The Story of Seville

by Walter M. Gallichan

The Sagrario adjoins the Cathedral, and may be entered from the Court of the Oranges. The building serves as a parish church, and occupies the ground of the old Sagrario. It was begun in 1618 by Miguel Zumárraga, and completed in 1662 by Lorenzo Fernandez. The vaulted roof is remarkable. Pedro Roldan painted the retablo, which was formerly in the Francisan Convent. The convent stood in the Plaza de San Fernando, or Plaza Nueva, as it is sometimes called. Roldan was a contemporary and follower of Montañez. There is an important image of St. Clement by Pedro Duque Cornejo. The statue of the Virgin is the work of the devout Martinez Montañez.

Beneath the church is the vault of the Archbishops of Seville. The terra-cotta altar is exceedingly decorative. In the sacristy there are some splendid azulejos, which formed part of the old Morisco mosque.

CHAPTER VI
The Alcázar

'How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his destined Hour, and went his way.'

Rubáiyat of Omar Khayyám.

THE richest monument of Almohade might in Seville is the beautiful Alcázar, or 'Castle,' which stands at but a stone's-throw from the remains of the great mosque. It is a palace of dreams, encompassed by lovely perfumed gardens. Its courts and salons are redolent of Moorish days, and haunted by the spirits of turbaned sheiks, philosophers, minstrels, and dark-eyed beauties of the harem. As we loiter under the orange trees of quiet gardens, we picture the palace as it was when peopled by the chiefs and retinues of swarthy skin in the time of Abdelasis, and contrast what remains of the primitive structure and Morisco decoration with the successive additions by Christian kings.

The nightingales still sing among the odorous orange bloom, and in the tangles of roses birds build their nests. Fountains tinkle beneath gently moving palms; the savour of Orientalism clings to the spot. Here wise men discussed in the cool of summer nights, when the moon stood high over the Giralda, and white beams fell through the spreading boughs of the lemon trees, and shivered upon the tiled pavements.

In this garden the musicians played, and the tawny dancers writhed and curved their lissome bodies, in dramatic Eastern dances. Ichabod! The moody potentate, bowed down with the cares of high office, no longer treads the dim corridor, or lingers in the shade of the palm trees, lost in cogitation. No sound of gaiety reverberates in the deserted courts; no voice of orator is heard in the Hall of Justice. The green lizards bask on the deserted benches of the gardens. Rose petals strew the paved paths. One's footsteps echo in the gorgeous patios, whose walls have witnessed many a scene of pomp, tragedy and pathos. The spell of the past holds one; and before the imagination troops a long procession of illustrious sovereigns, courtiers, counsellors and menials.

The historians of the Alcázar suppose that the original structure was erected in 1181 for Abu Yakub Yûsuf. Between the Puerta del León, in the Plaza del Triunfo, and the Sala de Justicia there are parts of the wall which are said to date back to the Roman times. It is generally asserted that the Moorish palace was reared on the ruins of a Roman prætorium, and that the original work was undertaken in the eleventh century. In its pristine form the Alcázar was of triangular design, and the buildings and gardens occupied a much greater space than they cover at the present day. The chief puerta was originally at the Torre de la Plata, formerly standing in the Calle de Ataranzas, but pulled down in recent years; while another point of the triangle was at the Torre del Oro, on the bank of the Guadalquivir. Within these precincts there were vast halls, council rooms, dormitories, baths and gardens. The remaining portions of the walls and the towers show that the ancient fortress was very strong; and one can understand the difficulty experienced by Fernando the Good during his long siege of the citadel.

In the Plaza de Santo Tomas is the Tower of Abdelasis, which was once part of the palace. It was from this tower that Fernando floated the Christian standard after the capture of the Alcázar. The chief entrance in our day is in the Plaza del Triunfo. It is called the Gate of the Lion (Puerta del León). We pass through, and come into the Patio de las Banderas (Court of the Banners), so called because a flag was hoisted here during the residence of the sovereign in the palace. The patio is surrounded by modern offices, and planted with orange trees. A roofed passage on the right side of the court leads to the wonderful Mudéjar halls and the salons of the Catholic kings. The passage is the Apeadero, or 'halting-place.' It was built by Philip V. The façade is in the Baroque style.