Alcázar of Seville

Seville, Spain

The Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace, built for the Christian king Peter of Castile. It was built by Castilian Christians on the site of an Abbadid Muslim residential fortress destroyed after the Christian conquest of Seville. The palace, a pre-eminent example of Mudéjar architecture in the Iberian Peninsula, is renowned as one of the most beautiful. The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as their official residence in Seville, and are administered by the Patrimonio Nacional. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The original nucleus of the Alcázar was constructed in the 10th century as the palace of the Muslim governor. Built and rebuilt from the early Middle Ages right up to our times, it consists of a group of palatial buildings and extensive gardens. The Alcázar embraces a rare compendium of cultures where areas of the original Almohad palace - such as the 'Patio del Yeso' or the 'Jardines del Crucero' - coexist with the Palacio de Pedro I representing Spanish Mudejar art, together with other constructions displaying every cultural style from the Renaissance to the Neoclassical.

Some gardens have Renaissance statues. After damage by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, that façade of the Palacio Gótico overlooking the Patio del Crucero was completely renovated in Baroque style.

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Founded: 10th century AD
Category: Castles and fortifications in Spain

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4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

N V (2 years ago)
Beautiful. Old Islamic architecture has so much attention to the finer details. It is absolutely stunning. We visited in July. It was too hot, temperatures were 49°C plus. We were not able to see all the gardens due to it being so hot. Would not recommend visiting in the summer months. Plan on spending at least 3-4 hours just to look around. More if you would like to relax and appreciate the palace and gardens.
Stoyan Nedev (2 years ago)
A very beautiful palace to visit in Seville. When you walk inside the palace, you can directly feel the mediterranean style found on the accents of its interior. It was indeed a very nice palace. It is also known to be one of the places where "Game of Thrones" was filmed. The palace has a very big garden area where you can spend a lot of time - it is very beautiful. I recommend you to buy tickets online. This is a must visit place if you are travelling to Seville.
MattD12027 (2 years ago)
We bought tickets for right when they opened at 0930. We showed up at 0930 and had to wait in a long line, though it moved rapidly and took 15-20 minutes to get inside. The Palace itself is gorgeous inside, though only some of it is open for general viewing. The gardens are quite extensive and you could probably spend an hour or two just in them. The famous courtyard (where a scene from Kingdom of Heaven was filmed) lives up to expectations. Overall it's a fairly chill experience with some pretty sights.
Rebecca Call (2 years ago)
Amazing way to spend a day in Sevilla. The grounds are well kept, the history as rich as it gets and even the crowds seemed tolerable. The gardens were occupied with peacocks and other small animals and the ponds were filled with fish and ducks. Overall a nice refreshing visit to Ottoman influenced architecture while in Spain. Tickets were available to purchase when we arrived. Our time to visit was just 40 minutes away so a walk around the church grounds was sufficient before lining up. We were able to enter 15 minutes before our assigned time so no need to wait the full wait time.
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