Sevilla--known in English as Seville--has been inhabited since the Roman era, well situated fifty miles inland for protection from invaders and from inclement weather but on the wide Guadalquivir River with easy access to the Atlantic Ocean. It was the capital of the Moors during the Almohad era. The Almohads were nomads from North Africa, but in 1170 they conquered southern Spain and transferred their capital there. In 1248 the town was conquered by the Christian Spanish from the north.

One of the glories of Seville is its spendid Gothic cathedral, together with its bell tower, called La Giralda.

In fact, though, all but the uppermost part of the bell tower and much of the foundations for the cathedral come from the Almohad era, and formed the main minaret and mosque for the Muslim city. That can be seen more clearly from close up, and especially in the walled courtyard next to the church. That sort of courtyard is a typical feature of mosques but not typical for churches except here in southern Spain.

Beside the cathedral is the irregular main square of Sevilla, with the royal palace on the upper left. The square building with a central courtyard on the middle right is the Archives of the Indies, where are kept the historical records of Spain's vast overseas empire--that once included lands as far flung as Mexico and central America, Cuba and much of the Caribbean, most of south America from Columbia and Peru to Chile and Argentina, and the Philippines. The last remnants of that vast empire were lost only in the twentieth century, when Spain relinquished Morocco in 1956 and the Spanish Sahara in 1976, although Spain still holds a few port towns on the Moroccan coast. (As the one who started it all, Christopher Columbus is buried in the cathedral.)

It was begun by the Moorish Almohad rulers and continued under medieval kings of Castile and early modern kings of Spain. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish the different parts of the palace: in the fifteenth century Spanish architects were so impressed by the artistry of the Moorish style that they began to copy it in new buildings, in a style called Mudéjar. The upper floor of the palace is still used as a royal residence.

Most intriguing, though, was a little church called Santa Maria la Blanca ("Saint Mary the White"). It was located on a little street of the same name in the Santa Cruz neighborhood of Seville, where we were staying, that was the medieval Jewish ghetto. It was a beautiful area of narrow and twisting streets, although now quite touristy so filled with restaurants and souvenir shops.

This is San Expedito (Saint Expeditus). He is supposed to have been a Roman soldier who wanted to convert to Christianity. The devil appeared to him in the form of a crow and tried to persuade him to postpone his conversion to another day (the word for "tomorrow" in Latin, cras, when repeated, sounds like the cawing of a crow). He crushed the crow under his foot (and you can barely see that in this photo). According to some, this cult began when relics sent from Rome arrived marked in Italian "expedited [delivery]." He is now the patron saint of urgent causes. Note all of the coins that churchgoers have left around his statue.

This is Santa Liberata (known in English as Saint Uncumber). She is said to have been the daughter of a pagan king who converted to Christianity and refused to marry the man her father had chosen for her. She prayed to God for help, and he caused a beard to grow miraculously and suddenly on her face. In anger and so as to mock the death of her god, her father had her crucified. (This widespread medieval cult may have begun when a statue of Jesus on the cross was misidentified as a female figure.) Note all of the folded bits of paper that churchgoers have left around her statue.

This was the most curious of all, a statue of Santo Dominguito del Val (Little Saint Dominic of the Valley). He was supposed to have been a schoolboy ritually murdered by Jews in the thirteenth century in Zaragoza. (It was a widespread medieval belief that Jews ritually murdered Christian children and ate them--part of the rampant anti-Semitism of the Middle Ages). Note his altar boy outfit.

As we said, that was some church! We stumbled upon it while looking for a church that formed the setting for an excellent
mystery by the Spanish novelist Arturo Perez Reverte, called The Seville Communion. We can all highly recommend the book (but the church in his novel turned out to be an imaginary one).

The whole of downtown Seville is filled with beautiful modern buildings (from the early twentieth century, when Seville seems to have gone through a bit of an economic boom) that replicate its historic designs--Moorish, Mudéjar, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque. It was lots of fun simply to walk around and enjoy them, as you'll see from these photos.

One is the Casa de Condesa Lebrija (House of the Countess of Lebrija), built in the sixteenth century. The woman who owned it in the late nineteenth century and after whom it is named had a passion for ancient Roman artifacts. She traveled around the region of Seville (which was, after all, settled by Romans) and "rescued" or "stole" (depending on your point of view) numerous pieces of Roman art, especially mosaic floors that she then installed in her mansion.