Seville Oct 29 - to the MFPC

Seville is thought to be named after the Phoenician word for lowlands, Spal.  It is a low elevation city in the southwest of Spain surrounded by hills and it gets very hot in the summer (it is one of Europe's hottest cities). The average max temperature for July is over 100F and the average min temperature in January is in the low 40sF).

The first image (which show our local guide briefing our group - Beth is in the image) is of the Golden Tower (Torre del Oro). It is called that because when first built under the Almohades, the mortar which was mixed with straw, had a golden gleam in it. It was heavily damaged by the earthquake in 1755. The tower was rebuilt in 1760 but damaged during and after the 1868 revolution. Several restorations have occurred since, most recently in 2005.

The second image is the Silver Tower (Torre de la Plata) which was also built during the Almohad era. It gleamed silver because of (I think) the large amount of quartz mixed in the mortar (I don't remember what the local guide said and couldn't find the answer on line). It survived the 1755 earthquake but was abandoned for many years until being cleaned up and restored in the early 21st century.

The third image (found on wikipedia) is a 19th century painting of what the artist imagined Seville would have looked like in the 13th century before the Mosque was built (the artist is David Roberts). It shows the golden tower (but not the silver tower) and the Guadalquivir River (which flows through Seville - its name, as noted in the discussion in a Cordova post, comes from the arabic 'al kabir' meaning 'the great valley').

The fourth image is from the other side of yet another Almohad tower (I don't remember its name and couldn't find it on line). 

The image shows how commercial structures have been integrated into the complex including the medieval structures.








The fifth image shows George and other members of our group on the commercial side of the street opposite the Mosque-fortress-Palace-Cathedral (hence MFPC). 


The sixth image shows our group (Ann in foreground) getting a briefing before going into the Seville MFPC.  



A Roman viaduct (which once delivered water from the hills and which somehow survived the 1755 earthquake) from that period is in the background.  The Roman structures were reinforced during the Almohad era.


It is not obvious to me why a viaduct was built to carry water to a city which is built on a river (nor was I able to discover an answer on line). 

Perhaps, back then the river dried up in the summer enough that the Romans wanted a back up water supply. Or perhaps the river was contaminated in the summer.