter the Garden of Troy. Following the changes made in the last quarter of the 161.h century, this was known as the garden of the maze, probably because in its centre there was indeed a square-shaped maze of clipped bushes which disappeared in subsequent reforms. It was also called garden of Neptune because the Neptune fountain now situated in the Ladies' Garden was initially placed here. Its current name comes from that early maze as for centuries it was believed that the walls of Troy were an impregnable stone labyrinth. Another version tells us that in the pavement there was a mosaic maze, emulating the city described by Homer. In any case and as in the Garden of the Galley, its structure immediately evokes oriental schemes, especially on its southern side. This consists of a graceful two-storey gallery, with rounded arches resting on pilasters with capitals decorated with human heads, each of them different. This whole wall is painted in a red ochre known as almagra, and it was designed by Vermondo Resta in 1606. As in other work in the Alcazar by this architect from Milan, he follows the decorative technique of the grutesco (opus rusticum) with Garden of Troy

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sedimentary rocks giving effects of light and shade emphasising the three-dimensional aspect of the stonework, so granting a prominent role to Nature. In the centre of the patio is an excellent Islamic fountain of scalloped stone, probably dating to the period of the Caliphs

Garden of Troy

Tf/E ROYAL ALCAZAR OF SF.VILLE I Th , ce·11tnries of histmy

of Cordoba. The plain tilework floor has interlaced decorative tile designs, with flower beds around the edges. The north side of both the Garden of the Galley and the Garden of Troy border the rear side of the Mudejar and Gothic Palaces if we continue to advance in an easterly direction. Both structures were built during the Castilian period (13'" and 14l11 centuries), and they face towards Castile, origin of the new conquerors of Isbylia and in the direction of the new points of access to the fortress. This southern side of the palaces gave onto the private gardens and orchards of the palatine complex, concealed from the eyes of important people visiting Seville. This is why for centuries their walls of stone and brick were decorated with simple motifs with no great pretensions. Here again, everything changed with the discovery of America and the designation of the River Guadalquivir as the official route communicating Europe with the New World. It meant that unexpectedly, this southern fac;ade became the first view of the travellers and embassies approaching the city from the river, whether from the Atlantic or the Mediterranean. As a result of this new historic context, around 1598 Lorenzo de Oviedo received the commission to build a new gallery dignifying and joining the rear of the two palaces, so linking the gardens of Troy and the Galley by way of a new elevated path. It is in the classical style with rounded arches on Doric columns, and with walls painted in limewash.

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the Garden of Dance and the Mercury Pool, while the shorter one leads on its southern side to the Ladies' Garden and at the northern end to the Baths of Maria de Padilla. In the paving we can see small bronze orifices known as burladores Gokers) which, by means of water pipes hidden beneath the pavement and controlled from one of the benches in the centre of the garden, can squirt water at passing visitors.

Garden of Troy

Garden of Dance The Garden of Dance lies at the eastern end of the Hispano-Muslim gardens, being the fourth and last of these spaces. It has an original two-level design dividing its considerable length into rectangular spaces. Entering from the Garden of Troy through a rounded archway open in the dividing wall, we find ourselves on the lower level in which the principle feature is the exquisite polygonal Fountain of the Sign, the base of which is lined with tiles and with a bronze bowl. It can be dated between 1574 and 1577 with celebrated artists and craftsmen taking part in its creation including Francisco Jimenez, Roque Fernandez from Triana and his son-in-law the great ceramic artist Cristobal de Augusta. On both sides of the fountain there are long brick benches decorated with Triana tiles. Four large parterres with myrtle hedges complete this lower garden, between which we can walk along a cross-shaped path paved with ceramic tiles. The longest side connects the Garden of Troy with the upper path of

According to the abundant documentation that has come down to us, the upper level once had a great central fountain though we know nothing of its details. What have survived are two imposing columns that in former times were surmounted by the sculptures of two dancing figures, a Silene and a Maenad, mythological beings associated with the god Bacchus. The name of the garden is derived from the topiary figures of dancing satyrs and nymphs carefully pruned by the gardeners, as in the Garden of the Galley. These figures were grown around anthropomorphic wooden structures on which the plants grew, to which were added head and hands carved in wood or modelled in clay. The archive of historic documents contains records of payments to the painter Diego de Esquivel to paint the hands and faces in flesh tones. The parterres contain mainly plants originating around the Mediterranean, but also large trees such as the two magnolias growing near the columns.

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Baths of Maria de Padilla

Baths ofMaria de Padilla

From the Garden of Dance we enter one of the most complex spaces in the Royal Alcazar. The very name is already misleading as they never were baths and do not date back to the time of Marfa de Padilla.To seek its origin we need to go to the Almohad period in the l 2l11 century. The Palace of Caliph Abu Yakub extended to this sect01~ and exactly where the Baths of Maria de Padilla now stand was the celebrated Patio of the Crossing, a rectangular space 60 x 40 metres entirely surrounded by a two-storeyed gallery with porticoes. The interior space was occupied by four parterres and a central pond. Its originality lay in the fact that it was at a depth of six metres below the ground level of the Palace, which was reached by staircases on the north and south side. This depth gave the Almohad patio shade and freshness in the summer months, while the platform around the perimeter built on the same level as the floors of the Palace, below the upper gallery that was several metres higher, made it possible to stroll in the rays of the sun during the Andalusian winter. Thus, in origin it had nothing to do with the light and aromas of a garden open to the sky, as we see today. Changes started in the mid-13lh century when Alfonso X built the Gothic Palace, demolishing for this purpose the southern gallery of the Almohad construction. In parallel, he created a new raised path in the patio; it was cross shaped and built over brick cross-ribbed vaulting connecting with the

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platforms around the edge of the upper gallery. The present-day entrance from the Ladies' Garden is a creation of the 16Lh century, as are the grotto and fountain created at the far end of the pond in 1578. From this period is all the decoration in the form of frescoes on the walls and vaults, with zodiac motifs as a prominent feature. However, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 was responsible for the most substantial alterations to this sector. On the upper floor it destroyed the Gothic gallery of Alfonso X, which was replaced by a new one in Baroque style designed by Sebastian van der Bocht. At the same time a new gallery was created to communicate the Courtyard of the Hunt and the Carriage Entrance, reducing the dimensions of the patio on its northern side. And to avoid any further collapses in view of the ruinous state to which the whole area had been reduced, the decision was taken to raise the level of the gardens to that of the Palace. This is why nowadays we see the Baths of Maria de Padilla as an underground space, a pond beneath cross-ribbed vaults without natural light.

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* Legend of Maria de Padilla The name Baths of Marfa de Padilla given to these spaces has two parallel origins. On the one hand, as consort of Pedro I, Marfa de Padilla lived in the rooms of the Gothic Palace until the construction of the Mudejar Palace, with direct access to the Garden of the Crucero. On the other, we have the legend that the writer of Swiss-German origin Fernan Caballero (her real name was Cecilia Bohl de Faber y Ruiz de Larrea) wrote in her book of 1862 Alcazar de Sevilla, in the following terms:

you will see how good and fresh it is." "I will not do it, Sire", came the reply, and the curious monarch insisted, "Why?" The reply came, "To avoid, Sovereign Lord, that if I enjoy the sance I might fancy trying the partridge".

It is told that as the beautiful favourite took her bath, the king and his courtiers conversed, which rnay not be as scandalous as at first it rnight seern, if we consider that even today in some places it is a custom to receive in the bath, and even in some parts for many people of both sexes to bathe together, as may be seen in those of Biarritz in France, and in those of Bath in the exquisite Albion. The gallantry of those times had introduced the custom ofgentlemen drinking the very water in which the ladies bathed. This was the case of King Pedro and his courtiers at the bath of Dona Maria. One day he noticed that one of them refrained from the custom and addressing him asked, "Why do yon not drink? Taste this water and

Engraving by Paul Gervais

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The Mercury Pool What nowadays we know as the Mercury Pool was originally an Islamic reservoir, probably from Almohad times, used to store and regulate the water for use in the Palace and to irrigate the gardens and orchards of the Royal Alcaza1~ These uses explain its depth of around seven metres, and its ancient connection to the Almohad system bringing water to Seville. It was brought from Alcala de Guadaira, reusing the Roman aqueduct known as the "Caiios de Carmona" because it arrives in Seville through the Carmona Gate in the city wall. Still today we can see in the barbican wall of the Alcazar running beside the Calle Agua of the Santa Cruz district, remains of the pipes that ran in the walls to bring the water to the interior of the Palace complex. This extraordinary aqueduct ran for more than 17 kilometres, supplying water to Seville from the 1si century BC to the end of the 19L" century, a period of nearly two thousand years. It was almost entirely demolished between 1908 and 1912 despite protests by the cultural institutions of the city, including the Santa Isabel de Hungrfa Academy of Fine Arts. Returning to the Mercury Pool, its present appearance dates from the changes made during the Renaissance, between 1575 and 1577, when it was transformed into a pond and integrated into the Hispano-Muslim gardens, though still today it is used for irrigation of the surrounding area. Prominent in its decoration Mercury Pool

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is the wrought ironwork of sculptor Bartolome Morel and the blacksmith Esteban de Pescara. The railings around the pond are decorated with four lions in the corners and balls on pyramidal finials, originally of gilded bronze. The fine sculpture of the god Mercury in the centre of the pool holds a caduceus or herald's wand and has wings on his sandals. He stands on a pedestal decorated with sculptures of children and boat figureheads from which water flows out into the pond. Seville owes another of its symbols to Esteban de Pescara, the Giraldillo or weather vane surmounting the Giralda tower. The selection of the god Mercury to decorate this pool is not at all a matter of chance, as he was the divinity of Trade, protector of merchants and guardian of highways, all matters of primary importance in a city that was Port and Gateway of America.

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Gallery of the Grutescos and Fountain of Fame (Water Organ) The origin of the Gallery of Grutescos is an ancient Almohad wall built in the l 2Lh century to defend the northern sector of the Muslim Royal Alcazar both from the attack of enemies and from the frequent floods of the River Guadalquivir and the Tagarete brook, which still exists today though effectively channelled to flow out into the Great River Guadalquivir beside the Gold Tower. With the passing of years, these venerable walls lost their defensive purpose, and when in 1612 the Royal Alcazar experienced a whirlwind of building project~ in preparation for a planned visit by King Phillip III, the Master of Works Vermondo Res ta was instructed to demolish them in order to join the ancient gardens along the southern face to the Islamic orchards on the northern side, where work was already

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underway to transform the area into the most beautiful gardens of the Royal Alcazar and of the city of Seville, namely the Ladies' Garden. Howeve1~ Resta, a genial architect from Milan but resident in Seville since 1588 and Master of Works of the Royal Alcazar since 1601, was not inclined to demolish walls of brick and adobe with five centuries of history and which had resisted the assaults of storms, hurricanes and floods (only between 1249 and 1880, there are records of 89 major floods of the Guadalquivir that ravaged the city on each occasion). As an alternative to demolition, the architect who introduced Mannerism into Spain converted the old defensive wall into a Mannerist loggia fully integrated into the gardens, and permitting their contemplation from a raised walk offered by its double porticoed gallery. Work on this scheme continued until 1619, and the result is the Renaissance marvel we see today. It has decoration on four levels. The first is a hedge of espalier orange trees, the second rows of rusticated stonework, opus rusticum, forming recesses that framed wall paintings by Diego de Esquivel, now disappeared. Among the stones are hidden sea shells, glass and mirrors creating an onyric landscape amidst the filtered light of the gardens. On the third level we find the open gallery with round arches on stone columns and fine capitals, with a blue wrought-iron handrail to protect those walking along the raised path. Culminating the composition up to the cornice and the upper gallery we again find rusticated decoration of ostionera stone in bands of grutescos, similar to the second level. King Philip III never visited Seville. He died suddenly in 1621 without seeing the work undertaken for him in the Royal Alcazar. The Almohad wall never was destroyed, and the walls raised to separate the north from the south were faced in sand and limewash to unite for ever the old gardens from Islamic times, with the new ones of Christian origin. Could there be anything more Mannerist?

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*

The Fountain of Fame

The Fountain or Grotto of Fame was one of those built by Vermondo Resta between 1614 and 1619, as part of the complex restructuring plan carried out by the Milanese architect in the entire sector formed today by the Gallery of Grutescos, the Mercury Pool and the Ladies' Garden. Of clear Italian inspiration, it was composed of a hydraulic system and a sound mechanism making it possible by using water power to create fountains, jets of water, waterfalls and melodies produced by a water organ. Above the whole structure at the intermediate

level is a terracotta sculpture of a child in a niche, and surmounting the entire composition, on the upper cornice, is the lead sculpture of a putto , which originally could play its trumpet. The numerous musical instruments decorating the fountain were the work of the Master Braziers Luis Hernandez and Manuel de Perea, in 1613. The Aeolian chamber with its ingenious system of lead pipes producing melodies, lasted until it was destroyed by the terrible Lisbon earthquake of 1755, as well as other serious damage overall in the Gallery of Grutescos. Today, the Fountain of Fame can be seen in all its splendour after the restoration carried out in 2006 by Leonardo Lombardi and Jose Maria Cabeza. Every hour, two melodies, one of sacred music (LXV/II Song of the Immaculate Conception) and one profane (Glosas sobre el Canto Llano), composed in the

17,1i century by Francisco Correa de Arauxo, inundate the Ladies' Garden with their notes, by means of the new hydraulic organ built after thorough historical research and following the original design by the British organist Rodney Briscoe.

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The Ladies' Garden The conversion of the orchards of the Alcazar into gardens was a slow but continuous process from the 101" century onwards. It was always desired by the governors and residents of the Alcazar, for the chain of gardens around the palaces extended and complemented the palatine spaces with the beauty, aromas and freshness of the different environments, while also providing increasingly necessary privacy for the royal inhabitants. Therefore, the creation of a new Ladies' Garden was a long-standing aspiration making it possible to increase the distance between the productive area and the palaces, until then separated only by the narrow fringe of Hispano-Muslim gardens. It was entirely designed by Vermondo Resta and created between 1606 and 1624, coinciding with the planned visit of Philip III and the arrival of Philip IV: It is the most important Mannerist garden in the Iberian Peninsula due to its dimensions and to the originality and beauty of its conception. Rectangular in shape, three of its sides are closed by fine gateways of stone and brick faced with albero and almagra, in which there are profusely decorated wroughtiron screens and windows. Against its walls we find fountains and grottos of classical inspiration decorated with mythological figures sculpted in stone or modelled in clay by such artists as Gaspar Sanchez and Felipe Silha, and by Diego de Esquivel in its painted decoration.

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The remaining side is occupied by the Gallery of Grutescos on the western face of the garden.

Alcazar's winters in white, grapefruit trees, magnolia, chorisia, crepe myrtle and yucca.

Its green spaces consist of eight square parterres surrounded by myrtle hedges. In the 17 111 century they were planted predominantly with short flowers tracing attractive designs for the delight of those looking down from the perspective of the Gallery of Grutescos. As the years passed taller species were introduced into the garden, so altering its conception and the original geometrical designs, but offering more shade and freshness. Nowadays, among the shorter plants we can enjoy syringa, euonymus, rose, agapanthus, Chinese palmetto and spirea. The taller species include bitter, sweet and Moorish orange trees, Washingtonia and date palms, peach trees that paint the

At each of the three crossroads in the Ladies' Garden is found a fountain. The two to the sides are of Islamic type, with a white marble bowl low to the ground, while the central one is a spectacular Genoese work in marble surmounted by a bronze statue of Neptune, god of the Sea, a further artistic reference to the maritime trade of Seville. The paths have ceramic paving enlivened by glazed strips in blue tones. As in the Garden of Dance, there are bronze burladores that can create beautiful light effects on the jets of water.

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Garden and Pavilion of the Alcoba The Pavilion of the Alcoba was reformed in honour of Charles V and Isabel of Portugal after their wedding at the Royal Alcazar in March of 1526. It was erected on a pre-existing Islamic building, probably an oratory (rnusalla). Hence its shape of a qubba, a cubic building covered with a ceiling symbolising God, or eternity. It is very probable that the surrounding land was a rauda or royal cemetery of the Almohad Caliphs. The prominent element of the exterior is the original Renaissance gallery with rounded arches supported by graceful marble columns from the Aprile de Carona workshop in Genoa. In front of them, a long bench of bricks covered with tiles frames the building. Both the interior of the Pavilion and its fa