“the modern manner.” The ceilings which had been destroyed by fire
were replaced by others much too low, and valuable arabesques were
recklessly sacrificed. In 1805, some director with a genius for
transmogrification whitewashed the fine stucco work in the Salon del
Principe, and altered the main entrance. He also substituted a plaster
ceiling for the bowl-shaped Arab roofing, and made strenuous efforts
to impair the beauty of the Ambassadors’ Hall. In 1833 a reaction took
place. Don Joaquin Cortes and Señor Raso effected an artistic and
sympathetic restoration both of the Prince’s Hall and the Patio de las
Muñecas. A more serious restoration was begun in 1842, at the instance
of the administrator, Don Domingo de Alcega. The artist Becquer
contributed materially to the success of the work. In the ’fifties, the
task of replacing and restoring the stucco ornamentation was completed;
and under Isabel II. the thirty-six arches of the Patio de las
Doncellas were restored. Since that date the reconstructions have not
always displayed good taste; but the revival of interest in her ancient
monuments which has taken place in Spain of late years encourages us
to hope, at least, that the appalling blunders of the early nineteenth
century will never be repeated.
After the Alcazar, the most noteworthy monument in Seville, dating
from the reign of Don Pedro, is the church of Omnium Sanctorum. This
edifice occupies the site of a Roman temple, and was built by the Cruel
King in 1356. It exhibits a very happy combination of the Moorish and
Gothic styles. It is entered by three ogival doors, and is divided
into three naves. To the left of the façade is a graceful tower, the
first storey of which is Moorish, ornamented somewhat after the style
of the Giralda. On one of the doors is a shield bearing the arms of
Portugal, which, tradition says, commemorates the pious generosity of
Diniz, king of that country, when he visited Alfonso the Wise. If the
Sevillians have writ their annals true, this goes to prove that an
earlier structure than the present must have existed here. This, by the
way, was the parish church of Rioja the poet.
San Lorenzo exhibits the fusion of the contending styles in an
interesting fashion. It has five naves; and the horseshoe windows in
its tower were converted into ogives at the time of its adaptation to
the Christian cult. The arcades of the naves are ogival in the middle,
and become by degrees semi-circular towards the extremities as the roof
becomes lower. This church contains the miraculous picture of Nuestra
Señora de Rocamadour. Rocamadour, in southern France, was a celebrated
shrine of pilgrims in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
Several other churches in Seville date from this epoch, and present, to
a greater or less extent, evidences of the conflict between the Moorish
and Gothic styles. In addition to those mentioned, Madrazo names the
following: Santa Marina, San Ildefonso, San Vicente, San Julián, San
Esteban, Santa Catalina, San Andrés, San Miguel, San Nicolas, San
Martin, San Gil, Santa Lucia, San Pedro, and San Isidoro. When a mosque
was converted into a Christian church, the same authority remarks, the
horseshoe arch was pointed, bells were placed in the minaret, and the
orientation was altered from north to south, to east to west. The five
last-named churches were erected in the thirteenth century. Santa Maria
de las Nieves was, until the year 1391, a synagogue. The decoration is
in the plateresco style, and the doors are Gothic. The church contains
a painting by Luis de Vargas, and a picture attributed to Murillo.
Nearly in the centre of the city is the Convent of Santa Inés, with a
beautiful and tastefully restored chapel. The façade is ancient and
graceful. This church contains the remains (said to be uncorrupted) of
the foundress, Doña Maria Coronel, one of Don Pedro’s numerous victims.
That monarch had conceived a violent passion for her, in the hopes of
gratifying which he put her husband to death in the Torre del Oro. The
widow, far from yielding to his solicitations, took the veil, and at
last, to secure herself from his persecutions, destroyed her beauty
by means of vitriol--a species of self-immolation much applauded by
the devout in the ages of faith. Her sister, Doña Aldonza, was less
successful in resisting the ardent monarch, but died, in the odour of
sanctity, Abbess of Santa Inés.
Among the secular buildings erected under the Castilian _régime_ was
the existing Tower of Don Fadrique, standing in the gardens of the
Convent of the Poor Clares. It was named after the son of St Ferdinand
and Beatriz of Swabia, who was put to death by Alfonso el Sabio in
1276. The tower is a fine square structure of Roman workmanship,
seemingly, in its lowest floor, and showing a mixture of Moorish and
Gothic architecture in its upper half. It formed part of a sumptuous
palace erected in 1252, and bestowed in 1289 on the Poor Clares by King
Sancho the Brave.
In the Calle Guzman el Bueno is a mansion called the Casa Olea. It
contains a fine hall, 8½ metres square, the work of Moorish artisans
of the time of Don Pedro. The beautiful inlaid and gilded _artesonado_
ceiling was removed about a century ago; light is admitted through
windows of the horseshoe pattern, and the decorations consist of the
characteristic stucco-work, latticing, and _ajaraca_ or trellis-work,
as fine as any to be seen at the Lindaraja of Granada. The dado of
coloured tiles has almost completely disappeared. The Palacio de
Montijo, near the church of Omnium Sanctorum, reveals many traces of
Mudejar workmanship, as also does a hall in the _Casa morisca_ of
the Calle de Abades--not to be confounded with the Casa de Abades,
belonging to the Renaissance.
Seville in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries possessed no doubt
many palaces and private dwellings of magnificence; but it was in
ecclesiastical architecture that the spirit of the age found its truest
expression and noblest monuments.
THE CATHEDRAL
On the eighth day of July in the year 1401, the Dean and Chapter of
Seville assembled in the Court of the Elms, and solemnly resolved that,
the Cathedral having been practically ruined by recent earthquakes,
a new one should be built so splendid that it should have no equal;
and that, if the revenue of the See should not prove sufficient for
the cost of the undertaking, each one present should contribute from
his own stipend as much as might be necessary. Then uprose a zealous
prebendary, and cried, “Let us build a church so great that those who
come after us may think us mad to have attempted it!”
Such was the greatness of spirit in which the foundation of the
existing Cathedral of Seville was undertaken. And the result is worthy
of the deep and fervid zeal of those old Catholics of Spain.
The church took one hundred and twenty years to build. Pity it was that
the noble-hearted priests who decreed the raising of the fane should
never have gazed upon much more than its skeleton! First of all, the
mosque-cathedral of Yakub was demolished, only the Giralda and the
_Patio de los Naranjos_, with the northern, eastern, and western gates,
being spared. The Royal Chapel was pulled down in 1432, by permission
of Juan II. The first stone had been laid in 1402; but, strangely
and sadly enough, the name of the architect who traced the plan has
not been preserved. Some believe him to have been Alonso Martinez;
others, Pero García. Fame, we may well believe, was a prize which the
pious builder esteemed but lightly. His reward lay in the greater
glorification of his faith.
In 1462, we find Juan Normán directing the works; in 1488, he had
passed from the scene and was succeeded by Juan de Hoz. Then came
Alonso Ruiz and Alonso Rodriguez. The building was practically finished
when, in 1511, the cupola collapsed. In 1519, Juan Gil de Hontañon,
the architect of Salamanca Cathedral, completed the reconstruction,
and the cathedral may be considered as having been finished, though
restorations and remodelling of various parts of the edifice have been
going on ever since, and masons are to this day engaged upon the dome.
This magnificent church is pre-eminent for size among the cathedrals
of Spain, and ranks third in this respect among the sacred edifices
of the world. St Peter’s covers 230,000 square feet, the Mezquita at
Cordova 160,000, and the Cathedral of Seville 125,000. Our St Paul’s
covers only 84,000 square feet. It follows that this cathedral is the
largest of Gothic temples.
So stupendous a monument has naturally attracted comment from
distinguished travellers and critics. All have come under the spell of
its majesty and massive nobility. Théophile Gautier expressed himself
as follows: “The most extravagant and most monstrously prodigious
Hindoo pagodas are not to be mentioned in the same century as the
Cathedral of Seville. It is a mountain scooped out, a valley turned
topsy-turvy; Notre Dame de Paris might walk erect in the middle nave,
which is of frightful height; pillars with the girth of towers, and
which appear so slender that they make you shudder, rise out of the
ground or descend from the vaulted roof, like stalactites in a giant’s
grotto.”
The Italian, De Amicis, is less fantastical in his rhapsodies. “At your
first entrance, you are bewildered, you feel as if you are wandering in
an abyss, and for several moments you can only glance around in this
vast spaciousness, to assure yourself that your eyes do not deceive
you, that your fancy is playing you no trick; you approach one of the
pillars, measure it, and look at those in the distance; though large as
towers, they appear so slender that you tremble to think the building
is resting upon them. You traverse them with a glance from floor to
ceiling, and it seems that you could almost count the moments it would
take for the eye to climb them.... In the central aisle, another
cathedral, with its cupola and bell-tower, could easily stand.”
Lomas, who is no great admirer of the building, admits that “the first
view of the interior is one of the supreme moments of a lifetime. The
glory and majesty of it are almost terrible. No other building, surely,
is so fortunate as this in what may be called its presence.”
The Cathedral is oblong in shape, and is 414 feet long by 271 feet
wide. The nave is 100 feet and the dome 121 feet high.
The principal façade looks west. Here is the principal entrance (Puerta
Mayor), and two side doors, the Puertas de San Miguel and del Bautismo.
Over the central door is a fine relief, representing the Assumption,
by Ricardo Bellver, placed here in 1885. This entrance is elaborately
decorated, and adorned with thirty-two statues in niches.
The Puertas San Miguel and del Bautismo are decorated with
terra-cotta statues of saints and prelates, the work of Pedro Millan,
a fifteenth-century sculptor. Herr Schmidt thinks very highly of these
fine performances. Each figure has life and distinct personality, and
the treatment of the drapery harmonises wonderfully with the gestures
and physiognomy of the wearers. The upper part of the façade is poor,
and dates only from 1827.
The southern façade is flanked by sacristies, offices, and courts,
above which appear the graceful flying buttresses, gargoyles, and
windows, and the majestic dome of the main building. In the middle of
this side is a modern entrance, the Puerta de San Cristóbal, added by
Casanova in 1887. In the eastern façade are two entrances--the Puertas
de las Campanillas and de los Palos--both enriched with fine sculpture
by Pedro Millan; the Puerta de los Palos has also a fine Adoration of
the Magi by Miguel Florentin (1520).
On the northern side of the Cathedral we find the most important
remains of the pre-existing mosque, the Giralda, already described,
and the _Patio de los Naranjos_, with the original fountain at which
the Muslims performed their ablutions. The _patio_ is entered from the
street by the Puerta del Perdón, a richly decorated horseshoe arch
erected by Moorish hands by order of Alfonso XI., to commemorate the
victory of the Salado in the year 1340. In the sixteenth century this
door was restored and adorned with sculptures. The colossal statues
of Saints Peter and Paul, in terra-cotta, are the work of Miguel
Florentin. He was among the earliest of the Renaissance sculptors
to settle in Spain. By him also is the relief of the Expulsion of
the Money-Changers from the Temple, celebrating the substitution of
the Lonja or Bourse for this gate as a rendezvous for merchants. The
plateresco work was executed by Bartolomé López in 1522. The doors date
from Alfonso’s reign, and are faced with bronze plates, on which are
Arabic inscriptions.
Close to the Puerta del Perdón is a shrine built in the wall with a
Christ on the Cross by Luis de Vargas.
Entering the _patio_, to the right we find the Sagrario, or parish
church, and to the left (reached by a staircase) the Biblioteca
Colombina or Chapter Library, founded by Fernando Colon, son of
Christopher Columbus. Among the treasures it contains are a manuscript
of the great discoverer’s travels, with notes in his own hand; a
manuscript tract, written by him in prison, to prove that the existence
of America was not contrary to Scripture; the sword of Garcia Perez
de Vargas, the great hero of the conquest of Seville, and a very
interesting thirteenth-century translation of the Bible.
The northern façade of the Cathedral is entered through three portals,
the westernmost of which, the Puerta del Sagrario, is unfinished.
The Puerta de los Naranjos and the Puerta del Lagarto lead from the
_patio_. The Puerta del Lagarto retains some traces of its Moorish
origin. It is named after the patched and painted stuffed alligator,
which has hung here since about the thirteenth century. Here may also
be seen a huge elephant’s tusk, and a bridle said to have belonged to
the Cid.
Referring more particularly to the exterior of the Cathedral, Caveda
says: “The general effect is truly majestic. The open-work parapets
which crown the roofs, the graceful lanterns of the eight winding
stairs that ascend in the corners to the vaults and galleries, the
flying buttresses that spring lightly from aisle to nave, as the jets
of a cascade from cliff to cliff, the slender pinnacles that cap them,
the proportions of the arms of the transept and of the buttresses
supporting the side walls, the large pointed windows that open, one
above another, just as the aisles and chapels to which they belong
rise over each other, the pointed portals and entrances--all these
combine in an almost miraculous manner, although lacking the wealth of
detail, the airy grace, and the delicate elegance that characterise the
cathedrals of Léon and Burgos.”
Entering the church, the gloom renders it difficult for a time to
distinguish its exact configuration. We find it is divided into a
nave and four aisles, the former being fifty feet in width. The fine
marble floor was laid in the years 1787 to 1795. There is little
ornamentation, the interior displaying a noble simplicity, the
beautiful effect being produced mainly by the grandeur and symmetry
of the vaultings, archings, and pillars. The seventy-four exquisite
stained-glass windows, however, form a decorative series of the richest
kind. They are, for the most part, the work of northern artists. Micer
Cristóbal Aleman (Master Christoph the German) began the first--the
first stained-glass window seen in Seville--in 1504, the work being
carried on by the German Heinrich, the Flemings Bernardino of Zeeland
and Juan Bernardino, Carlos of Bruges, and the great master Arnao of
Flanders. The two latter designers are said to have received ninety
thousand ducats for their work. The last window was completed in 1662
by a Spaniard named Juan Bautista de Léon. The finest windows are
generally considered to be those representing the Ascension, St Mary
Magdalen, Lazarus, and the Entry into Jerusalem, by Arnao the Fleming
and his brother (1525), and the Resurrection, by Carlos of Bruges
(1558).
Passing up the nave, from the Puerta Mayor, we find midway between that
entrance and the choir the Tomb of Fernando Colon, son of the great
Columbus--“who would have been considered a great man,” says Ford, “had
he been the son of a less great father.” The slab is engraved with
pictures of the discoverer’s vessels, and the inscription, _À Castilla
y á León Mundo nuevo dio Colon_. At this spot, during Holy Week, is set
up the _Monumento_, an enormous wooden temple in the shape of a Greek
cross, in which the Sacrament is enshrined. The structure was made by
Antonio Florentin in 1544.
Extending to the middle of the nave is the Coro or Choir, open towards
the east or High Altar. The _trascoro_ or choir-screen is faced with
marbles, eight columns of red _breccia_ being especially fine. The
marble reliefs are fine examples of Genoese work. Over the altar is a
fourteenth-century painting of the Madonna, and there is also a picture
by Pacheco, the inquisitor, representing St Ferdinand receiving the
keys of Seville from “Axataf.” The side walls of the choir accommodate
four little chapels, exhibiting a harmonious combination of the Gothic
and plateresco styles in translucent alabaster. The Capilla de la
Concepcion contains one of the finest examples of statuary in the
Cathedral--the Virgin, by Juan Martinez Montañez. Ford says, “This
sweet and dignified model was the favourite of his great pupil, Alonso
Cano.” The choir was severely injured by the collapse of the dome
in 1888. The pillars and baldachino are richly adorned with Gothic
figures and stonework. The fine gilt railing is the work of Sancho
Muñoz (1519). But the chief glory of the choir is its exquisitely
carved stalls, 117 in number, executed between 1475 and 1548, by Nufro
Sanchez, Dancart, and Guillen. Moorish influence may be traced in the
patterns and the coloured inlaid work of the chairbacks. The handsome
lectern bespeaks the skill of Bartolomé Morel. Till the collapse of the
dome, the choir was the repository of a number of priceless missals,
illuminated in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.
The organs are huge but inartistic. As instruments, they are beyond
all praise. The older, dating from 1777, was built by Jorge Bosch, the
other by Valentin Verdalonga in 1817.
“Between the choir and High Altar is put up during Holy Week the
exquisite bronze candlestick, 25 feet high, called El Tenebrario,
one of the finest specimens of bronze work of the sixteenth century
that exists (it may be seen in the Sacristy), and wrought, in 1562,
by Morel; when the _Miserere_ is sung, it is lighted with thirteen
candles, twelve of which are put out one after another, indicating that
the Apostles deserted Christ; one alone of white wax is left burning,
and is a symbol of the Virgin, true to the last. At Easter, also, the
Ciro Pascual or fount candle, equal to a large marble pillar, 24 feet
high, and weighing seven or eight hundredweight of wax, is placed to
the left of the High Altar” (Ford).
Facing the choir stands the isolated Capilla Mayor, containing the
High Altar. It is enclosed on three sides by a railing of wrought
iron, and on the fourth by a superb Gothic retablo. Schmidt considers
this work the quintessence of late Gothic sculpture. The middle parts
date from the fifteenth, the outer from the sixteenth century. The
ornamentation is of extraordinary delicacy and richness. It is divided
into forty-five compartments, each containing subjects from the
Scriptures and the lives of the saints in sculpture painted and gilded.
It is crowned by a crucifix and the statues of the Virgin and St John.
This fine altar-piece was begun by the Fleming Dancart in 1479, and was
completed by Spanish artists in 1526.
Behind the altar is the Sacristy, adorned with terra-cotta statues by
Miguel Florentin, Juan Marin, and others. Here is kept a reliquary
shaped like a triptych, presented to the church by Alfonso the Wise,
and called the Alphonsine Tables.
Behind the Capilla Mayor, at the eastern extremity of the nave, is the
Capilla Real (Royal Chapel). The building--which, as Ford remarks, is
almost a church by itself--was begun by Gainza in 1514, and finished
in 1566 by his successors, Fernan Ruiz, Diaz de Palacios, and Maeda.
The chapel is of the Renaissance style, and has a lofty dome. There is
a handsome frieze showing the figures of children carrying shields and
lances. The chapel is divided by light pillars into seven compartments,
of which the midmost is occupied by the altar of the Virgin de los
Reyes. This image was the gift of St Louis of France to St Ferdinand.
“It is of great archæological interest,” says Ford; “it is made like a
movable lay-figure; the hair is of spun gold, and the shoes are like
those used in the thirteenth century, ornamented with the lilies of
France and the word “Amor.” In 1873, the fine gold crown belonging to
this image [a sixteenth-century work] was stolen. This image is seated
on a silver throne, thirteenth-century work, embossed with the arms of
Castile and Leon.” The body of St Ferdinand, remarkably well preserved,
is contained in a silver urn, placed on the original sepulchre, which
is engraved with epitaphs in Latin, Spanish, Hebrew, and Arabic. In
the vault beneath is the ivory figure of the Virgin de las Batallas,
which the king always carried with him on his campaigns. It is a fine
piece of Gothic statuary. Ferdinand’s sword is also preserved in this
chapel. Here are the tombs of Alfonso el Sabio, of Beatriz of Swabia,
his mother, of Pedro I., Maria de Padilla, and various Infantes. An
interesting trophy is the flag of the Polish Legion of the French army,
taken by the Spaniards at Bailen. The twelve statues in the entrance
to the Capilla Real are after the designs of Peter Kempener; there is
a Mater Dolorosa by Murillo in the sacristy. Some of the later work
in this chapel exhibits those fantastic and grotesque features which
became common, under the name of _Estilo Monstruoso_, in Seville.
The entrance to this chapel is flanked by the Capillas de San Pedro
and de la Concepcion Grande. In the south aisle is the chapel of the
Purification or of the Marshal, containing a remarkable altar-piece by
Peter Kempener--exhibiting the portraits of the founder, Marshal Pedro
Caballero, and his family. Adjacent is the Sala Capitular, in fine
Renaissance style, the work of Gainza and Diego de Riaño (1531). The
roof is formed by a fine cupola, supported by Ionic columns, beneath
which is some admirable plateresco work, with escutcheons, triglyphs,
etc. The hall contains a portrait of St Ferdinand by Francisco Pacheco,
the “Conception” and ovals by Murillo, and the “Four Virtues” by Pablo
de Céspedes. Beneath the windows are seen reliefs by Velasco, Cabrera,
and Vazquez.
The sacristy (Sacristia Mayor) is in the Renaissance style, and lies
south of the Sala Capitular. It was built by Gainza in 1535, after
designs by Riaño, who had died two years earlier. One of the three
altars against the southern wall is adorned by the beautiful “Descent
from the Cross” by Peter Kempener (a native of Brussels, called by the
Spaniards Campaña), before which Murillo used to stand for hours in
rapt contemplation. This priceless work of art was cut in five pieces
by the French, with a view to its removal, and has not been very well
restored. The sacristy contains also three interesting paintings,
dating from the early sixteenth century, by Alejo Fernandez; and the
“San Leandro” and “San Isidore” of Murillo.
In this chamber is kept the treasury of the Cathedral. In it might be
included the superb silver monstrance by Juan de Arfe (1580-87). It
is twelve feet high, and richly adorned with columns, reliefs, and
statuettes. The treasury likewise contains another monstrance, studded
with 1200 jewels; a rock-crystal cup, said to have belonged to St
Ferdinand; and the keys presented to that sovereign on the surrender
of the city. That given by the Jews is of iron gilt, with the words,
_Melech hammelakim giphthohh Melek kolhaaretz gabo_ (the King of kings
will open, the King of all the earth will enter); the other key is of
silver gilt and was surrendered by Sakkáf. The inscription upon it is
in Arabic, and reads, _May Allah render eternal the dominion of Islam
in this city_.