Back to: Seville car hire
Back to: Spain car hire Catedral de Sevilla, seville Cathedral
Seville's Cathedral occupies the site of a great mosque in the
late 12th century. Later, Christian architects added the extra
dimension of height. Its central nave rises to an awesome 42 metres
and even the side chapels seem tall enough to contain an ordinary
church. The total area covers 11,520 square metres and new calculations,
based on cubic measurements, have now pushed it in front of Saint
Paul's in London and Saint Peter's in Rome, as the largest church
in the world.
Sheer size and grandeur are, inevitably, the chief characteristics
of the Cathedral, but as you grow used to the gloom, two other
qualities stand out with equal force - the rhythmic balance and
interplay between the parts, and an impressive overall simplicity
and restraint in decoration. All successive ages have left monuments
of their own wealth and style, but these have been restricted
to the two rows of side chapels. In the main body of the cathedral
only the great box like structure of the coro stands out, filling
the central portion of the nave.
This opens onto the Capilla Mayor, dominated by a vast Gothic
retablo comprised of 45 carved scenes from the life of Christ.
The lifetime's work of a single craftsman, Pierre Dancart, this
is the ultimate masterpiece of the cathedral - the largest and
richest altarpiece in the world and one of the finest examples
of Gothic woodcarving anywhere. The guides provide staggering
statistics on the amount of gold involved.
At the end of the first aisle are a series of rooms designed
in the rich Plateresque style in 1530 by Diego de Riano, one of
the foremost exponents of this predominantly decorative architecture
of the late Spanish Renaissance. Through the ante chamber, you
reach the Capitular with its magnificent domed ceiling mirrored
in the marble decoration of the floor. There are a number of paintings
by Murillo here, the finest of which, a flowing Conception occupies
the place of honour.
Alongside this room is the grandiose Sacrista Mayor which houses
the treasury. Amid a confused collection of silver reliquaries
and monastrances are the keys presented to Fernando by the Moorish
and Jewish communities on the surrender of the city, sculpted
into the latter in stylised Arabic script are the words 'May Allah
render eternal the dominion of Islam in the city.'
The tomb of Christopher Columbus is always of great interest
to scholars and tourists alike.
The climb to the top of Giralda is considered well worth the
effort for the views alone.
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