The Story of Seville

by Walter M. Gallichan

Turning to the right from the Apeadero, we follow a corridor to the Court of Doña Maria Padilla, the mistress of Pedro the Cruel. The court is planted with orange and lemon trees and big palms. Arched galleries of a modern character seem out of place here. But in a moment we come into the Patio de la Monteria with its beautiful Moorish façade. The ajimez windows, the cusped arches, and the decorations of this doorway are fine examples of Almohade art. There is an inscription in early Gothic characters, over the door, stating that 'the most noble and powerful Don Pedro, by the grace of God, King of Castile and León, caused these fortresses and palaces to be built in the era of de mill et quatrocientios y dos' (of Cæsar). The date is 1364 A.D.

We follow a passage to the Patio de las Doncellas (Court of the Maidens). This large and lofty hall has twenty-four beautiful Morisco arches, and singularly rich ornamentations. The fifty-two marble columns are of the Renaissance period, and were substituted between the years 1540 and 1564 for the original pillars. Notice the glazed tiling decorations of brilliant colouring. These date from the time of Pedro the Cruel, who added to the ancient palace until little of the original remained. Notwithstanding, the style is distinctly Moorish, and the decoration was the work of Mudéjares, whose quaint azulejos may be here studied to advantage.

The Salón de Embajadores adjoins the Court of the Maidens. This was the Hall of the Ambassadors. It is about thirty-three feet square. The dome is of the media naranja or 'half orange' shape, the favourite design of the Moorish architects. On the walls are portraits of the monarchs of Spain. This is the most sumptuous of the salons of the Alcázar; the walls veritably dazzle the spectator with their richness of colouring. Not one inch of space on the arches, walls and doorways is left without an ornate pattern. The doors of the salon are massive and finely decorated. In this hall Charles V. was married to Isabella of Portugal.

The Comedor, or dining-room, opens out of the Hall of Ambassadors on the west side. We find in this room the latest restorations of the palace. Here, on September 21, 1848, was born the Infanta Doña Maria Isabel de Orleans y Borbón, Condesa de Paris. The bedroom of Isabella the Catholic adjoins the Comedor.

Returning to the Hall of the Ambassadors, we enter the room of Philip II., and pass through it to the small Patio de las Muñecas. Note the pigmy figures in the ornamentation, which give the name of the Dolls' Court to this chamber. The upper parts of the gallery are modern, and were constructed in the years 1855 and 1856, at the time of the last extensive restoration of the Alcázar.

The Salón of the Princes, approached from the Patio de las Muñecas, is a spacious hall, in the mixed styles of the Mudéjar and the plateresque. The Dormitory of the Moorish Kings should be inspected. Then cross the Patio de las Doncellas to the Salón de Carlos V. This chamber has a remarkably fine ceiling, and beautiful decorations of azulejos, made by Cristobal de Augusta, an Italian, who worked in Triana in 1577. From the salon we may enter the room of Maria de Padilla.

The upper apartments of the Alcázar can be viewed by special permission. I would strongly urge the visitor to obtain this permission. If he applies to the conserje at the Palace of Pedro, he will be informed that admission is impossible without an order from the King of Spain. Such was my experience. I then asked for an order at the offices in the Patio de las Banderas, but the courteous officials were firm in their refusal, stating that 'no one but the King can give permission to visit the upper part of the Alcázar.' Still determined, I ventured to address His Majesty by letter, and in a few days I received a reply from the Intendencia General de la Real Casa y Patrimonio at Madrid. The letter was written by the royal secretary, and is a beautiful example of the ornate caligraphy in which educated Spaniards delight. I was told that 'the Señor Marqués de Irún, Alcaide of the Reales Alcázares, would grant me the desired permission.'

At the hotel I inquired where the Marqués de Irún resided. No one knew. My host searched through a Seville directory. The name of the Marqués de Irún was not to be found in its pages. Finally, armed with the letter from the royal palace, I presented myself at the offices in the Patio de las Banderas, and displayed the missive.

The effect was magical. The officials were even more polite than before. One of them wrote a note, which he asked me to give to the conserje, and I was bowed out of the office. The conserje in the Patio de la Monteria scanned the open-sesame. And at last I gained entrance to the upper apartments of the Royal Alcázar.

The visitor who has secured his permit will be rewarded. There is much to see in these chambers. Notice, first of all, the fine staircase constructed at the end of the sixteenth century. The seventeenth-century tapestries in the salons are magnificent examples of this art. Most of the subjects are Dutch; some are copies of pictures by David Teniers. In the first hall, at the head of the principal staircase, there is some handsome artesonada ceiling decoration of the fifteenth century.