The capital of Andalusia is full of history, entertainment and good food.These are 35 things you have to see and do in Seville.
Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See of Seville
Construction of the most important temple in Seville began in the 15th century, in the place where the Aljama Mosque was located.It is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world and houses the remains of Christopher Columbus and several Spanish kings.Its portal and doors are works of art, as are its vaults, choir, retrochoir, chapels, organ and altarpieces.La Giralda, its bell tower, is partly an Islamic construction.The old ablutions patio of the mosque is now the famous Patio de los Naranjos.
Basilica of the Macarena
La Esperanza Macarena, the virgin most loved by Sevillians, is venerated in her basilica located in the neighborhood of the same name.The image of the Virgin is a carving of a candlestick, by an unknown author, from the beginning of the 18th century or the end of the 17th.The neo-baroque temple dates from the mid-20th century and its ceilings are beautifully decorated with frescoes.Other spaces worth admiring are the Chapel of the Sentence, where Our Father Jesus of the Sentence is worshiped, the Chapel of the Rosary and the beautiful altarpieceAltar de la Hispanidad.
The Giralda
The bell tower of the Cathedral of Seville is one of the most famous architectural unions in the world between Islam and Christianity, since its lower two thirds belong to the minaret of the Aljama Mosque, while the last third was superimposed as a Christian bell tower.Its height is 97.5 meters, which rises to 101 if the extension of the Giraldillo is included, which symbolizes the victory of the Christian faith.It was for a long time the most emblematic tower in Europe, serving as inspiration for others built in the rest of the world.
Walls of Seville
Most of Seville’s wall was destroyed in 1868 during the so-called September Revolution, losing a valuable heritage that protected the city from its Roman to modern times, passing through the Muslim and Visigothic eras.However, some sectors of the old defensive wall were preserved, particularly the one between the Puerta de la Macarena and the Puerta de Córdoba, and the section around the Reales Alcázares.
Reales Alcazares
This set of palaces is a magnificent historical example of architecture, as it brings together Islamic, Mudejar and Gothic elements, with the later incorporation of Renaissance and Baroque components.The Puerta del León is the current entrance to the complex.The Mudéjar Palace dates back to the 14th century and its attractions include the Patio de las Doncellas, the Alcoba Real and the Salón de los Embajadores.In the Gothic Palace, the Festival Room and the Tapestry Room stand out.The gardens are splendid.
Archive of the Indies
Managing the Spanish colonies in America involved a huge bureaucracy and a lot of paper.In 1785, Carlos III made the decision to centralize in Seville the archives scattered throughout Spain.The royal house chose the Casa Lonja de Mercaderes as the headquarters of the archive, a large building from the end of the 16th century.Over time, the space was enough to store 80 million pages of files, 8,000 maps and drawings, and other documents.The building has beautiful components, such as its main staircase, its ceilings and its interior patio.
Charterhouse of Seville
The Monastery of Santa María de las Cuevas, better known as the Cartuja, is located on the island of that name, a territory located between a living arm of the Guadalquivir river and a dock.The complex is eclectic in style, with Gothic, Mudejar, Renaissance and Baroque lines.Finding the monastery abandoned, the English businessman Carlos Pickman rented it to install a Pottery Factory, which today constitutes one of the greatest attractions of the place.In the chapel of Santa Ana, the remains of Columbus were kept for a time.
Maria Luisa Park
This park alternates urban and natural spaces and is the main green lung of the city.In principle, there were two estates acquired by the Duke of Montpensier in the mid-19th century to form the gardens of the San Telmo Palace, which he had just bought to occupy with his wife María Luisa Fernanda de Borbón.The park stands out mainly for its many roundabouts and fountains, its monuments and its natural spaces, such as the Isleta de los Patos.
Spain Square
This architectural complex nestled in the Parque de María Luisa is another of the emblems of the city of Seville.It has an esplanade and a main building built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. It is semi-elliptical in shape, to represent the embrace between Spain and Hispanic America.Its benches are true works of art, as well as its sculptural pieces, among which are medallions with the bust of notable Spaniards, two dozen imperial eagles and heralds.The two towers of the building are two beautiful references in the Sevillian urban landscape.
Tower of Gold
This 36 meter high albarrana tower is located on the left bank of the Guadalquivir.The first body, dodecagonal in shape, is an Arab work from the third decade of the 13th century.The second section, also dodecagonal, is believed to have been built in the 14th century by the Castilian King Pedro I el Cruel.The last body is cylindrical, it is crowned by a golden dome and dates from 1760. The allusion to gold in its name is due to the golden shine that reflects in the river water, produced by the mixture of materials used in the construction.
Metropol Parasol
This structure, popularly called Las Setas de Sevilla, constitutes an avant-garde surprise in the architectural landscape of the old town of Seville.It is a kind of large pergola made of wood and concrete whose components are shaped like mushrooms.It is 150 meters long and 26 meters high, and its 6 pillars are distributed between the Plaza de la Encarnación and the Plaza Mayor.It is the work of the German architect Jurgen Mayer and in its upper part it has a terrace and a viewpoint, while on the ground floor there is a theater and the Antiquarium, an archaeological museum.
Royal Court of Seville
The Seville Royal Court was an institution created by the crown in 1525, with judicial jurisdiction in civil and criminal matters.Its first headquarters was the Casa Cuadra and then it moved to the building built at the end of the 16th century.This predominantly Renaissance building is located in the Plaza de San Francisco and contains a valuable art collection, owned by the Cajasol Foundation, which has its headquarters in the building.Among the works, a portrait made by Bartolomé Murillo of Archbishop Pedro de Urbina stands out.
Town Hall of Seville
This building in the historic center is the seat of the Seville City Council.It is a majestic building from the 16th century, one of the great works in the Plateresque style in Spain.Its original main façade faces the Plaza de San Francisco and has sculptures of mythical and historical figures linked to Seville, such as Hercules, Julio César and Emperor Carlos V. The main façade facing the Plaza Nueva dates from 1867. Inside the In the building, the reliefs of the Chapter House, the main staircase and the Apeadero stand out artistically, which was the place where the riders descended from their horses.
San Francisco Square
This square in the historic center of Seville became the nerve center of the city, serving as the main square.The autos de fe were publicly held in it, in which those condemned by the Inquisition had the opportunity to abjure their supposed sins.It was also the scene of bullfights, to which Seville is so closely linked.In front of this square is one of the facades of the Town Hall, in which the city council works.
Military Historical Museum of Seville
It is a museum located in Plaza España that opened its doors in 1992 and contains an impressive collection of military pieces in its 13 rooms.In the Hall of the Flags, different flags and pennants used by the Spanish Army throughout its history are exhibited.Likewise, artillery pieces, machine guns, harquebuses, rifles, mortars, grenades, white weapons, projectiles, carriages, helmets, models of military episodes and a trench set are shown.
Museum of Fine Arts
This museum located in the Plaza del Museo was inaugurated in 1841 in a 17th century building that was erected as a convent of the Order of Mercy.It has 14 rooms, among which 3 are dedicated: one to the famous Sevillian painter Bartolomé Murillo and his main disciples, and the other two to Zurbarán and Juan de Valdés Leal, another Sevillian.Notable among Zurbarán’s paintings areSaint Hugo in the Carthusian refectoryandThe Apotheosis of Saint Thomas Aquinas.Saints Justa and RufinaandVirgen de la Serviettestand out from Murillo.
Museum of Arts and Popular Customs
It is located in the María Luisa Park and opened its doors in 1973 in a neo-Mudéjar building from 1914 that was the Ancient Art Pavilion of the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929. It houses collections of costumbrista painting, Sevillian tiles, earthenware, Andalusian popular costumes, tools agricultural products, musical instruments, household implements, treasuries and weapons, among others.It also includes the reproduction and setting of typical Andalusian homes from the 19th century, both in the city and in rural areas.
Seville Archaeological Museum
It is another museum located in the Parque de María Luisa, which operates in the old Pavilion of Fine Arts of the Ibero-American Exhibition of Seville.It has 27 rooms and the first ten are dedicated to the period from the Palaeolithic to Iberian ceramics.Others are dedicated to objects from the time of the Roman Empire in Hispania, medieval collections, and Mudejar and Gothic pieces, among the most important.
Municipal Newspaper Library
It works in a building with a neoclassical portico that is part of the Historical Heritage of Spain, built at the beginning of the 20th century and restored in the 1980s. The Newspaper Library houses almost 30,000 volumes and 9,000 titles of publications, dating back to 1661, when in Seville TheGazeta Nuevabegan to be published.The enormous and valuable collection also includes posters and theater programs from the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Hotel Alfonso XIII
This hotel operates in a historic building erected for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. Alfonso XIII was interested in its construction details and attended the inaugural banquet held in 1928 with Queen Victoria Eugenia. It is cataloged as one of the most sumptuous hotels in Europe, highlighting the noble wood furniture, the Bohemian glass lamps and the rugs from the Royal Tapestry Factory.It is owned by the City Council and operated by a concessionaire.
Palace of the Dueñas
This palace is owned by the House of Alba and the famous Duchess Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart died there in 2014.In 1875 the poet Antonio Machado was born in the same place, when the palace offered housing for rent.The building dates from the 15th century and has Gothic-Mudejar and Renaissance lines.It has a splendid chapel and cozy gardens and a drinking trough.Its art collection is made up of more than 1,400 pieces, including paintings, sculptures, furniture and other objects, including theChrist crowned with thorns, by José de Ribera.
Palace of San Telmo
This baroque building, which houses the Presidency of the Andalusian Government, dates from 1682 and was built on a property owned by the Court of the Inquisition, to house the University of Mercaderes.Its main façade is in the Churrigueresque style and a balcony stands out with twelve figures of women, symbolizing the sciences and the arts.On the side façade facing Palos de la Frontera street, there is the gallery of the twelve illustrious Sevillians, historical figures in different fields who were born or died in the city.Inside the palace, the Hall of Mirrors stands out.
Palace of the Countess of Lebrija
It is a 16th century building in which the Renaissance style predominates and which stands out for its extraordinary collection of mosaics used in the pavements, for which it is qualified as the best paved palace in Europe.The art collection includes oil paintings by Bruegel and Van Dick, and other valuable pieces are his amphorae, columns, busts, and sculptures.
Maestranza Theater
If you want to attend the opera or a classical or flamenco concert in Seville, this is the best setting.The Teatro de la Maestranza is a building that falls within the architectural trend of functionalism and was opened in 1991. It has variable acoustics, so genres that would be incompatible in a traditional room can be represented.Its central hall is cylindrical in shape, with the capacity to accommodate 1,800 spectators.The Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra is based there.
Seville Athenaeum
It is a great cultural focus of Seville since the 19th century.The institution was founded in 1887 and has passed through several venues until in 1999 it settled in the sober current building on Orfila street.It has a splendid interior patio and its illustrious membership includes great figures of Sevillian and Spanish culture, such as Juan Ramón Jiménez (Nobel Prize for Literature 1956), Federico García Lorca and Rafael Alberti.A tradition started by the ateneo in 1918 is the crowded Cabalgata de Reyes Magos.
Hospital of the Five Wounds
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Andalusian noblewoman Catalina de Ribera promoted the construction of a hospital to house homeless women.The hospital began in its old headquarters until it moved to the majestic Renaissance building that was a health center until 1972. In 1992 it became the seat of the Andalusian Parliament.Its main entrance is of Mannerist lines and has a beautiful church and large gardens and interior spaces.
Royal Tobacco Factory
Europeans would have to regret that the Spanish discovered tobacco in America and brought the first plants to the Old Continent.Seville held a monopoly on the sale of tobacco and the Royal Tobacco Factory was built in the city in 1770, the first in Europe.The building is a beautiful example of baroque and neoclassical industrial architecture.The factory closed at the beginning of the 1950s and the building became the main headquarters of the University of Seville.
Church of St. Louis of the French
It is a spectacular example of baroque in Seville.It was built in the 18th century by the Society of Jesus and its central dome is one of the largest in Seville, standing out for its external and internal artistic elements.The interior of the temple is overwhelming due to its beautiful and neat decoration, highlighting the main altarpiece and the 6 lateral ones dedicated to famous Jesuits such as San Ignacio de Loyola, San Francisco Javier and San Francisco de Borja.
House of Pilate
The building that best symbolizes the Andalusian palace was another initiative of Catalina de Ribera at the end of the 15th century.It mixes the Renaissance style with the Mudejar and its name is an allusion to Pontius Pilate for a Via Crucis that began to be celebrated in 1520, which started from the chapel of the house.Its ceilings are decorated with frescoes by the Sanlúcar painter Francisco Pacheco and in one of its rooms there is a small painting on copper by Goya, belonging to the famousBullfightingseries .
Seville Aquarium
On August 10, 1519, Ferdinand Magellan and Juan Sebastián Elcano left the Muelle de las Mulas in Seville on what would be the first circumnavigation of the world.The Seville Aquarium, inaugurated in 2014 at the Muelle de las Delicias, ordered its contents according to the route traced by the famous navigators.It has 35 ponds in which some 400 different species swim and it is an ideal place to change the environment in the city of Seville.
Holy Week in Seville
There is no place in the world where the celebration of Semana Mayor is more impressive.Its massive processions in the midst of religious fervor made it an event of International Tourist Interest.The images paraded through the streets are the work of great sculptors.The processions march to the sound of sacred music with the members of the bands dressed in traditional costumes.
Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium
The city’s two great football rivals, Sevilla FC and Real Betis, played their first match at this stadium more than half a century ago.It bears the name of the Sevillian businessman who presided over Sevilla FC for 17 years, the team that owns the stadium, which has a capacity for 42,500 fans.The club has brought great joy to the people of Seville, especially lately, with three consecutive titles in the UEFA Europa League between 2014 and 2016. The béticos say that their opportunity will soon come.
Seville bullring
The Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla, also called La Catedral del Toreo, is one of the most famous arenas in the world for the bullfight.Its beautiful baroque building dates back to the end of the 19th century, it was the first square with a circular arena and it has a capacity for 13,000 fans.It has a Bullfighting Museum and outside there are statues of the great Sevillian bullfighters, led by Curro Romero.The biggest poster is presented during the April Fair, the biggest festival in Andalusia.
An Andalusian gazpacho, please!
After visiting so many historical sites, museums and sports venues in Seville, it was time to eat something.Nothing better than starting with a dish that has made a career outside of Andalusia and Spain.Andalusian gazpacho is a cold soup that has a lot of tomato, as well as olive oil and other ingredients, and is an excellent selection, especially in the middle of the hot Seville summer.
Let’s go to the flamenco tablao!
You cannot leave Seville without going to a flamenco tablao.The show characterized by its fast guitar music, singing and the intense tapping of the dancers dressed in typical clothing, was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UN.Seville has many places to enjoy an unforgettable time watching its most traditional representation.