Charles Binns - Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Travel Photography

Seville

All images (c) Charles Binns - Landscape Photography, Nature Photography, Travel Photography.

Seville is the artistic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain, irrigated by the river Guadalquivir. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province of Sevilla

The architecture of the older parts of the city still reflects the centuries of Moorish control of the city, beginning in 711. After a brief independence as one of the taifa principalities, from 1023 to 1091, when it was the seat of the Abbadids while the Caliphate of Cordoba collapsed, Seville then fell to the Reconquista of Ferdinand III of Castile in 1248.

The city sits well inland, but a mere 6 metres above sea level. Seville was long an important sea port, prior to the silting up of the Guadalquivir. From Seville Ferdinand Magellan obtained the ships for his circumnavigation. Much of the Spanish Empire's silver from the New World came to Europe in the Spanish treasure fleet that landed in Seville. The city was home to the Casa de Contratación, the government agency which oversaw all overseas trade. Seville holds the most important archive of the Spanish administration in the Americas (the Archivo General de Indias).

The American riches made it a magnet for people around Spain, ranging from latifundia nobles and foreign merchants to an active petty crime scene. American silver was rapidly transhipped to Antwerp or Genoa, seat of the bankers who had advanced steady funds to the Spanish Crown. Other treasures of the Americas that passed through Seville incuded the first commercial shipment of chocolate from Veracruz arrived in Seville in 1585.

The city was the biggest of Spain in 16th and 17th centuries, with a population of 130,000 in 1649, the year of the Great Plague of Seville. It was the beginning of the city's fall from importance, but Seville remained an important artistic centre of the baroque period.

The city's cathedral was built from 1401–1519 after the Reconquista on the former site of the city's mosque. It is the largest of all medieval and Gothic cathedrals, in terms of both area and volume. The interior, with the longest nave in Spain, is lavishly decorated, with a large quantity of gold evident. The Cathedral reused some columns and elements from the mosque, and most famously the Giralda, originally a minaret, was converted into a bell tower. It is topped with a statue, known locally as La Giraldilla, representing Faith. The Giralda is the city's most famous symbol.

The Alcazar facing the cathedral is the city's old Moorish Palace; construction was begun in 1181, continued for over 500 years, mainly in Mudéjar style, but also in Renaissance. Its gardens are a blend of Moorish, Andalusian, and Christian traditions.

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