Seville: The Edge of Empire

Once the opulent capital of the Moorish kingdom of Al Andalus, Seville was reconquered and `christianized' in 1248, its mosques were transformed into churches, but the new cathedral, the largest in Spain, kept the former minaret as a bell tower, and the royal palace, the Alcazar, retained its Moorish character. Successive Christian kings were eager to exploit Moorish craftsmanship and design. In the sixteenth century Seville reached a new zenith. Trade with the New World brought fabulous wealth to the city, and she began to see herself as the new Rome, needing new civic buildings to match her stature. In a private palace, the Casa Pilatos, we trace the evolution on a smaller scale of traditional christianized Moorish design into the humanism and classicism of the Italian Renaissance.

© 1998-2001 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.