SPAIN : SEVILLA
Sevilla (Seville in English) is the artistic, cultural, and financial
capital of southern Spain, crossed by the river Guadalquivir. It is the
capital of Andalusia and of the province of Sevilla.
Sevilla is perhaps, in the mind of many, the most Spanish of all cities
in Spain. The architecture is a mixture of Christian and Moorish styles
and the clichés that are most associated with Spain are there for
everyone to enjoy : from flamenco to fiestas and tapas to bullfights.
The city has more than 700,000 inhabitants, nearly half the
population of the whole province. It is located on the plain of the
Guadalquivir river which crosses the city from North to South. The port
of Sevilla played an important role in commerce between Spain and the
Americas in the past. Today it still remains one of the most active
river ports of the Iberian peninsula.
Andalucia was occupied by Moors for about 800 years, which explains
why today the Moorish influence is architectonically most evident. It
has been a cultural center long before. The fertility of this land and
its favorised climate with mild winters and about 3000 hours of sun per
year made Phoenicians and Carthaginians settle here. Later, came Romans,
and two of their emperors, Trajan and Hadrian, in fact were born here.
It was the centre of the Roman Western Mediterranean dominions for seven
centuries until the Empire was overrun by Northern barbarians at the
beginning of the 10th century. The long Moorish occupation of the
Iberian peninsula,
from 711 A.D. to 1248 A.D., left clear traces in Sevilla as well as in
all of Andalucia.
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, Sevilla then fell to the Reconquista of Ferdinand III of Castile
in 1248.“La
Giralda”, the tower of an important mosque, is the most well-known of
the remaining Islamic monuments and is one of the city’s main symbols.
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 representing
Faith.
The Alcázar facing the cathedral is the city's old Moorish Palace;
construction was begun in 1181. Additional construction continued for
over 500 years.
The city of
Sevilla played an important role in the discovery and conquest of
America in 1492. The 17th century was very important on the artistic
level : painters such as Velázquez, Murillo and Valdés Leal, and
sculptors like Martínez Montañés were born here. The city also assumed
an important role in world literature. Sevilla also is the birthplace of
the myth of “Don Juan”.
On two occasions in the 20th century Sevilla has been in the
spotlight of the world's attention. In 1929, it hosted the Latin
American Exhibition, which left important urban improvements in the
city.
The Parque Maria Luisa was built for the 1929 World's Fair, and remains
landscaped with attractive monuments and museums.
More recently, Expo 92 reinforced the image of Sevilla as a modern
and dynamic city.
