does it present to-day that stamp of originality and that ineffaceable
character which distinguish ancient works like the Parthenon and modern
works like the Escorial. In the Alcazar of Yakub Yusuf the influence
of the heroic generation has faded away, and it portrays instead
the daily life of our Christian kings who have enriched it with a
thousand pages of glorious history. The Almohades, who impressed on
the building their African characteristics in 1181, and Jalubi, who
had been a follower of Al-Mehdi in the conquest of Africa, left on its
walls traces of the Roman influences met with in the course of their
movements. St Ferdinand, who conquered it, Don Pedro I., who restored
it, Don Juan II., who reconstructed the most elegant apartments,
the Catholic sovereigns, who built within its precincts chapels and
oratories, Charles V., who added more than a half in the modified
style of that epoch of the Renaissance, Philip III. and Philip V., who
enlarged it still more by building in the adjacent gardens--these,
and other princes who inhabited it during six centuries, have changed
the original structure to such an extent that to-day it is far from
being a monument of oriental art, though we find it covered with fine
arabesques and embellished with mosaics and gilding.”
Though not a monument of oriental art, the Alcazar seems to us to have
claims to rank as a specimen of Moorish architecture; for the general
character of the structure was determined by the restorations effected
by order of Pedro I., and these were, probably exclusively, the work
of Moorish artisans, not only of Seville, but from Granada, then a
Moorish city. This accounts for the resemblance of this palace to the
more famous Alhambra. But the Alcazar is not to be dismissed as a mere
pseudo-Moorish palace. It remains, to a great extent, the work of
Moorish hands and the conception of Moorish architects.
In spite of the severe strictures of fastidious observers, the Alcazar
produces a very pleasing impression on northern visitors. Mr W. M.
Gallichan writes: “It is a palace of dreams, encircled by lovely
perfumed gardens. Its courts and salons are redolent of Moorish
days and haunted by the spirits of turbaned sheiks, philosophers,
minstrels, and dark-eyed beauties of the harem.... The nightingales
still sing among the odorous orange bloom, and in the tangles of roses
birds still build their nests. Fountains tinkle beneath gently moving
palms; the savour of orientalism clings to the spot. Here wise men
discussed in the cool of summer nights, when the moon stood high over
the Giralda and white beams fell through the spreading boughs of the
lemon trees, and shivered upon the tiled pavements.
“In this garden the musicians played and the tawny dancers writhed and
curved their lissome bodies, in dramatic Eastern dances. _Ichabod!_ The
moody potentate, bowed down with the cares of high office, no longer
treads the dim corridor or lingers in the shade of the palm trees, lost
in cogitation. No sound of gaiety reverberates in the deserted courts;
no voice of orator is heard in the Hall of Justice. The green lizards
bask on the deserted benches of the gardens. Rose petals strew the
paved paths. One’s footsteps echo in the gorgeous _patios_, whose walls
have witnessed many a scene of pomp, tragedy, and pathos. The spell of
the past holds one; and before the imagination troops a long procession
of illustrious sovereigns, courtiers, counsellors, and menials.”
The Alcazar, as we have said, at the time of the reconquest covered a
much larger space than at present; and its area was even greater in
the days of Pedro I. Its strength as a fortress may be gauged by a
glance at the remaining walls, adjacent to the principal entrance. In
the Plaza de Santo Tomas is an octagonal, one-storeyed tower, called
the Torre de Abdalasis, which once formed part of the building, and is
said to have been the spot on which St Ferdinand hoisted his flag on
the fall of Seville. To enter the palace we pass across the Plaza del
Triunfo and enter the Patio de las Banderas, so called either because
a flag was hoisted here when the royal family were in residence or on
account of the trophy displayed over one of the arches, composed of
the Arms of Spain with supporting flags. From this court a colonnade
called the Apeadero leads to the Patio de la Monteria. It was built,
as an inscription over the portal records, by Philip III. in 1607,
and restored and devoted to the purposes of an armoury by the fifth
sovereign of that name in 1729. The Patio de la Monteria derives its
name from the Royal Lifeguards, the Monteros de Espinosa, having their
quarters here. These courts, with the commonplace private houses
which surround them, occupy the site of the old Moorish palace of
the Almohades. Some of the houses exhibit vestiges of fine Musulman
work. The house No. 3 of the Patio de las Banderas formed part, in the
opinion of Gestoso y Perez, of the Stucco Palace (Palacio del Yeso)
mentioned by Ayala as having been built by Pedro I. That potentate, it
is worthy of remark, was accustomed to administer justice, tempered
with ferocity, after the oriental fashion, seated on a stone bench in
a corner of this _patio_. The room in which the Almohade governors
presided over their tribunals still exists. It is surrounded by houses,
and is entered from the Patio de la Monteria. Contreras sees in this
hall (the Sala de Justicia) the traces of a work anterior to the
ninth century. It was, however, restored by Pedro. It is square, and
measures nine metres across. The ceiling is of stucco and adorned with
stars, wreaths, and a painted frieze. Inscriptions in beautiful Cufic
characters constitute the principal decoration of the apartment. Round
the four walls runs a tastefully worked stucco frieze, interrupted
by several right-angled apertures. These were once covered, in the
opinion of Herr Schmidt, by screens of plaster, which kept out the
sun’s heat but admitted the light; or, according to Gestoso y Perez, by
tapestries “which must have made the hall appear a miracle of wealth
and splendour.” Thanks to its isolation, the Sala de Justicia escaped
the “restoration” effected in the middle of the nineteenth century by
order of the Duc de Montpensier.
It was in this hall (often overlooked by visitors) that Don Pedro
overheard four judges discussing the division of a bribe they had
received. They were beheaded on the spot, and their skulls are still to
be seen in the walls of the king’s bed-chamber.
From the Patio de la Monteria we pass into the Patio del Leon. In the
fifteenth century, we read, tournaments were often held here. Our
attention is at once directed to the superb façade of the main building
or Alcazar proper--the palace of Don Pedro. It is a splendid work of
art. The columns are of rare marble with elegant Moorish capitals. The
portal is imposing, and was rebuilt by Don Pedro, as the legend in
curious Gothic characters informs us: ‘The most high, the most noble,
the most powerful, and most victorious Don Pedro, King of Castile and
Leon, commanded these palaces, these alcazares, and these entrances
to be made in the year [of Cæsar] one thousand four hundred and two”
(1364). Elsewhere on the façade are the oft-repeated inscriptions in
Cufic characters: “There is no conqueror but Allah,” “Glory to our
lord, the Sultan,” “Eternal glory to Allah,” “Eternal is the dominion
of Allah,” etc.
This gate, in the opinion of Contreras, is of Arabic origin and in the
Persian style, after which were built most of the entrances to mosques
of the first period. The square opening is often seen in Egypt, and
supplanted the more graceful horse-shoe arch. The pilasters are Arabic
throughout; but the arch balconies, the Byzantine columns, and Roman
capitals are works of Don Pedro’s time.
The palace of the Alcazar forms an irregular oblong. The Patio de las
Doncellas or Patio Principal occupies the centre, roughly speaking,
and upon it open the various halls and chambers according to the
usual Moorish plan. This _patio_ is absurdly named from its being the
supposed place in which were collected the hundred damsels said to
have been sent by way of annual tribute by Mauregato to the Moors. It
is hardly necessary to say that the damsels would have been sent to
Cordova, which was the capital of the Khalifate, not to Seville, and
that this court was among the restorations of the fourteenth century.
The court is rectangular, and surrounded by a gallery composed of white
marble columns in pairs, supporting pointed arches. The soffite (or
inner side) of the arch is scalloped or serrated. The central arch
in each side is higher and larger than its fellows, and springs from
square imposts resting on the twin columns. At each angle of the impost
is a graceful little pillar--“a characteristic,” observes Madrazo,
“of the Arabic-Grenadine architecture, such as may often be noticed
in the magnificent Alhambra of the Alhamares.” Over the arches runs a
flowing scroll with Arabic inscriptions, among them being “Glory to
our lord the Sultan Don Pedro; may God lend him His aid and render him
victorious”, and this very remarkable text, “There is but one God;
He is eternal. He was not begotten and does not beget, and He has no
equal.” This is evidently an inscription remaining from Musulman days,
and spared in their ignorance by the Christian owners of the palace.
On the frieze will also be noticed the escutcheons of Don Pedro and
the Catholic sovereigns, and the favourite devices of Charles V.--the
Pillars of Hercules and motto “Plus Oultre.” Behind the central arches
are as many doors with elaborately ornamented arches. On either side of
each door is a double window, framed with broad, ornamental bands, with
conventional floral designs. Round the inner walls of the arcade runs a
high dado of glazed tile mosaic (_azulejo_), brilliantly coloured and
cut with exquisite skill. The combinations and variations of the design
repay examination, and will be seen to extend all round the gallery.
This decoration was probably executed by Moorish workmen in the time
of Pedro I. Finally, above the doors run wide friezes with shuttered
windows, through which the light falls on the gleaming mosaic. The
ceiling of the gallery dates from the time of Ferdinand and Isabella,
but was restored in 1856.
Three recesses in the _patio_ are pointed out as the spots where Don
Pedro held his audiences; but Contreras is of opinion that they are the
walled-up entrances to former corridors which communicated with the
Harem. That apartment probably faced the Salón de los Embajadores.
A wide cornice separates the lower part of the court from the upper
gallery. This is composed of balustrades, arches, and columns in
white marble of the Ionic order, and was the work of Don Luis de Vega
(sixteenth century).
One of the doors opening on to the Patio de las Doncellas gives
access to the Salón de los Embajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors), the
finest apartment in the Alcazar. Its dazzling splendour is produced
by the blending of five distinct styles, the Arabic, Almohade or
true Moorish, Gothic, Grenadine or late Moorish, and Renaissance.
Measuring about thirty-three feet square, it has four entrances, of
which that giving on to the Patio de las Doncellas may be considered
the principal. Here we find folding-doors in the Arabic style of
extraordinary size and beauty. Each wing is 5.30 metres high by
1.97 broad, and adorned with painted inlaid work, varied by Arabic
inscriptions. One of these latter is of great interest. It runs as
follows: “Our Lord and Sultan, the exalted and high Don Pedro, King of
Castile and Leon (may Allah prosper him and his architect), ordered
these doors of carved wood to be made for this apartment (in honour
of the noble and fortunate ambassadors), which is a source of joy
to the happy city, in which the palaces, the alcazares, and these
mansions for my Lord and Master were built, who only showed forth his
splendour. The pious and generous Sultan ordered this to be done in the
city of Seville with the aid of his intercessor [Saint Peter?] with
God. Joy shone in their delightful construction and embellishment.
Artificers from Toledo were employed in the work; and this took place
in the fortunate year 1404 [1364 A.D.]. Like the evening twilight and
the refulgence of the twilight of the aurora is this work. A throne
resplendent in brilliant colours and eminence. Praise be to Allah!”
The three remaining portals present graceful round arches, enclosing
three lesser arches (forming the actual entrances) of the horse-shoe
type. These last are believed, as we have said elsewhere, to be of
Abbadite origin. The capitals of their supporting columns are fine
examples of the Arab-Byzantine style. Above the horse-shoe arches, and
comprised within the outer arch, are three lattices. The whole space
within the arch is covered with delicate filigree work.
This hall was once known as the Salón de la Media Naranja (Hall of the
Half Orange) from the elegant shaping of its carved wooden ceiling.
This rests upon a frieze decorated with the Tower and Lion, and
supporting this again are beautiful carved and gilded stalactites or
pendants. On the intervening wall spaces are Cufic inscriptions on a
blue ground, and female heads painted by sixteenth-century vandals.
Then follows another frieze with the devices of Castile and Leon, below
which is a row of fifty-six niches, containing the portraits of the
kings of Spain from Receswinto the Goth to Philip III. The earliest of
these seem to have been painted in the sixteenth century, while the
little columns and trefoil windows that separate them may be ascribed
to the end of the fourteenth. The series is interrupted by four
rectangular spaces, formerly occupied by windows, but now taken up by
elegant balconies in wrought iron, the work of Francisco López (1592).
The decoration of this magnificent chamber is completed by a high dado
of white, blue, and green glazed tiles. It was probably in this hall
that Abu Saïd, “the Red King,” was received by Don Pedro prior to his
murder.
In an apartment to the right of the Ambassadors’ Hall, a plaster frieze
of Arabic origin, showing figures in silhouette, may be noticed; and
in a room to the left, other silhouettes, apparently referring to the
qualities attributed by his admirers to Pedro I.
On the north side of the Patio de las Doncellas lies the so-called
Dormitorio de los Reyes Moros (Bed-chamber of the Moorish Kings). The
entrance arch is semicircular, and includes three graceful lattice
windows, richly ornamented. On either side of the door is a beautiful
double-window with columns dating from the Khalifate. The doors
themselves are richly inlaid, and painted with geometrical patterns.
The interior of the chamber is adorned, like all other apartments
in the Alcazar, with plaster friezes, and is so richly decorated
that scarcely a hand’s-breadth (remarks Herr Schmidt) is without
ornamentation. To the right of the entrance lies a small apartment
known as the Sultan’s Alcove. Opposite the entrance from the _patio_
are three horse-shoe arches belonging to the earliest period of
Spanish-Arabic art, leading to an _Al-Hami_ or alcove.
From the Dormitorio we may pass into the quaintly named Patio de las
Muñecas, or Puppet’s Court. It is a spot with tragical associations,
for here took place the murder of the Master of Santiago, Don Fadrique
de Trastamara, by his brother, Don Pedro--a fratricide to be avenged
years after by another fratricide at Montiel. The Master, after a
campaign in Murcia, had been graciously received by the king, and
went to pay his respects to the lovely Maria de Padilla in another
part of the palace. It is said that she warned him of his impending
fate; perhaps her manner, if not her words, should have aroused him to
a sense of his danger; but the soldier prince returned to the royal
presence. “Kill the Master of Santiago!” Pedro shouted, so the story
goes. The Master’s sword was entangled in his scarf; he was separated
from his retinue. He fled to this court, where he was struck down. One
of his retainers took refuge in Maria de Padilla’s apartment, where he
tried to screen himself by holding the king’s daughter, Doña Beatriz,
before his breast. Pedro tore the child away, and despatched the
unfortunate man with his own hand.
The Patio de las Muñecas is in the Grenadine style. It has suffered
severely at the hands of the restorers of 1833 and 1843. The arches
are semicircular and spring from brick pillars, which are supported by
marble columns with rich capitals. The arches, which form an arcade
round the court, are decorated with fine mosaic and trellis (_ajaraca_)
work. The whole is tastefully painted. The arches vary in size, that
looking towards the Ambassadors’ Hall being almost pear-shaped. The
columns are of different colours, and the pillars they uphold are
inscribed with Cufic characters. The upper part of the _patio_ reveals
a not very skilful attempt to imitate the lower.
“The Ambassadors’ Hall as well as the Puppet’s Court,” says Pedro
de Madrazo, “are surrounded by elegant saloons, commencing at the
principal façade of the Alcazar, running round the north-west angle of
the building, adjoining the galleries of the gardens del Principe, de
la Gruta, and de la Danza, and terminating at the south-eastern angle
of the Patio de las Doncellas. Here is now the chapel, and there it
is believed that the luxurious apartment of the Caracol (inhabited
by Maria de Padilla) stood. This part was, without doubt, that which
was called the Palacio del Yeso, or Stucco Palace, on account of the
plaster decorations in the fashion of Granada; but in which of these
rooms Don Pedro was playing draughts when the Master of Santiago
appeared before him, it is impossible to say with certainty.”
The Salón del Principe occupies the upper floor of the chief façade,
and receives light through the beautiful _ajimices_ or twin-windows
so noticeable from without. This spacious hall is divided into three
compartments, each of which has a fine ceiling. Two have been restored,
but the third was the work of Juan de Simancas in the year 1543. The
scheme of decoration is Moorish. The columns in this hall and the
adjoinng apartments are of marble, with rich capitals. According to
Zurita (quoted by Madrazo), these columns came from the royal palace at
Valencia, after the defeat of Pedro of Aragon by the King of Castile.
The oratory was built by order of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1504. It
contains an admirable retablo in blue glazed tiles--probably the finest
work of the kind in Spain--designed by an Italian, Francesco Niculoso.
The centre-piece represents the Visitation. It is believed that some
parts of the work were drawn by Pedro Millán, a sculptor of Seville.
The oratory is on the upper floor of the palace. On the same storey
is the Comedor, or dining-hall, a long, narrow room with a fine
fifteenth-century ceiling, and good tapestries on the walls. A more
interesting apartment is the bed-chamber of Don Pedro, which has a good
carved roof and dados of _azulejos_ and stucco. Over the door four
heads may be seen painted. They represent the skulls of the corrupt
judges on whom the unjust king executed summary justice. The decoration
of this chamber is of the sixteenth century.
The royal apartments on this floor contain several important works
of art. In the room of the Infantes is a portrait of Maria Luisa by
Goya. The Salón Azul (Blue Room), so-called from the colour of its
tapestries, contains some fine pastel paintings by Muraton, and some
notable miniatures on ivory. The portraits of the family of Isabel II.
by Bartolomé López are worthy of inspection.
Returning to the ground floor, we enter the spacious Salón de Carlos
V., occupying one side of the Patio de las Doncellas. Here, it is
asserted, St Ferdinand died; but it is more probable that he expired
in the old Moorish Alcazar. The fine ceiling, decorated with the heads
of warriors and ladies, was built by the Emperor after whom the hall is
named. The stucco and the work are very beautiful.
An uninteresting apartment was erected by Ferdinand VI. over the famous
Baths of Maria de Padilla, which are approached through an arched
entrance, and, surrounded by thick walls, have more the appearance
of a dungeon than of a resort of Love and Beauty. The pool still
remains where the lovely favourite bathed her fair limbs. In her time
it had no other roof than the blue sky of Andalusia, and no further
protection from prying eyes than that afforded by the orange and
lemon trees. At Pedro’s court it was esteemed a mark of gallantry and
loyalty to drink the waters of the bath, after Maria had performed her
ablutions. Observing that one of his knights refrained from this act
of homage, the king questioned him and elicited the reply, “I dare not
drink of the water, lest, having tasted the sauce, I should covet the
partridge.” These baths were no doubt used by the ladies of the harem
in Moorish days.
The gardens of the Alcazar form a delicious pleasaunce, where the
orange and the citron diffuse their fragrance, and fairy-like fountains
spring up suddenly beneath the unwary passenger’s feet, sprinkling him
with a cooling and perhaps not unwelcome dew. But this paradise has its
serpent, and that is the truculent shade of the cruel king, which for
ever seems to haunt the Alcazar. Here Pedro prowled one day, when four
candidates for the office of judge presented themselves before him. To
test their fitness for the post, the king pointed to an orange floating
on the surface of a pool close by. He asked each of the lawyers in
succession what the floating object was. The three first replied
without consideration, “An orange, sire.” But the fourth drew the fruit
from the water with his staff, glanced at it, and replied with absolute
accuracy, “_Half_ an orange, sire.” He was appointed to the vacant
magistracy.
Before leaving the Alcazar, we will briefly summarise the history of
its transformations and reconstructions. As we have seen, the palace
generally may be considered the work of Don Pedro. In the reign of Juan
II., the Salón de los Embajadores was enriched with its fine cupola. A
tablet, discovered in 1843, testifies that the architect was Don Diego
Roiz, and that the artisans employed in the work were made freemen of
the city.
Various parts of the building were built or reconstructed by order
of Ferdinand and Isabella. The architects were for the most part
Christianised Moors, among whom are mentioned Maestre Mohammed Agudo
(1479), Juan Fernandez (1479), Diego Fernandez (1496), and Francisco
Fernandez. The latter was appointed Master of the Alcazar in 1502,
and previous to his adoption of Catholicism was named Hamet Kubeji.
According to Gestoso y Perez, a surprising number of artificers and
craftsmen were engaged about the Alcazar at this time, a powerful
inducement being exemption from taxes and military service. The names
of Juan and Francisco de Limpias (1479-1540) have been preserved among
the carpenters; and Diego Sanchez (1437), Alfonso Ruiz (1479), and the
two Sanchez de Castro (1500), among the painters.
Several improvements were carried out under Charles V. and Philip II.,
and a great deal of restoration was unfortunately necessitated by
the fires which seemed to break out with increasing frequency during
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Still more disastrous was
the effect of the great earthquake of 1755. Then began the reign of
the vandal, which did more damage to the palace than time, fire, and
earthquake combined.