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It is inserted in the middle of the city and in the hearts of the people who live in Seville. Bringing together the oldest and the best of the new. It is the permanent sign of the path that men and women take to meet God. Both have passed through here, and its foundations remain. The Church has played a fundamental role in Seville’s historical development, being the melting pot of different peoples and cultures.
The Cathedral of Seville is of enormous proportions, the product of the megalomania of its Cabildo, but also of a colossal pantheon and a first-rate museum, which also has the largest altarpiece in all of Christendom. It also has very important archives and libraries and can be considered as a great sacred and profane theatre and an excellent auditorium.
Due to its monumentality, it is not only the largest building in all Gothic architecture but also one of the first in the Christian world. The monumentality of its forms would only later be surpassed by St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London.
It occupies an area of two hectares. One of the great paradoxes of this temple is that its construction, which began in 1401 on the site of the largest Almohad mosque, was carried out at a critical time in the city, when the population was decimated by epidemics of the plague. A time, in short, of misery, hunger and famine. Because of its monumentality and singular character, the building created a milestone in the History of Architecture, since features such as the floor plan, pillars, types of vaults and compositional and decorative elements influenced not only the churches of the region and the last Castilian cathedrals, but also the great Cathedrals of Latin America.
The Almohads, settled in Seville, have left us written and architectural testimonies about what was then the Great Mosque. The Muslims needed to build a mosque that spoke of the reigning dynasty from abroad in the peninsula and that proposed a religious reform. The mosque was equipped with 17 naves perpendicular to the qibla wall, abandoning the old hypostyle system and now using brick on its pillars. The whole of the courtyard and a minaret were added. This work is what the Christians must have known when they entered the city on 23rd November 1248. The mosque was purified and consecrated as a Christian cathedral, called “Cathedral of Santa Maria“. What they do is adapt their measurements to what they had, change the axis of prayer to the west, hide the Islamic categories and divide the space with gates and tombs. The mosque was dismantled at the beginning of the 15th century, when it was necessary to promote Christianity in the city, offering at the same time a modern orb.
They built a stone cathedral where important resources were needed, starting in the year 1433. An attempt was made to build a Renaissance cloister, which failed, and a large bell tower that changed the image of the old minaret. The courtyard has been greatly modified from what it was during the Islamic period, and has lost the criss-cross used in the construction of the 17th century tabernacle. The Gothic architects in charge of building the cathedral were prudent in their intervention, and having respected the foundations of the courtyard and the minaret, we can get an idea of what Islamic art was in the city.
Throughout the 16th century, the floor plan of the Gothic building was supplemented not only by the chancel (Capilla Real) but also by a series of chapels and outbuildings on the southern front. These are the Chapter House, the Antecabildo, the Patio del Mariscal, the Sacristía Mayor, the Sacristía de los Cálices, the Patio de los Oleos and the Capilla de la Virgen de la Antigua. From the 18th century onwards, other rooms were built for archives and offices in the Southwest corner.
In the middle of the 17th century, when the city was in a deep crisis, the basic profile of the temple had been fixed. However, its appearance could not fail to change, always subject to the needs of a changing society. The passage of the Baroque can be seen brilliantly in its rich sculptural and pictorial heritage. The need for intense restoration became particularly urgent after the collapse of the dome in 1888. The neo-Gothic work on the façade of the Assumption made it necessary to open some workshops whose link with the Gothic work had been lost. The work on the southwest sector, an office building now occupied by the cathedral museum and other services, closed the process of extending the monument. Today it is a space visited by thousands of tourists with a firm commitment to preserve the living memory of a unique city.
The Cathedral of Seville has many significant doors. So we are going to make a guided description from a starting point: the north facade.
We begin our tour at the Puerta del Perdón, which is located in Alemanes Street and gives access to the Patio de los Naranjos, you can see a large relief depicting the Expulsion of the Merchants. We will continue through the Puerta de la Concepción, which gives access from the Patio de los Naranjos to the inside of the Cathedral. This door is significant because in the upper part there is a semicircular arch called tympanum in which we can find religious recreations such as the Immaculate Conception, St. Michael or St. John the Evangelist.
We will pass to the Puerta del Lagarto, which is located on the right side and at the foot of the Giralda. Whose construction is similar to the Puerta del Perdón and also gives access to the Patio de los Naranjos. On the other hand, on the left side, we will find the Puerta de Palos where you can see the Adoration of the Magi in its tympanum, also inside you can see the Chapel of the Virgin of the Kings.
As we go into the heart of the Chapel of the Virgen de los Reyes, we will see on the left side with the Puerta de Campanillas, adjacent to the Plazas Virgen de los Reyes and Triunfo. In the tympanum you can enjoy the recreation of the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. It is also a remarkable part of the Puerta del Príncipe, whose facade overlooks the street Fray Ceferino González.
Passing the Avenida de la Constitución from right to left we will be able to see in first place the Door of San Miguel, where you will see the Birth of Christ; in second place, the Door of the Assumption, where the Assumption of the Virgin is seen and, finally, the Door of the Baptism, where the Baptism of Christ is reflected.
Although there is another door that gives access to the Parish of the Sagrario, it is not considered a door belonging to the Cathedral since it is part of a building outside the Cathedral.
In the Cathedral of Seville there are different access doors, each one with a different history and artistic details. One of the main doors is located on the west façade of the Cathedral, it is called Puerta de San Miguel or Puerta del Nacimiento.
This door was created by Lorenzo de Mercadante in the 15th century. It was one of the first to be elaborated together with the Baptismal Door. In it you will be able to appreciate in the tympanum, the religious scene of the Birth of Christ in the upper part, one of the most tender scenes of the architecture of the Cathedral, where you will see in detail how the Child is in the manger, on straw, surrounded by angels singing his birth. Next to him is the Virgin and St. Joseph adoring him. Just behind them you can see the heads of the ox and the mule and to one side, you can see a shepherdess with gifts for the Child.
Above these images, you can see a relief of gothic canopies, which give welcome and recognition to the scene. On the sides of this main scene, you can see the shepherds receiving the birth of the Child by the angels. In addition, it is important in this scene the smile that the shepherdess maintains, since it shows joy before the image of the Holy Family. This image can also be seen in the face of the Prophet Daniel, in the Portico de la Gloria of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as this gesture of mastery in Gothic sculpture is characteristic.
The building has a hall floor, with five naves and chapels between the buttresses. It lacks a Gothic polygonal headboard, which is justified by the fact that King Henry III did not authorise the demolition of the original Royal Chapel, which was located on this site. It was started by the feet and by the peripheral chapels being the head, built in the second half of the 16th century, the latest. It responds to a sesquiáltera proportion, that is to say, that the greater side is one and a half times the smaller. The sections of the side naves are square. The supports are pillars with a rhomboidal envelope. They are adorned with sticks, which act as thin, high columns, suitable for supporting the ribs of the vaults. The vaults correspond to multiple models that make us think of the change in criteria that has taken place over the years. The vaults of the perimeter chapels are sexpartite, that of the Main Chapel is made of terceletes and those of the transept and choir are made of stars, with whimsical designs, all of them different.
In. The elevation structure of the building is predominantly horizontal. It is only slightly higher in the central nave, with the side naves being equal to each other. In the transept the dome is raised. The primitive one sank in 1511, after its reconstruction it collapsed again in 1888, so the current one we see is neo-gothic. On the outside, the central nave has vaulted ceilings, with an accentuated cant to drain the rainwater through a system of channels on the buttresses, which exit through the gargoyles. The roofs of the side naves are terraced, with brick flooring, so a visit is highly recommended.
What continues to surprise us most about the Cathedral is the tower known as the Giralda for its neat decoration. The tower we know today was the minaret of the old mosque and had the function of calling the neighbors to prayer. The tower has a square floor plan with concentric structures, organized on a stone base of 3 meters deep. Since the soil of the city, and more specifically that of this plot, is clayey, they chose to place the stones and wait for them to settle. This caused the works to be extended over time but ensured the stability of the tower. The material used for the factory was clay, a lighter material. The decoration of battlements, arches and the sebka cloth makes it ascend to the upper body known as yamur, where the body of bells is installed. The old minaret of the Almohad mosque remained in appearance until 1356, when it was replaced by a belfry and a cross. Until, at the end of the 16th century, Hernán Ruiz, placed the Giraldillo which is a large weather vane. Four superimposed bodies were generated with a Renaissance language typical of the time. It was decided to use materials that played with the brick of the tower and the marble of the columns, which made the work as respectful as possible.
The patio has been reformed by its successive restorations, although it can be noticed an original structure configured with pillars that support pointed horseshoe arches in 2 of its sides, since the third one that had been configured in a first moment disappeared with the construction of the Tabernacle. In its centre there is a fountain, occupying the old sabil. However, the upper cup is Visigothic and is the same as the original Almohad fountain. It has an arrangement of orange trees that are still used with the flow of water through the channels. The courtyard has two doors that lead to the outside and another two that give access to the adjacent area of the cathedral.
Seville has many activities that you can do on your visit, such as the guided tour of the roofs of the Cathedral of Seville, where you can take an exciting journey from another perspective.
The roof is the upper part that closes a building. In the Cathedral of Seville you can find the flat roof system: it is a layer that serves as protection from the outside environment and inclement weather, unlike other cathedrals, lacks wood or tile structure. The flat roof system is placed over the roofs of the side naves and chapels, while the ceramic tiling is placed in a layer directly over the vaults and the main nave, thus forming the dome and the transept.
The visit to the roofs will make you travel back in time discovering the construction of the Cathedral between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in addition to knowing who were the people who were part of the process of carrying out its construction. Each of them contributed their work to make the Gothic and Renaissance Cathedral a reality: the master builder, the stonemasons, the masons…
The visit lasts an hour and a half and takes place from Monday to Sunday at the following times: 9.30 am – 10.00 am, 9.00 pm – 9.30 pm and 10.30 pm (these times may be subject to change if an extraordinary event is taking place). The cultural visit to the roofs has a price of 16 € per person, includes the entrance to the roofs and an accident insurance.
Presiding over the presbytery of the Main Chapel, located in the central nave and in front of the choir, we can see what is considered the largest in Christendom. It is a polychrome wooden structure built over a century. The altarpiece is almost 30 meters high and 20 meters wide, with four bodies of height plus a bench, horizontally and seven streets. The altarpiece has a set of 44 reliefs and more than two hundred figures of saints that are arranged on the pilasters that articulate the altarpiece. The whole set is crowned by a monumental Gothic Calvary from the 14th century, which has been preserved since before and which it was decided to use as a finish for the altarpiece. The crucifix that presides over the Calvary receives the traditional name of the Christ of the Million, for the million graces granted to the people of Seville in times of epidemics.
The canons of the Cathedral of Seville are a group of priests chosen by the Archbishop and have an honorary rank, as they are like any other.
This title is obtained by having done good work in the archdiocese such as opening a nursing home.
During the masses these priests sing and pray the Lauds accompanied by the organ of the Cathedral.
They all wear the same clothes: purple with matching buttons, white robes and a purple cape. In the choir each one has a seat reserved for the moment of singing.
Within the canons there are also different representations: one is the dean, who is in charge of all, the penitentiary, the royal chaplains, the senior chaplain, the archivist, the administrator, the master of ceremonies, the liturgist, etc.
They have other functions such as receiving the Brotherhoods at Easter when they go to the Cathedral for the Penitence Station or accompanying the Archbishop at the most famous events.
As we have already mentioned, only the Archbishops or the Bishops can elect the canons of each archdiocese.
On the north side of the cathedral we find the door that gave access to the Almohad mosque, hence after access we find the courtyard or sahn. This door that maintains the Almohad features, some bronze doors and the original callers are preserved in the museum of the Cathedral. It is striking the large canvas run with a kufic inscription inside and atauriques where they show the praises of Allah. Until the 12th century the kufic lettering had triumphed in the monuments, but the italics were for the natural. On the right hand side of the door we find the rules that every man must follow when entering the sacred place, abandoning leisure and business. On the left, allusions to paradise, the access to the courtyard or garden is the clear allusion to Paradise.
One of the uses of the building is as a colossal pantheon. Its justification is to be found in the system of financing the construction of the temple, the donation. Many people, both clergymen and laymen, as well as the royal family, made donations in cash or in rustic and urban properties, with the condition of being buried in a chapel, officiating mass for the eternal rest of their souls. Under this condition, the Royal Chapel, a funeral chapel where the tomb of Fernando III is located, in a silver gilded urn, stands out. Under the High Altar, presided over by the Virgin of the Kings, there is a crypt where Pedro I, Doña María de Padilla, the infants Don Fadrique, Don Alonso and Don Pedro are buried, as well as contemporary infants, such as the children of the Dukes of Montpensier. At the entrance to the chapel, on either side, are the mortal remains of Alfonso X and Beatrice of Swabia. It is a Renaissance chapel, with a square floor plan covered with a dome and a lantern, and with a semicircular profile on the outside, acting as an apse.
It is one of the most admirable examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture. The Chapter House has an elliptical floor plan, which offers visibility to all the members in the meetings of the cathedral chapter, in which the problems of spiritual and material government of the temple were expressed and discussed. The expansion of the voice and its exceptional acoustics are also a consequence. The decoration of its walls, a complex iconographic program, exalts the virtues that had to be held by those who met there so that their exchanges of ideas and opinions were done in harmony and harmony. The iconographic programme was drawn up by Canon Francisco Pacheco, and includes a repertoire of sculptures and paintings accompanied by Latin inscriptions alluding to the content of the images. The vault contains a magnificent work of the Immaculate Conception by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, commissioned by the Chapter in 1667.
It is a single space conceived in a central plan in the form of a Greek cross with very reduced arms. Its space is covered with a dome that rests on pendentives. It is raised on pillars that support half columns and pilasters with their richly carved profile with plateresque carving. The arms of the cross are covered with fan-shaped vaults supported by bevels decorated with scallops. The dome is decorated with reliefs arranged in three rings, representing the Final Judgement and the Heavenly Court. On the wall of the chancel we find the traces of the three altars that were in each of the chapels, dismantled in the 19th century.
As is often the case in Spanish cathedrals, the location of the choir in the centre of the main nave helps to avoid great depth perspectives. It is decorated with stone walls, except on the front, where it is exceptionally well known for a Renaissance grille that is finished off with a crest with the central motif of the getse tree. Inside the choir are the ashlars composed of two bodies, in which 117 carved wooden seats are arranged. They are of Gothic-Mudejar style and represent saints in a sculptural way and scenes from the old and new testament in relief. Of great interest is the decorative set in the misericordias where a wide allegorical repertoire of the vices appears, personified in monstrous figures. The decorative process of the masonry ended in the 16th century. The lectern stands out for its large dimensions, a Renaissance work in wood and bronze, and the double-body organ with pipes.
The stained glass windows of the Cathedral constitute one of the most extensive, homogeneous and best preserved groups of cathedrals in Spain. They are 79 and correspond to the beginning of what has been called “The Golden Age of Spanish stained glass”, which runs from 1480 to 1580, although it is a magnificent chapter to know the history of this technique in the peninsula from the fifteenth to the twentieth century. The shapes of the windows and the iconography are the result of different commissions and the different stages. The openings of the western half of the temple and the central nave correspond to the oldest period of the construction, the individualization and the great graphic precision can be appreciated.
It’s a repository for Christopher Columbus’ remains. The fame that the navigator of Portuguese origin had gained for the discoveries of the new world from the land that saw him leave and return, was the reason why the remains, which were in the Cathedral of Havana, were requested from the Cathedral of Seville. The fact is that the famous sailor of the Indians was transferred after the independence of Cuba in 1898. In Seville a monument was built to house his remains, located at the door of San Cristobal. It is located high up and there are 4 coffin bearers, representatives of the kingdoms of Castile, Leon, Navarra and Aragon. Touching their feet can bring us luck, which is why hundreds of people pass their hand through each of these shoes and look so bright.
The bell tower has a unique and non-transferable decoration. The Islamic imprint is useful in its decorative program, we see it clearly in the 4 identical faces that vary in height as the ramp of its interior grows in height. That is to say, in spite of the fact that it is the same decoration, the interior ramp is the one that marks the height of the windows in its different faces. Its staggered faces allow us to understand the interior system with the wandering of the tower.
The lizard’s door is another one that is filled with mystery, as it is known for the lizard that hangs from the ceiling, next to an elephant tusk, the morsel of a horse and a staff. Legend has it that these are objects that King Alfonso X received as a gift from a sultan to ask for his daughter’s hand. After the monarch refused the request, he delivered the gifts to the Cathedral which, being of strange and exotic symbolism, decided to hang them by the door. Another theory is that each object symbolizes the cardinal virtue, so the crocodile the prudence, the tusk the strength, the morsel the temperance and the stick the justice.
The Seville CathedralThis monument declared a World Heritage Site has to be adapted to the visit and the celebration of religious and cultural events, hence its timetable may be modified. For more information on the day of your visit, please consult the calendar.
The site is open from Monday to Saturday from 11:00h to 18:00h. And on Sundays from 14:30h to 18:00h.
The cathedral and the Giralda are vacated 30 minutes after the ticket office closes.
The entrance fee includes a visit to the Gothic Cathedral, the Renaissance sacristies and chapter house, the treasury, the Giralda, the orange tree courtyard and the church of El Salvador located in the Plaza del Salvador (600 metres from the cathedral). Visiting areas may be modified, without prior notice, due to the celebration of acts of worship and cultural activities.
Admission for adults is €11, students up to 25 years of age, disabled persons up to 33% and pensioners have a rate of €6.
Free access to the facilities is available to those born or resident in the Diocese of Seville, the unemployed, the disabled over 65%, minors up to 13 years of age accompanied by an adult and pensioners over 65 years of age. All of these will have to show the accreditation document at the access control.
The visit does not include an audio guide, the cost is 5€, except for the free visit from Monday to Friday from 14:00h to 15:00h.
The Cathedral is located in the centre of the city, so access on foot is one of the best ways to get there, as well as to see the splendour of the whole complex from a distance. The monument, thanks to its Giralda, is visible from many areas of the city. Although there are several alternative options for getting there. The tram stops at the Archivo de Indias, and the metro at the Puerta de Jerez, both of which are just a few metres from the cathedral. Taxi drivers and horse-drawn carriages also stop in the vicinity of the cathedral.
