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.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

robin darch (2 years ago)
Really worth going and really worth going early ,booking in advance or like us taking the opportunity to jump the queue with a guided tour. Reckon we saved 45 to 60 mins. This actually made the place more enjoyable listening to the history, the stories, the craftsmanship and hearing about the recent Game of thrones filming. Once we had finished the tour we were at our leisure to explore the best bits again. A highlight of Seville for sure.

Jose Lucina (2 years ago)
Simply beautiful. I loved the elaborate mix of Muslim and Christian design work throughout the entire facility. Its not common to see the two living in harmony in the media today, but on these walls it is enshrined that at some time in the past our two cultures were friends (even though only for a short time). Please take a tour so that you can notice the subtle designs and the brevity of their significance.

Ray Forgianni (2 years ago)
This World Heritage site is a sleeper, far better than expected. Not as large as Alhambra but more intense in its beauty. Great examples of both Moorish architecture & finishes as well as renaissance. Wonderful interior plazas. But the real surprise was the extensive and diverse gardens. Flowers, palms, mazes, peacocks. Bring good walking shoes because it is bigger than you think.

shadee vernet (2 years ago)
This palace is BEAUTIFUL. I am so glad we did the detour to come check it out. We went just before closing and that was perfect... Less people and noise. They let you stay about 1h after closing. You can actually enjoy the visit. I'm also a GOT fan so I was excited. The architecture and artistry that was put in this structure is amazing. Everything from the walls, gardens, the facades.. amazing. If you don't go see it, you'll regret it. It's a must just for it's beauty !

Larry Taylor (2 years ago)
This is an amazing place! Palace after connected Palace showing art decor and magnificent gardens. I can try to describe it and show pictures, but would not do it justice. This is one the places you must see while in Seville, Spain. It is so rich in history influenced by Muslim to Christianity. A UNESCO world heritage site, its something you must see. Just breathtaking.

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Historic Site of the week

Broch of Gurness

The Broch of Gurness is an Iron Age broch village. Settlement here began sometime between 500 and 200 BC. At the centre of the settlement is a stone tower or broch, which once probably reached a height of around 10 metres. Its interior is divided into sections by upright slabs. The tower features two skins of drystone walls, with stone-floored galleries in between. These are accessed by steps. Stone ledges suggest that there was once an upper storey with a timber floor. The roof would have been thatched, surrounded by a wall walk linked by stairs to the ground floor. The broch features two hearths and a subterranean stone cistern with steps leading down into it. It is thought to have some religious significance, relating to an Iron Age cult of the underground.

The remains of the central tower are up to 3.6 metres high, and the stone walls are up to 4.1 metres thick. The tower was likely inhabited by the principal family or clan of the area but also served as a last resort for the village in case of an attack.

The broch continued to be inhabited while it began to collapse and the original structures were altered. The cistern was filled in and the interior was repartitioned. The ruin visible today reflects this secondary phase of the broch's use.

The site is surrounded by three ditches cut out of the rock with stone ramparts, encircling an area of around 45 metres diameter. The remains of numerous small stone dwellings with small yards and sheds can be found between the inner ditch and the tower. These were built after the tower, but were a part of the settlement's initial conception. A 'main street' connects the outer entrance to the broch. The settlement is the best-preserved of all broch villages.

Pieces of a Roman amphora dating to before 60 AD were found here, lending weight to the record that a 'King of Orkney' submitted to Emperor Claudius at Colchester in 43 AD.

At some point after 100 AD the broch was abandoned and the ditches filled in. It is thought that settlement at the broch continued into the 5th century AD, the period known as Pictish times. By that time the broch was not used anymore and some of its stones were reused to build smaller dwellings on top of the earlier buildings. Until about the 8th century, the site was just a single farmstead.

In the 9th century, a Norse woman was buried at the site in a stone-lined grave with two bronze brooches and a sickle and knife made from iron. Other finds suggest that Norse men were buried here too.

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