Return to Seville photos

We didn’t see the Barber, nor Don Giovanni, nor Carmen. But we saw a beautiful city with magnificent structures built by Romans, Moors, and Christians from 100 BC through the 1992 Expo (including the original tobacco factory—the second-largest building in Spain—from which Carmen might have emerged in the first act.)

Seville profited from Roman, Arab, and Christian rule. The Moorish Alcazar (Arab word for fortress) is the 14C Mudejar palace where Ferdinand and Isabella greeted Columbus on his return. The gardens are outstanding.

The Gothic cathedral, Our Lady of the See, is the third largest in the world (after St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London). It is claimed that the remains of Columbus are interred in the tomb shown here, although there is some question.

The Hospital de la Santa Caridad (17C) was once thought to have been built by Don Juan in atonement for his "sins," but this is only a rumor. Actually, Miguel Manara (supposedly Don Juan) was so grieved by the death of his wife in 1661 that he built the hospital and then entered the "Charity Brotherhood" to take in the sick and diseased as well as condemned criminals. The hospital continues to serve the poor. The hospital is by no means poor, as evidenced by its Chapel (see picture).

Seville is still very much alive today. The Plaza de Espana shown here is the centerpiece of an extensive exhibition area with beautiful buildings and extensive parks. This is where Don met his friend, the white pigeon. The two bridges shown here were built in preparation for the 1992 World Exposition. Both are beautiful, but the first is an artistic and engineering marvel—the bridge span and the long arm are counterbalanced as they are connected by the large cables.

P.S. Due to weather etc., there are only two pictures from beautiful Cordoba. Ten centuries ago, Cordoba was a city of 900,000 citizens, the capital of Muslim Spain and the largest city in Europe. The city abounds in Roman, Muslim, and Christian architecture and art, including a Roman bridge, Muslim towers, a pre-Inquisition synagogue, and of course a cathedral. However, this cathedral is unique in that it is inside a Muslim mosque! The Mezquita (8C) was the crowning Muslim architectural achievement in the West, rivaled only by the mosque at Mecca. It once housed the Koran. The mosque is a labyrinth of pillared open rooms, with the 16C cathedral sitting rather awkwardly in the middle. While the combination may be architecturally suspect, it symbolizes the peaceful coexistence of the two major faiths in Andalusia since the Christian Reconquest of Spain at Granada in 1100.