History of the
Alcazar of Sevilla
Visit its History, its rooms and its gardens.
With our tour you will discover in detail one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Visit the magical corners in a spectacular tour with the best guides in the city
Official guide promotion:
60,50 48,40€ pax
20% discount with code PROMO
(Final price INCLUDING TICKETS)
Visit its History, its rooms and its gardens.
With our tour you will discover in detail one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Official guide
in English
Priority access
skip the line
Best price
guaranteed
Cancellation and
100% refund
The Dar al-Ilmara or Governor’s House, which was ordered to be built in 913 by the Caliph Abderramán III, would be the first testimony about the original citadel. However, archaeological remains from the Final Bronze (13th – 9th century BC), as well as remains of Roman and Visigoth buildings, have been found in the area that currently occupies the Sevillian Alcazar. The proximity to the river port of Isbiliya – the commercial engine of the city, located then in the current Plaza del Triunfo- was one of the reasons for choosing this location.
Shortly after, the Umayyads walled the quadrangular enclosure including the old Roman wall, where they placed some dependencies such as warehouses, barracks or stables. In the eleventh century, already in abbey times, the enclosure had doubled its surface including interior buildings. The oldest archaeological remains that are known are from this time.
The arrival, at the end of the eleventh century, of Al-Mutamid to the throne of the Taifa kingdom of Seville coincided with one of the most prolific cultural periods in the history of the city. Isbiliya intensified the intellectual atmosphere by the arrival of literati and artists under the patronage of King Al-Mutamid. It was then, when the palatial dependencies were expanded and some buildings such as the Al-Mubarak or Blessing Alcazar were built, becoming the center of literary and musical evenings of a refined society, more courteous than warrior. Of these buildings just a few remain on the walls, although their activity was sufficiently documented in writings and poetry, such as that of the poet Ibn Zaydun, who wrote of AlMubarak: “it looks like a maiden’s cheek… Make circulate around there a glass of the most fragrant and golden wine. It is a charming palace ”.
Throughout the twelfth-century during the Almohad Period, the space indoors was modified and other outside buildings were also built. In addition, the Almohads created a walled structure as a surveillance system that linked the Alcazar with the Torre del Oro (Golden Tower), which was already at that time, on the banks of the current channel of the Guadalquivir River. This wall passed through other watchtowers that still exist today, such as the Torre de la Plata (Silver Tower) on Santander St. or the Abd el Aziz Tower on Avenida de la Constitución. In 1248, From the second tower named, the Christian troops of King Fernando III El Santo proclaimed the “Reconquest” of Seville.
Once the city was conquered by the Castilian hosts, King Ferdinand III the Saint decided to turn the Almohad palaces into the Royal Seat of the Court, a function that continues being fulfilled today, carrying out some non-structural reforms. In the second half of the thirteenth-century, King Alfonso X El Sabio modified some old structures for their convenient use and built the Gothic Palace whose anteroom was the Transept Courtyard. During the fourteenth-century, in the reign of Alfonso XI, this complex took on a marked Mudejar character and the Hall of Justice was built, among others.
As Pedro I ascended to the throne of Castile in 1350, Seville was elected capital of the kingdom. After the earthquake in 1356, King Pedro I built a palace of more than 2 hectares on the Islamic palatine buildings, called the Mudejar Palace. This style, considered as a continuation of Islamic art on Christian soil, floods this area full of tiles, plasterwork, wooden coffered ceilings and Arabic epigraphy, rivaling and resembling the Nasrid ensemble of the Alhambra.
In 1503, the Catholic Monarchs created and established in the Alcazar the Hiring House of Indies (Casa de la Contratación de Indias) after granting Seville the monopoly of trade in the Americas. During the Renaissance, and due in large part to this reason, the Alcazar was artistically enriched. The work of two important artists stands out. One is the work of Vermondo Resta, major master of the Alcazar during the first half of the seventeenth-century, who made the Grutescos Gallery, among others. And the other remarkable work is the decoration by the innovative Italian ceramist Niculoso Pisano, who at the beginning of the sixteenth-century, made among others the Oratory of the Catholic Monarchs and the Altarpiece of the Coronation of the Virgin. From the eighteenth-century, the Carlos V Rooms stand out, with a monumental entrance by the Spanish architect, born in Brussels, Sebastián van der Borcht. Also the modifications of the Gothic Palace, which was affected by the 1755 earthquake whose epicenter was in Lisbon and which had replica in the city of Seville.
During the nineteenth-century, many rooms were renovated and decorated to the taste of nineteenth-century aesthetics with paintings, furniture, tapestries and clocks. In addition, the gardens, which since the Renaissance were in constant transformation, were finished off with new facades, galleries, pavilions, ponds and fountains, to turn them into one of the most beautiful lovely landscaped spaces in Spain.
Visit its History, its rooms and its gardens.
With our tour you will discover in detail one of the most beautiful places in the world.
20% discount with code PROMO
Choose the days and indicate the attendees
The magic of the Cathedral of Seville is waiting for you
Go up and discover the sky of the city of Seville
If you have any questions click on the whatsapp link below and chat directly with us ↓
The easiest way to discover the most important monuments in Seville with a live official guide in Spanish, English, French or Italian, a fast queue and the best price guaranteed.
