Although we were exhausted, we woke around nine o’clock and did not want to lose the day by trying to sleep longer. We were off to the Alcázar and very excited to go behind the great walls and their enticing entry that we had passed so often. We were very lucky to be visiting on a quiet day, and so, with only a few others, we stepped into the Patio del Leon.
The Alcázar, with its high walls was originally built as a fort in 913, when Seville had governors from Cordoba. In time it became a residence for rulers, with different generations and religious persuasions playing a part in building and altering the enormous complex of rooms and palaces over the last eleven centuries. In the eleventh century, the Muslim taifa rulers created a palace called Al-Muwarak (The Blessed). A different Mulsim family called the Almohad ruled in the twelfth century and built a palace of their own, beside the old one. In 1248 the Christian king Fernando III started a line of Christian kings who lived in the Alcázar. Alfonso X replaced parts of the Almohad palace with one in Gothic style and Pedro I built over parts of the Al-Muwarak palace. Finally Isabella and Ferdinand moved in and made their mark. Later monarchs have lived here off and on, with the most beautiful gardens being developed over the years. Juan Carlos I, the current king of Spain, has apartments that he stays in here when he is in Seville.
It was fairly confusing trying to sort out the different influences in the buildings, and many parts were a combination of Muslim and Christian architecture, since rulers of different areas and backgrounds assisted each other, lent tradesmen and gave sections from other buildings such as parts of the Alhambra in Granada?, to be used anew. In the audio guide it had a Christian King saying that there were more times that everything was peaceful between Muslims and Christians than times of war. That was all new to us, who had the impression that it was all one way or the other, with no common ground or mixing at all. The very first building we went into was the Sala de la Justicia (Hall of Justice) and it was one of the collaborative building projects. It was beautiful, and in the light of the other rooms we were to see, fairly simply decorated with intricate Mudejar plaster work, decorative tiles and a gorgeous carved wooden ceiling patterned with stars.
It led into a courtyard with a pool, and from there more plaster decorated arches led to an area that was barred from visitors. It was such a romantic and delicate room that it was easy to believe that it was a place where Alfonzo XI met his mistress, but not where Pedro I killed his half brother or where serious matters of justice were discussed. We would have been happy with just this room, but in the Alcázar, there is always the sense of ‘but wait, there’s more.’Seville was named as the city to control trade with the Americas, after their discovery by Christóbel Colon (Christopher Columbus). His voyage had been sponsored by Isabel and Ferdinand, and they and many merchants and adventurers made fortunes out of the new colonies. At first the merchants met in a kind of trade organisation under the control of the Monarchs in the Orangery at the Cathedral, going inside the cathedral if it was too hot or cold. This was not adequate, and probably reeked of ‘money changers in the temple’ so the ‘Casa de la Contratacion’ (Contract House) was built in 1503, with an Audience Room to receive people and other rooms for controlling goods and trade. No longer used for that purpose, the rooms house some paintings and a display of amazing fans. One painting was the length of the room, and showed a procession of different groups of penitents making their way along in front of Seville buildings, with people, presumably with nothing to repent, watching from the windows and balconies. The penitents wore hoods, Ku Klux Klan style, because the only one who should know the identity of a penitent is God.
A painting by Alejo Fernandez shows the Virgin as the protector of sailors, with her cloak spread out, sheltering Columbus, King Ferdinand, native Americans and others.
The painted ships look tiny, but in reality they were fairly sturdy. Historians have learnt about the voyage and the ships from this and other paintings. The picture was painted in the 1530s and is the earliest depiction of the discovery of America. The rooms were elaborately decorated, and very grand.Two tour guides were taking through groups of about thirty secondary school students, and it was clear to see that one commanded and insisted on the students’ attention and the other hoped for it. In the second group, romances were flourishing, SMS messages were being read and sent and make up and clothes were being adjusted. Was it a compulsory excursion? When we were in Turkey we saw school groups on excursions with teachers on the weekends at historic and art sites. Some Turkish adults we spoke to told us in detail about the excursions that they had been on, and it sounded as though that had been the one way for them to have those experiences. No doubt some of today’s students will be like that, and others will have little other than boredom relieving strategies to recall.
A very beautiful façade marked the entry to Pedro I’s palace. He had allies and friends among the Muslims, particularly the Mohammad V of Granada, and they assisted him with the building in the 1360s. Carvings proclaim in Spanish that Pedro the first, noble and conquering, had built it. Other carvings repeatedly announce that there is no conqueror but Allah.
Pedro’s relationships were not so great with his family, particularly with his wife, whom he imprisoned and murdered. His father had produced five natural children by his mistress and there was considerable instability, with attempts to depose Pedro who appears to have earned his nickname of ‘The Cruel’. The audio guide said that his other name was ‘Justice Giver’ and that he only tortured and murdered people who were up to no good. At one point when he was usurped he called on England to assist him, which they did, and he is mentioned in the Canterbury Tales as being lamented at his death by the Monk. There must be more to his story, because there are three coats of arms featured often in the building – two added by his ‘it’s all about us’ descendants, Isabel and Ferdinand, and one which is a coat of arms that Pedro I developed for the ‘ordinary people,’ who he is said to have championed. The audio guide writer is a fan of Pedro’s and on the internet it does say that his history was written by his enemies.Whatever the case, Pedro felt insecure enough to build a grand entry passageway that everyone proceeded down, and a quick escape route from his chambers that would allow him to leave without being seen. The rooms were arranged around inner courtyards, but some also led from one into another. They were all magnificent, with delicate plaster, tiles which were applied absolutely perfectly to create complex geometrical patterns, and ceilings of carved and painted wood. The tiles are tiny pieces placed together mosaic style.
The doors were similarly decorated with carvings. There was nothing carelessly, or thoughtlessly done, and it had lasted for centuries. One of the patios, the Patio de las Doncellas (Patio of the Maidens), shows Muslim influence with its pool. In recent years two sunken gardens were discovered under its 16th Century marble paving, and they have now been uncovered and replanted.
We were intrigued by parts of the plasterwork in the rooms and passages looking as if they had been defaced, with rather amateurish removal of whatever had been there. It was impossible to believe that these regular circular sections of the delicate plaster work would have been left blank, or just roughly smoothed over by the original workmen. The mystery was solved when we found some with the remains of painted symbols of the lion and the castle, which were from the coats of arms of Isabel and Ferdinand. They had made their headquarters here when they prepared for their attack on Grenada, and it seems that they had time for each soldier to have a go painting a gilt castle and lion. They have not lasted, are poorly done and my guess is that something much more beautiful was roughly removed and plastered over to provide a surface. There are endless tiles in the same designs, and that should have been enough for anyone.
The rooms contain influences from different periods, having had their ceilings done up or elaborate doorway decorations added. The Ambassadors’ Hall, which was Pedro’s throne room, was entered through arches from the Patio de las Doncellas, where people waited their turns to be received. The other entry had a stunning design over the arches, with peacocks most noticeable to the casual glance and a line of birds of prey for the more careful observer. A little further on, the designs above one door seemed from a few metres away to he heads, which would be unusual given that there were no representations of people in the decorations that were decidedly influenced by Islamic principles. Closer up they were made of geometrical shapes. I moved back and forth several times and each time I saw heads and then shapes. Could some craftsman have created this effect deliberately?
More beautiful rooms, each with a fantastic ceiling, surrounded a tiny courtyard called the Patio de las Munecas (Patio of the Dolls). It took us a while to locate the little doll’s head that the audio guide gave clear directions for, and it seemed so insignificant that we could only imagine that there were once more.
Further on we came to Pedro’s own chambers, not terribly big but with a narrow passage to his escape route. His ceiling had the night sky for its design on fairly simply joined wood. Did he dream of being someone who was not royal, who didn’t have five half brothers, a wife who was chosen for him and a series of mistresses who bored him quickly? Did his victims haunt him? Did he wish he was Muslim? I stood in there and tried to imagine the room with furniture in it and a man with an ear out for enemies, trying to sleep.Upstairs we were surprised to find a room like a chapel that had gaudy tiles from the 16th Century on its walls, with the joins for the pictures being a bit, and sometimes a lot, out. I read that there had been earthquake damage to the tiles, so maybe that was it, but I couldn’t help feeling that the Visigoths had jumped their spot in the timeline and had a go at tiling.
The other rooms had once been part of Alfonso X’s Gothic palace, but have been remodelled over time and looked fairly plain and ordinary compared to downstairs. The walls were covered with a series of gigantic tapestries that showed the conquest of Tunisia by Carlos I in 1535. They were made in the 18th Century and are remarkable as feats of draughtsmanship as well as of sewing. One depicts a detailed map, another the landing and massacre/defeat of Tunisians with bloated bodies floating on the tide and another the arrival of the fleet across a sea that is so realistic that it looks as if it will roll into the room. We tried the grand door that was enticingly closed, only to find that it was locked. We could hear voices beyond it, and recalled that a notice at the ticket office had said that the part of the Gothic Palace would be closed today, and I had thought that it said ‘…by Government order.’ What was the Government, or its representatives, doing in there? Planning to attack someone? Designing new tiles? Entertaining mistresses? A little murder? The activities of the past were endless to draw inspiration from.There were many doors from the palaces into the garden courtyards, and beyond that lay the enormous Alcázar garden, like a park. It had some formal areas with hedges, orange trees, roses and fountains and some lovely lawns shaded by evergreens and the golden foliage of pecan trees. A long arched gallery with poor paintings along it, and ponds with a strange squirting ‘fountain’ from the palace building, provided a clanging note. So did a terrible attempt to turn some arcades into a grotto by splodging plaster blobs onto the columns. Keith suggested that one of the mistresses or a favourite and much indulged child must have been responsible, or a crazy king who no-one liked to tell the truth to.
We sat in the gardens and had some biscuits and water, watching a man collecting something from the grass. Curiosity overcoming my natural reticence, I approached him and offered him a biscuit as an opening gambit. He told me that he was collecting pecan nuts, but in Spanish so he looked that up in our dictionary and couldn’t find it. He cracked one with his hands, and gave me some to try, so I looked up ‘pecan’ and naturally it was not there. He was very friendly and gave me a big handful of nuts. We ate them later and they were delicious.After a walk in the gardens, made even more beautiful for me because they were enclosed by a high wall with turrets on it, we went back to a staircase that I remembered missing before we became so charmed by Pedro’s palace, if not his doings. There was a little display of tiles, showing their development from the very early days of the Alcázar up to examples made in the 20th century. The 16th and 17th Centuries seem to have been the heyday of tiles in Seville, and coincided with the times of increased wealth from trade with the Americas. We would say that Seville is a city of tiles, judging from the old areas that we have frequented.
Further up there was an excellent exhibition about global warming and climate change. It was an unusual find in the palace complex, but was certainly in a place where many people would go and might take the chance to look further. Voices in different languages spoke, many from the news footage which was on view. Questions and answers could be activated by touch screens so that information gathering could be selective. There was an interesting chart that gave carbon emissions per capita in the various countries for 2007, with Australia showing up very poorly compared to France and Italy. Tanzania’s per capita consumption would be used up in two days in Australia. I hope that Australia has now signed the Kyoto protocol and is doing something beyond talking, given that the government changed in November 2007.
We were not going to the Cathedral today because it would be open on Monday, and we wanted to fit in some museums. In particular, I was keen to see the Museum of Popular Arts and Customs. The walk beside a busy road took us past a palace that was being renovated. I wonder if Sevillians are blasé about the glorious buildings, sculptures and fountains that abound in this city? Along the side roof line of the palace was a line up of sculptures of famous people – painters, actors, soldiers and others. We were looking into the sun and couldn’t read all their names.
We were glad to turn into some very lovely gardens, the Parque de Maria Luisa. They were enormous, and broken up into lots of garden rooms, with fountains and sculptures and, of course, lots of tile work, as well as enormous trees. Many of the trees were labelled and there were also some information boards that told about famous people from Seville. Happy horses pranced as they pulled their carriages along the roads in the gardens, glad to be off the noisy cobble stones for once and away from the smell of cars. Right at the very end of the park we came to our museum, and what a treat it was.
The building is grand and beautifully decorated, and houses fascinating collections of furniture and household items, categorised according to their purpose as practical or aesthetic pieces. Some of the scenes with equipment from different crafts and trades were challenging for us to identify, since they were not the usual blacksmith or cobbler’s shop, and even the bakery had machinery that we looked at for a long time before we worked out what it would do. Another challenging one involved an enormous screw that worked an olive press. The castanet and guitar makers and the gilt painter were easy to recognise but it was fascinating to see how they were done.
The pork sausage maker
The barrel making section of the olive oil producer
Part of the olive crushing mechanism. The picture below shows that some of these devices were on a much larger scale.
Some machinery in the bakeryA room was devoted to paintings of people, with a focus on clothes, and it was quite the thing during the second half of the 19th Century and into the beginning of the 20th Century for a painter to specialise in the ability to depict clothing well. The artist Aguiar was particularly featured. He painted unknown people in everyday situations, making attractive paintings and ethnographic records of both clothing and culture at the same time. He also included details of their lives, and posed his people in ways that gave life to them. An older picador, seated and obviously tired and past the excitement of it all; a man and woman returning from a night out; a country lad and his dog – all with every detail of their clothing perfect.
We went upstairs to a magnificent display of embroidery and lace. Most of the pieces had been left to the museum by some sisters who had continued on their father’s business. The family Diaz de Valezquez ran a workshop where girls and women came and embroidered and made lace all day, some for the ready made market and other pieces on commission. I have never seen such fine and beautiful work, and although I have dabbled in embroidery, this was in a different class altogether. The workers must have had excellent eyes since most of the work was on the finest of materials and would have used the slimmest of needles and very fine silks and cottons. There were examples of bobbin lace, and of pieces in the process of being made so that you could see how it was done. There were edgings and collars and whole fabrics of lace, all made against a shadowy pattern manipulating bobbins and pins by hand. The embroideries were on fabric and on net, with linen, clothing, mantillas and shawls to die for on display.
I loved this section, and even more the display where they had recreated the sisters’ business rooms and their house. The chests with all their drawers full of samples to show customers and the long polished table in the sales room made it clear that this was a business of repute and standing. The work room at the side had many ironing appliances, some heated by gas burners and another being specially designed to iron in little folds, like crimping.
The bedrooms showed the sister’s personalities, and I warmed to Louise, who although she did the accounts and kept all the records, had a special room for it in the house called her ‘writing room’. I took note of its furniture, since I would like one too, but naturally with no intent to do any accounting in it. Louise also had the loveliest embroidered bed linen and bedspread. The youngest sister ran the household and was of a shyer disposition, the eldest managed the work force and she and Louise handled the sales between them.
Across the road from the museum, in a parterre garden with lots of hedges and paths, a little girl and her father were playing chasy. The father only caught her when he leapt a hedge, much to his daughter’s surprise and delight. We had had two wonderful visits, with plenty of time to savour them, and now we trailed home feeling happy, through the lovely Maria Louisa Park. Just as we reached the end, and as the dusk swallowed clear lines and threw up silhouettes, we saw a statue ringing a willow tree. It was in a little fenced enclosure, and a man sat, arms stretched to the back of his seat, contemplating the scene before him. He barely glanced at us as we entered. In the sculpture there were three maidens, dressed for a party and obviously good time types, sitting on a bench, and an angel was pushing a clerical figure away from them. On the other side was a fallen angel, with damaged wings and a stick on the ground beside him. Was it Saint Jerome who was always flagellating himself and had turned away from temptations? We didn’t know and it was really too dark to see clearly. I hoped that we would be able to come back in daylight.The enormous and very grand Spain Square was opposite the park, with a top notch well lit fountain spraying up fine plumes of water into the air. Once again, we would need to visit in daylight. We found our way back past the cathedral, among a crowd of strollers who were enjoying the mild evening. The Christmas decorations were lit up, and there was a kind of amber glow over everything. It was not yet eight o’clock, the earliest that anyone eats here, so even families were out and about.
When we were back in our room, I entertained myself by learning all about the controversy over the immaculate conception of Mary, which is not about her conception of Jesus, but about her conception as being immaculate, with her soul having been made free from original sin. It was an optional belief for a long time but was eventually made dogma. The Sevillian thinkers supported it, thus the defence of the Virgin that the tourist office man had told, or rather not told, us about. After a while Keith said that he had had enough about theological debate for one night.I also checked out the Swabians, who had ruled Merida for a while, and discovered that they were a Germanic tribe who did not stay long, and that their name is still used as a derogatory term for German people, even if they are not actually Swabians. They used to run a child slave market, with priests accompanying hundreds of young children who had been sold by their parents, on the trip over the mountains to the markets.
What a great day!
It must be one of the cleanest cities in the world, but all this cleaning must cost a fortune.
Some tiles in the museum
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