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| The insciption on this stone plaque says: "Hercules built me Julius Caesar encircled me with walls and high towers And the Holy King won me with Garcí Pérez de Vargas |
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| Hercules on the Town Hall façade |
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| Julius Caesar on the Town Hall façade |
Sevilla is an ancient city. Legend has it that it was the capital of the mythical Tartessos and was founded by Hercules, and the History tells us that one of its earliest Mayors was none other than Julius Caesar, who built the New Forum and new walls.
Two great Roman emperors (Trajan and Hadrian), were born in Seville. You can see signs of this all around the city: there are sculptures of Hercules and Julius Caesar in the town-hall's façade, in the Boulevard of Hercules (Alameda de Hércules for us) and so on.
After Roman, Seville was Visigoth, Byzantine and Moorish, and was sacked twice by the Vikings around the year 1000.
The king San Fernando reconquered it for the Christians in 1248 and made it the capital of his kingdom of Castile.
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| Saint Catherine's Church, where still can be seen its mirhab and minaret (from the time it was a mosque), and the christian gotic arcade |
This mixture of cultures can be seen in its buildings and its streets. Many of its churches has been roman temples at the beginning, then PaleoChristian churches, have become mosques after the Muslim conquer and again churches after the Christian reconquer.
At the time of the discovery and conquest of America, it was named "Metropolis" that is, no ship could sail to the Indies if not from the port of Seville; no ship could arrive from America without berthing at the port of Seville.
All trade in the New World passed through here. All the gold and silver of America came to Seville and distributed from Seville. All conquerors, settlers, migrants, had to travel from Seville.
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| Sevilla on the XVI century |
This made it the commercial capital of the world for two centuries and endowed it with an unparalleled wealth. Traders and businessmen from all over came to settle in the city.
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| Hasekura Tsunenaga, ambassador of the Emperor of Japan. 1613 |
Even in 1613 came from the Far East an embassy of the Emperor of Japan and many of its members stayed here forever.
The prosperity of this era can still be seen in the richness and beauty of many of its buildings and many of its magnificent gardens.
For example, the cathedral was the largest in the world at the time, and is still the largest of the Gothic cathedrals. Many of the churches are magnificent, as the Church of El Salvador, St. Louis, la Magdalen ...
From that time are large civil buildings such as the Town hHall. The current Parliament of Andalusia, for example, was for long the largest hospital in Europe under the name of "Hospital of the Five Wounds."
They were also built during the time of the discovery, conquest and government of America the Archive of the Indies (which keeps all documents related to trade, laws and government of the Indies), the Palace of Saint Telmo (which was School of marine of the route of the Indies during the XVI and XVII centuries), the Charity Hospital, the Mint (now in ruins) or the very rich private palaces of the great Sevillian families, as the House of Pilate (residence the Dukes of Medinaceli), the House of the Dames (Casa de las Dueñas, residence of the Dukes of Alba), or the House of the Countess of Lebrija. All of them keep incomparable artistic treasures, and all can be visited, at least in part.
Churches, palaces and museums house works of art of great value. Painters like Velazquez and Murillo began their career at Sevilla and received commissions from nobles and monasteries in the city. In addition, great sculptors made their works here on behalf of the Brotherhoods and these works can still be seen on the altars of the churches.
But in XVIII century the Puerto de Indias moved to Cadiz and Seville went into a deep decline from which it did not recover until the twentieth century.
The Ibero American Exhibition in 1929 and the Universal Exhibition of 1992 revitalized the city and turned it into what it is today.
