The MFPC of Seville, Spain Oct 29

The complex containing the Seville Mosque, Fortress, Palace, Cathedral (hence MFPC), sometimes called the Alcazar which comes from the arabic word 'alqasr' meaning 'Royal House' seems to be spread over about (by my estimate) 20 acres (I couldn't find an exact figure online). It covers a triangular section of Seville. It is the oldest palace in the world still occupied by a King. The Spanish King sometimes resides in the palace (mainly in the winter since Seville averages a max of above 60F even in January).

The Seville MFPC is built on the site that was once a Roman Market square and near it a Visigothic Church. It was a fortress and mosque under the first moorish kings, then became a palace and larger mosque under later Almohad rulers, then partially converted into a bigger palace by the Castillian Kings who reconquered Seville in the 14th century with a Cathedral over the outer Mosque buildings. Other changes were made thereafter. This differs from the Cordova situation where the various parts of the interior of the mosque was changed into a Cathedral. The Seville complex also has a small church (without an officiate by the bishop) so it could have been called a MFPCC (last C for church). Our local guide said that the church is getting better attendance than the Cathedral lately because the Archbishop has instituted a Sunday Mass in the Cathedral that lasts over 2 hours long or maybe it was two hours longer than the Mass in the church  (I had to hold myself in to keep from LOL).

Some of the images below are mine. Others are from wikipedia or seville-traveller.com, Sevillaonline.es or similar sites.

My first image is of George in front of the main entrance to the MFPC.  This structure was constructed under Peter (Pedro) I (aka, Pedro the Cruel). It uses a variety of artistic styles from the moorish (the two surface arabesques arches beside the opening) to neo-classical (the plain arches on the ground level) and other styles.

My second image shows Ann walking along a long mosaic wall. There must be a hundred different mosaic walls, doorways, etc. in this complex.  The lane that Ann is walking in lies over the center of the Roman marketplace which was covered over by the Mosque fortress.




My third image shows us in the complex where there are a lot of marble columns. The columns are different. It indicates that the mosque builders had a pre-existing supply of columns probably from different parts of the Roman marketplace or the Visigoth Church.

My fourth image shows the Cathedral part of the complex. The enormous Christian bell tower was made by converting a Minaret for the Muezzin (Muslim prayer tower). A member of our group is at the bottom of the image. 



My fifth image is of George in front of one of the baobab trees (which are native to the edges of the grasslands of Africa) in one of the gardens on the outside of the complex. These are possibly the furthest pole-ward a baobab tree grows (there were actually about a half a dozen of these). Seville is at 37N, about the same latitude as Richmond, VA but with a much warmer climate. 

My sixth image is of George in front of recently built (2014) monument to Columbus which is in the Garden of Murillo just outside the MFPC complex.  Columbus, during his decade long negotiation undoubtedly did some of this in Seville (there is more about Columbus in a separate post on this blog).




One of the places in the complex that we visited was the Courtyard of the Maidens (Patio de las doncellas). My picture wasn't nearly as nice as this one from Wikipedia. This courtyard has been used in movies, e.g., the Kingdom of Heaven. The name of the courtyard is based on the legend that the Moslems required tribute of 100 Christian maidens each year (in some years, maidens were  'purchased' by the Emir at prices dictated by Royal decree, but the 100/yr figure is a gross exaggeration).  One of the interesting architectural aspects of this courtyard is that the upper story (which was a 16th century addition) is done in an Italian Renaissance style (Roman arches in sequence with conscious symmetry) while the bottom (14th century) is clearly Moorish (arabesque pointed arch with double columns).

Another place we went was the Ambassador's room (image from Sevillaonline), in Spanish, the Salon de los Embajadores. The entrance is famously called the horseshoe arch (Arcos de Herradura). The room is completely tiled.

The next image (from theworldinlight.com) is of an interior entrance which includes intricate tiling and Moorish arches. 
 
In the bottom right is a design made up of six pointed stars (you have to click on the image  to see this). The six pointed star has been used since ancient times (at least as early as the 3rd century) but not just as a Jewish symbol (the use of the 6 pointed star identified as the shield of David only became common in Judaism in the 19th century). Morocco had a 6 pointed star on their national flag as late as 1915.