The Story of SevilleGallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
History
The Story of Seville
Gallichan, Walter M. (Walter Matthew)
Seville (Spain)
The University, founded by Alfonso the Learned, is in the Calle de la
Universidad. In the rooms are portraits of St. Francis of Borja and of
Ignatius Loyola by Alonso Cano, and a picture of a saint by Zurbaran.
The University Church has a notable retablo by Roelas; an Annunciation
by Pacheco, and statues of St. Francis of Borja and of Loyola by
Montañez. There is a monument to Enriquez de Ribera, and one to his wife
Catalina in the nave. The Don was the first owner of the Casa Pilatos,
and a benefactor of the city. It was he who founded the excellent
Hospital Civil, in 1500, in the Calle de Santiago. The building was
reconstructed near the Puerta de la Macarena in 1559.
The Hospital Civil is best reached by the tramway from the Plaza de la
Constitución. It is surrounded by gardens, and has a charming _patio_.
In the church of the hospital there are pictures of saints by Zurbaran,
and the Apotheosis of St. Ermenigild and Descent of the Holy Ghost by
Roelas.
The most handsome of the Renaissance buildings in Seville is that of the
Casa de Ayuntamiento, or City Hall, in the Plaza de la Constitución. It
was designed by Riaño in 1526. The ornate carved doors, and the
plateresque ornamentations of the masonry are highly decorative, and the
marble floors and vaulted ceiling within should be seen. In the
Municipal Library of the Ayuntamiento is the banner of the city, of the
fifteenth century, bearing a figure of San Fernando.
We have not yet visited the Biblioteca Columbina, given to the city by
Fernando, son of Christopher Columbus. It is in the Cathedral precincts,
and can be entered from the Patio de los Naranjos (the Court of the
Oranges). The beautiful illuminated Bible of Alfonso the Learned, by
Pedro de Pampeluna, used to be shown here, but it has, I believe, been
removed by the Chapter. The Columbus manuscripts are here, in glass
cases. There is a copy of the _Tractatus de Imagine Mundi_, with notes
by Columbus, and the famous treatise attempting to prove Scriptural
prophecies concerning the discovery of the New World. A sword here
exhibited is said to be that of Perez de Vargas, used by him in the
capture of Seville. I have referred to the manuscripts of Christopher
Columbus in the historical portion of this book.
Close to the Fabrica de Tabacos is the Palace of San Telmo, the former
residence of the Dukes de Montpensier. The building dates from 1734, and
it was first used as a naval school. It passed into the hands of the
Infanta Maria Luisa, widow of the Duke of Montpensier. The _palacio_ has
been shorn of its splendour by the removal of most of its works of art.
It is of little interest; but the garden is a beautiful shady retreat,
with semi-tropical plants and trees.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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