CATHEDRAL AND GIRALDA

Indissociable, they both seem to proclaim for eternity the triumph of Christianity. A proclamation all the more significant as the cathedral is built on the site of the former Great Mosque and the Giralda was its minaret. The Giralda, miraculously preserved from wars and earthquakes (1504 and 1888), stands at more than 98 meters high, showing its fine structure and patina of time.

History: In 1248, before the surrender of the city, the Moors, trapped, wanted to destroy the mosque and its Almohad minaret. To dissuade them, Alfonso XI the Wise, aware of the beauty of these monuments, threatened to pass his prisoners by the sword.

For those who wish to have a panoramic view of the city, but also of the imposing proportions of the adjoining cathedral (130 m long and 76 m wide), it is advisable to climb to the platform of the Giralda. The ascent is facilitated by a series of 35 steps.

Since 1564, the Giralda is dominated by the enormous and astonishing Giraldillo. This 4 m high weathervane, weighing nearly 1,300 kg, is a hollow "statue of Faith" that turns on itself at the slightest breath! This is what we call aerial bronze..

At the beginning of the 15th century, in 1401, the notables of Seville decided to raze the Great Mosque, wanting to replace it with a unique cathedral in Europe. Long works were necessary. The dome collapsed in 1511.

After the earthquake of 1888, the central part of the cathedral was rebuilt.

Behind the Puerta de los Palos, the neo-Gothic southern portal, the majesty of the place is immediately obvious, against a background of black and white marble pavement. One enters a forest of columns so high that, despite their robustness, they seem slender. At the crossing of the transept, the flamboyant vaults rise 56 m above the ground. The cathedral has 10 doors and 24 adjacent vaults. No less than 500 paintings, some of them by Murillo, Zurbarán, Giordano, Goya or Campana, are scattered throughout this Gothic and Renaissance labyrinth.

The Royal Chapel (Capilla Real), in the Plateresque style, with the tombs of Alfonso X and his mother, Beatrice of Swabia; in the same place, a silver shrine contains the remains of the liberator of Seville, Ferdinand III. The great altarpiece(retablo mayor) is one of the musts, and the crowd is not mistaken: one will make their way to the gates that protect the amazing treasure of the cathedral, a piece of overloaded goldsmithery on which several generations of artists have worked.

The funerary monument of Christopher Columbus. The mystery remains about the real tomb of the discoverer (the Dominican Republic also has its own and claims that it is the only one that exists). It is known that the Genoese, who died in Valladolid in 1506, was first buried in Seville; his tomb was transferred to Santo Domingo. Two centuries later, at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, he was repatriated to Seville, via Havana. In 2003, DNA tests proved that the bones present (representing only 15% of the skeleton) lying in the Cathedral of Seville are indeed those of Christopher Columbus.

The Patio de los Naranjos. This courtyard of orange trees is another vestige of the Great Mosque. The Moors used to come here to do their ablutions before going to pray, when the Caliphate of Seville was the richest in Spain.