On the northern side of the Cathedral we find the most important remains of the pre-existing mosque, the Giralda, already described, and the Patio de los Naranjos, with the original fountain at which the Muslims performed their ablutions. The patio is entered from the street by the Puerta del Perdón, a richly decorated horseshoe arch erected by Moorish hands by order of Alfonso XI., to commemorate the victory of the Salado in the year 1340. In the sixteenth century this door was restored and adorned with sculptures. The colossal statues of Saints Peter and Paul, in terra-cotta, are the work of Miguel Florentin. He was among the earliest of the Renaissance sculptors to settle in Spain. By him also is the relief of the Expulsion of the Money-Changers from the Temple, celebrating the substitution of the Lonja or Bourse for this gate as a rendezvous for merchants. The plateresco work was executed by Bartolomé López in 1522. The doors date from Alfonso’s reign, and are faced with bronze plates, on which are Arabic inscriptions.
Close to the Puerta del Perdón is a shrine built in the wall with a Christ on the Cross by Luis de Vargas.
Entering the patio, to the right we find the Sagrario, or parish church, and to the left (reached by a staircase) the Biblioteca Colombina or Chapter Library, founded by Fernando Colon, son of Christopher Columbus. Among the treasures it contains are a manuscript of the great discoverer’s travels, with notes in his own hand; a manuscript tract, written by him in prison, to prove that the existence of America was not contrary to Scripture; the sword of Garcia Perez de Vargas, the great hero of the conquest of Seville, and a very interesting thirteenth-century translation of the Bible.
The northern façade of the Cathedral is entered through three portals, the westernmost of which, the Puerta del Sagrario, is unfinished. The Puerta de los Naranjos and the Puerta del Lagarto lead from the patio. The Puerta del Lagarto retains some traces of its Moorish origin. It is named after the patched and painted stuffed alligator, which has hung here since about the thirteenth century. Here may also be seen a huge elephant’s tusk, and a bridle said to have belonged to the Cid.
Referring more particularly to the exterior of the Cathedral, Caveda says: “The general effect is truly majestic. The open-work parapets which crown the roofs, the graceful lanterns of the eight winding stairs that ascend in the corners to the vaults and galleries, the flying buttresses that spring lightly from aisle to nave, as the jets of a cascade from cliff to cliff, the slender pinnacles that cap them, the proportions of the arms of the transept and of the buttresses supporting the side walls, the large pointed windows that open, one above another, just as the aisles and chapels to which they belong rise over each other, the pointed portals and entrances—all these combine in an almost miraculous manner, although lacking the wealth of detail, the airy grace, and the delicate elegance that characterise the cathedrals of Léon and Burgos.”
Entering the church, the gloom renders it difficult for a time to distinguish its exact configuration. We find it is divided into a nave and four aisles, the former being fifty feet in width. The fine marble floor was laid in the years 1787 to 1795. There is little ornamentation, the interior displaying a noble simplicity, the beautiful effect being produced mainly by the grandeur and symmetry of the vaultings, archings, and pillars. The seventy-four exquisite stained-glass windows, however, form a decorative series of the richest kind. They are, for the most part, the work of northern artists. Micer Cristóbal Aleman (Master Christoph the German) began the first—the first stained-glass window seen in Seville—in 1504, the work being carried on by the German Heinrich, the Flemings Bernardino of Zeeland and Juan Bernardino, Carlos of Bruges, and the great master Arnao of Flanders. The two latter designers are said to have received ninety thousand ducats for their work. The last window was completed in 1662 by a Spaniard named Juan Bautista de Léon. The finest windows are generally considered to be those representing the Ascension, St Mary Magdalen, Lazarus, and the Entry into Jerusalem, by Arnao the Fleming and his brother (1525), and the Resurrection, by Carlos of Bruges (1558).
Passing up the nave, from the Puerta Mayor, we find midway between that entrance and the choir the Tomb of Fernando Colon, son of the great Columbus—“who would have been considered a great man,” says Ford, “had he been the son of a less great father.” The slab is engraved with pictures of the discoverer’s vessels, and the inscription, À Castilla y á León Mundo nuevo dio Colon. At this spot, during Holy Week, is set up the Monumento, an enormous wooden temple in the shape of a Greek cross, in which the Sacrament is enshrined. The structure was made by Antonio Florentin in 1544.
Extending to the middle of the nave is the Coro or Choir, open towards the east or High Altar. The trascoro or choir-screen is faced with marbles, eight columns of red breccia being especially fine. The marble reliefs are fine examples of Genoese work. Over the altar is a fourteenth-century painting of the Madonna, and there is also a picture by Pacheco, the inquisitor, representing St Ferdinand receiving the keys of Seville from “Axataf.” The side walls of the choir accommodate four little chapels, exhibiting a harmonious combination of the Gothic and plateresco styles in translucent alabaster. The Capilla de la Concepcion contains one of the finest examples of statuary in the Cathedral—the Virgin, by Juan Martinez Montañez. Ford says, “This sweet and dignified model was the favourite of his great pupil, Alonso Cano.” The choir was severely injured by the collapse of the dome in 1888. The pillars and baldachino are richly adorned with Gothic figures and stonework. The fine gilt railing is the work of Sancho Muñoz (1519). But the chief glory of the choir is its exquisitely carved stalls, 117 in number, executed between 1475 and 1548, by Nufro Sanchez, Dancart, and Guillen. Moorish influence may be traced in the patterns and the coloured inlaid work of the chairbacks. The handsome lectern bespeaks the skill of Bartolomé Morel. Till the collapse of the dome, the choir was the repository of a number of priceless missals, illuminated in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. The organs are huge but inartistic. As instruments, they are beyond all praise. The older, dating from 1777, was built by Jorge Bosch, the other by Valentin Verdalonga in 1817.
“Between the choir and High Altar is put up during Holy Week the exquisite bronze candlestick, 25 feet high, called El Tenebrario, one of the finest specimens of bronze work of the sixteenth century that exists (it may be seen in the Sacristy), and wrought, in 1562, by Morel; when the Miserere is sung, it is lighted with thirteen candles, twelve of which are put out one after another, indicating that the Apostles deserted Christ; one alone of white wax is left burning, and is a symbol of the Virgin, true to the last. At Easter, also, the Ciro Pascual or fount candle, equal to a large marble pillar, 24 feet high, and weighing seven or eight hundredweight of wax, is placed to the left of the High Altar” (Ford).
Facing the choir stands the isolated Capilla Mayor, containing the High Altar. It is enclosed on three sides by a railing of wrought iron, and on the fourth by a superb Gothic retablo. Schmidt considers this work the quintessence of late Gothic sculpture. The middle parts date from the fifteenth, the outer from the sixteenth century. The ornamentation is of extraordinary delicacy and richness. It is divided into forty-five compartments, each containing subjects from the Scriptures and the lives of the saints in sculpture painted and gilded. It is crowned by a crucifix and the statues of the Virgin and St John. This fine altar-piece was begun by the Fleming Dancart in 1479, and was completed by Spanish artists in 1526.