The Roman City

Italica was founded by Publius Cornelius Scipio, better known as “Africanus.” The roman general founded Italica as a place of settlement for the soldiers in 206 BC, during the war against Carthage. Italica was the birth place of two important roman emperors: Marcus Ulpius Traianus, better known as Trajan and his successor, Publius Aelius Hadrianus, better known as Hadrian, who built as an attribute to Trajan an extension of the “Vetus Urbs” (old city and built by Africanus) the “Nova Urbs” (new city) which is now an archeological complex that you can visit not to far from Seville. The bus ride will be just 20 minutes and the entrance price of the complex is only 1, 5 euros or free for UE members. The only day that the complex is closed is Monday, the rest of the days, even holidays, is open; just check the schedule because it may vary. Please also remember to wear lots of sun cream, the complex is an outdoor place and you will have to walk and use the stairs to see the ruins.

Italica will amazed you because even though is not fully excavated, you will be able to see floor plans of the houses, the well kept mythological mosaics, like the House of the Birds, the remains of thermal establishments and off course the gigantic amphitheatre, one of the largest in the Roman Empire, able to seat 20,000 spectators. You will be able to stand right where gladiators fought with wild animals, I suggest you to take lots of pictures making angry faces and poses.

After you finish the tour, your guide will take you to see the Theater and also what is left of some thermal baths.


Useful Information

Visiting Times
Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 to 17:30h (from 8:30 to 20:30h, April-September)
Sundays and Public Holidays from 10:00 to 16:00h (from 9:00 to 15:00h, April-September)
Mondays is closed

Price
1,50 € per person or free for EU members.

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The Golden Lady of Seville

La Giralda was once a Muslim mosque but after the regimen of Fernando III of Castile in the 13th Century the mosque began to work as a Christian cathedral. In the 15th Century, people from Seville wanted to make the biggest temple that they could build and they actually did it. La Giralda, is the largest Gothic temple in the world and third largest Christian cathedral following Saint Peter’s in Rome and Saint Paul’s in London.

La Giralda gets its name from the the statue that is on top of the bell tower. The statue is a woman in roman clothes portraying faith. She is carrying a shield in one hand and a palm leaf in the other. The statue is able to rotate if the wind is strong enough to move the statue. The word “Giralda” comes from the Spanish word “Girar” which means turn.

Before you walk into the cathedral, you will see a big courtyard; this is one of the Moorish legacies, the Courtyard of the Orange Trees. The Muslims used to wash themselves before going inside the temple, so they have some fountains around the courtyard. Inside the temple, you will see the Main Altarpiece which is consider one of the greatest in the Christian world.

The ceiling is beautiful and you will be able to appreciate the details if you take a look the magnifier mirror that is right in the middle of the temple, in front of the main altar. The whole place speaks by itself. Spain at that time was a world power. Kings used to have the best architects and artisans to build their temples and they loved to included gold and precious gems on their designs.

La Giralda will give you the option to make you feel a great photographer, because every single shoot will capture a beautiful image. I highly suggest you to use the ramp and go up to the top of the tower, the astonish view of Seville will be the perfect final touch of your visit.

Useful Information

Visiting Times
Daily from 11:00 to 17:00
Sundays: from 14:30 to 18:00

Visiting Times from April to September
From Monday to Sunday: 9.30 to 19.00 h

Price:

General: 7,50 €
Residents, students, and seniors over 65 or retirees pay 1,50 €.
Children under 12 free.

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The Alcázar, a palace within a palace

The Alcázar is a group of palaces also known as the Reales Alcázares. This wonderful place, is still working as a royal residence, when the king, queen or any member of the royal family stays in Seville, they usually stay at the Alcázar or use it for special events.

The Alcázar is another perfect example of the multicultural way of construction of the buildings that you will find in Seville, but the most predominant style in this case, is Mudejar.

While you are walking in the palace, you will find different “Patios” and rooms. The Patio de la Monteria, was used as a boundary between the city and the palace. It was built in 1364 and uses as part of decoration, Arabic inscriptions worshipping Allah.

The most important patio of the Palace is the “Patio of las Doncellas.” The vegetable motive decorations of the patio were done by the best artisans of the region and the “Patio de las Munecas” (Courtyard of the Dolls) gets its name from the little faces that are part of the decoration. The columns of this patio were part of the devastated palace of Medina Azahara in Cordoba.

The whole palace has beautiful details, but the best thing is see how different styles of architecture can live together creating a magical atmosphere. Open your eyes and try to catch Muslim artistic elements mix with Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque.

Useful Information

Visiting Times from October to March
From Monday to Sunday: 9.30 to 17.00 h

Visiting Times from April to September
From Monday to Sunday: 9.30 to 19.00 h

Closed
January 1 and 6. Good Friday and December 25


Price:

General: 7,50 €

Free entrance for students, seniors, handicap and sevillian residents.

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The Royal Gateway

The Hotel Alfonso XIII was built to house international dignitaries in 1929, during the Ibero-American Exhibition.

The architect was a native from Seville, Mr. Jose Espiau y Muñoz and the materials used to build the Hotel were brick, plaster, wood and ceramic. The predominant style of decoration is Mudejar: a historical version of the regional tradition inspired by Arab architecture.

The Hotel was inaugurated by King Alfonso XIII and since then, The Hotel has had numerous royal dignitaries as Prince Rainier and Grace of Monaco, Prince Charles and Princess Diana and all members of European royal families as part of V.I.P guest list. Presidents and celebrities also like to be treated as royalty, which is why personalities such as Ernest Hemingway, Evita Perón, Audrey Hepburn, Sofia Loren, Plácido Domingo, Brad Pitt, and Shakira had been guest of the royal suite of the Hotel.

During my visit to Seville I was lucky enough to get a quick tour of the Hotel. The first butler and the one who has to take care of kings and high profile personalities, was the guide who show us around the whole place. We started at the lobby, where he told us the history of the Hotel. After that we went up stairs, the walls were all tiled with unique pieces of local ceramic. The first room that he show us was consider a standard room, but for me it was not standard at all. The bedroom was full of light and the linens were so elegant that it was hard to even think to seat on them. The bathroom had a gorgeous view of the garden and all the imaginable creams and shampoos next to the sink. The whole suite had traditional decorations and high tech gadgets; it was just perfect I could live there without any problem.

Suddenly, the butler asked us to go to the royal suite. I couldn’t believe it! I quickly followed our perfectly dressed guide and as soon as he opened the doors I saw an enormous room. That place is bigger that many apartments that I know. It has a living room, a dinning room, a huge marble bath; a bedroom that has a super size bed; a library and even a little room were the service can organize the meals. After walking out of the royal suite we were full of questions and we even got some information about a picky lady who has three pages of special requirements.

We went downstairs and we saw the ballrooms. The floors and ceilings were breath taking and the chandeliers were pieces of art. For a moment I felt like a princess but unfortunately that was the last part of the tour and it was time to wake up from the dream

The Hotel Alfonso XIII is also known for top class gastronomy. During May, the hotel hostess two different gastronomic festivals: The Bull Meat Festival and the Galicia Festival. Both of them; unique opportunities to enjoy Iberian delicatessens.

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Flamenco Passion

Flamenco is a traditional Spanish dance that was brought by the gypsies “gitanos” to the Andalusia region in the South of Spain in the 15th century. According to studies, the gypsies came from a region in the North part of India and started to settle in Spain 1447. The name “Gitano” comes from Egiptano, an old Spanish word for Egyptian.

Flamenco is the perfect blend of passion, mystery and enchantment. As soon as you hear the voice of “El Cantaor” or “La Cantaora” you can feel, even without understanding the words, the deep sentiment that is part of every song, known in Flamenco as “El Cante.” The lyrics are the source of inspiration for the guitar player who combines the emotion of the voice with the melodies of the guitar, this is called “El toque” that will set the tone for “El Baile,” the dance.

At the beginning, Flamenco was only voice and the sound of human instruments, as the palm of the hands, then, the Spanish guitar was incorporated and finally the tapping of the feet. Flamenco has different styles grouped into families; it depends on its structure, melodies and themes. Provinces as Cadiz, Malaga and Granada are the main contributors with Seville of all the branches. There are broadly speaking two main styles in Flamenco: the "jondo" - profound and serious, the cry of people oppressed for many centuries; and the "chico" - happy, light and often humorous.



Flamenco is strong and elegant. The costumes help the dancer to maintain grace and posture and the footwork, which has to be impeccable and precise, is re enforce with special shoes or boots. The final touch is given with the sophisticated movement of the arms and hands that will project the mood of the song with specific gestures.

I highly suggest you to go to a “Tablao,” a flamenco show or to a “Peña,” a flamenco club. The wooden floors will vibrate and the ambience will change at the very begging, it is almost instantaneous. Every single step, every single clap, will make your body feel an electrical explosion. The intensity of the sight of the dancers will be so deep that you will be able to feel their heart bit, and before you know it your hands will be dancing on the air. At this point your soul is already taking control of all your movements, let the fibers of your skin experience the

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Beautiful paintings of El Prado: Murillo

El Sueño de el Patricio

On this painting, Murillo portraits the dream of “El patricio Juan.” Juan is sleeping next to his wife while he receives a message from the Virgin Marie, on the dream the Virgin is communicating to Juan that she wants a church to be built on a place that will get snow the next day.

I loved the painting because is huge and complex. The light and the colors are well worked and the golden frame is stunning.


La Inmaculada de los Venerables “Soult”


Murillo painted this oil on canvas in 1678.
The Spanish artist used as a subject of many of his paintings the Immaculate Conception. On this piece, The Virgin Marie is right in the middle, surrounded by beautiful angels who are playing around between clouds.

If you look close enough, you will see the peace on the eyes of the virgin and the shadows of her dress. When I was standing in front of the painting, I was trying to count the angels but I could not obtain an exact number. Can you?

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Beautiful paintings of El Prado: Velazquez

Las Meninas

The most famous and heavily debated of Diego Velázquez's paintings is the fantastic and unusual family portrait 'Las Meninas'.

It was painted in 1656 and it is known as one of Velazquez master pieces. When I was in front of the huge canvas, I was amazed by all the elements that are part of this painting. While I was hearing the painting explanation, I was trying see what else Velazquez was trying hidding or what other detail I could discover by myself. I looked at the eyes of “La Infanta Margarita” who is the little girl surrounded by her waiting ladies and other people from the service, you will be able even to the the dog's family.

On the left side you will see a self portrait of Velazquez who is painting the Philip IV and his wife, Mariana de Austrias, as they stand before him. Look at them! they are the reflection of the mirror that is hanging at the back. Velazquez is giving us two paintings instead of one. According to studies, Velazquez wanted people to know that he was the painter of the king, he wanted to leave a memorable piece of the work that he was able to do. Velazquez broke, in the seventeenth century, the norms of traditional portraits. The Spanish painter also gave the viewer the privileged opportunity to have another point of view of the royal family.

Los Borrachos (The Drunkards)

Velazquez's first major mythological painting. Many people describe it as an enigmatic work that has, as one of its characters; Bacchus, the God of wine.

On this painting, Velazquez humanizes the ancient god and his followers, the painting portraits a group of men drinking wine and having a good laugh. The natural elements of the painting are the perfect touch that allows the viewer to even want to have a good glass of Spanish wine with “The Drunkards."

Enjoy at the museum the Spanish culture trought the oils and the bush of one of Its greatest artist.


Las Hilanderas (The Spinners)

Is an illustration of a Greek fable that tells story about a spinning contest between Mineimina and Arachne.

Mineimina is the Godness of the arts, the one on the left side of the painting. Nobody knows how the Godnesss looks like, that is why Velazquez portraits her as an old lady, by doing this he is communicating to the viewer, the wisdown that the Godness has. Arachne is the one on the middle and the one who sets up the contest and looses, that is why she does not have a lot of light but at the same time has a privileged place on the painting.

La Fragua de Vulcano (the Forge of Vulcan)

Is another piece of the Spanish painter Diego Velásquez. The painting was done after the first trip of Velásquez to Italy in 1629. According to studies and research, the painting was a request of the king.

The painting describes the moment when Apolo is visiting Vulcano while he is working on the weapons for the war. Apolo is telling Vulcano that his wife, Venus, is cheating on him with Mars, War’s God.

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Spanish Painters Biographies

Diego Velázquez

The most important Spanish painter of the 17th century.

Velázquez is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s greatest artists. The naturalistic style in which he was trained provided a language for the expression of his remarkable power of observation in portraying both the living model and still life.

Stimulated by the study of 16th-century Venetian painting, he developed from a master of faithful likeness and characterization into the creator of masterpieces of visual impression unique in his time.

With brilliant diversity of brushstrokes and subtle harmonies of color, he achieved effects of form and texture, space, light, and atmosphere, that make him the chief forerunner of 19th-century French Impressionism.

The principal source of information about Velázquez’s early career is the treatise Arte de la pintura (“The Art of Painting”), published in 1649 by his master and father-in-law Francisco Pacheco, who is more important as a biographer and theoretician than as a painter. The first complete biography of Velázquez appeared in the third volume (El Parnaso español; “The Spanish Parnassus”) of El museo pictórico y escala óptica (“The Pictorial Museum and Optical Scale”), published in 1724 by the court painter and art scholar Antonio Palomino. This was based on biographical notes made by Velázquez’s pupil Juan de Alfaro, who was Palomino’s patron. The number of personal documents is very small, and official documentation relating to his paintings is relatively rare. Since he seldom signed or dated his works, their identification and chronology has often to be based on stylistic evidence alone. Though many copies of his portraits were evidently made in his studio by assistants, his own production was not large and his surviving autograph works number fewer than 150. He is known to have worked slowly, and during his later years much of his time was occupied by his duties as a court official in Madrid.

According to Palomino, Velázquez’s first master was the Sevillian painter Francisco Herrera the Elder (c. 1576–1656). In 1611 he was formally apprenticed to Francisco Pacheco, whose daughter he married in 1618. “After five years of education and training,” Pacheco writes, “I married him to my daughter, moved by his virtue, integrity, and good parts and by the expectations of his disposition and great talent.” Although Pacheco was himself a mediocre Mannerist painter, it was through his teaching that Velázquez developed his early naturalistic style. “He worked from life,” writes Pacheco, “making numerous studies of his model in various poses and thereby he gained certainty in his portraiture.” He was not more than 20 when he painted the Water Seller of Seville (c. 1619), in which the control of the composition, color, and light, the naturalness of the figures and their poses, and realistic still life already reveal his keen eye and prodigious facility with the brush. The strong modeling and sharp contrasts of light and shade of Velázquez’s early illusionist style closely resemble the technique of dramatic lighting called tenebrism, which was one of the innovations of the Italian painter Caravaggio (1573–1610). Velázquez’s early subjects were mostly religious or genre (scenes of daily life). He popularized a new type of composition in Spanish painting, the bodegón, a kitchen scene with prominent still life, such as the Old Woman Frying Eggs. Sometimes the bodegones had religious scenes in the background, as in Christ in the House of Martha and Mary. The Adoration of the Magi is one of the few Sevillian paintings of Velázquez that have remained in Spain.

Citations
MLA Style:
"Diego Velázquez." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 04 Jun. 2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/624772/Diego-Velazquez>.
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Bartolomé Esteban Murillo

The most popular Baroque religious painter of 17th-century Spain.

Main patrons were the religious orders, especially the Franciscans, and the confraternities in Sevilla (Seville) and Andalusia.

Among Murillo’s earliest works is the Virgin of the Rosary (c. 1642). In the vestigial style of his artistically conservative Sevillian master, Juan del Castillo, this early work combines 16th-century Italian Mannerism and Flemish realism. The 11 paintings that originally hung in the small cloister of San Francisco in Sevilla—e.g., the Ecstasy of St. Diego of Alcalá (1646)—are executed in the more contemporary naturalistic style of the Sevillian school, established by Diego Velázquez and continued by Francisco de Zurbarán. That series is characterized by realism and tenebrism (contrasting light and shade) and use of commonplace models, with an emphasis on genre or scenes of everyday life.

In the 1650s a striking transformation of style occurred, usually attributed to a visit to Madrid, where Murillo undoubtedly met Velázquez and studied the works of Titian, Rubens, and Van Dyck in the royal collections. The softly modeled forms, rich colors, and broad brushwork of the 1652 Immaculate Conception reflect direct visual contact with the art of the 16th-century Venetians and the Flemish Baroque painters. The St. Leandro and St. Isidoro (1655) are even further removed from the simple naturalism of his earlier Franciscan saints. These seated figures, more than life size, are in the grand manner of Baroque portraiture, which had become fashionable at the Spanish court.

The Vision of St. Anthony (1656), one of Murillo’s most celebrated pictures, is an early example of his so-called “vaporous” style, which was derived from Venetian painting. In 1660 Murillo was one of the founders and first president of the Academy of Painting in Sevilla. During the two following decades he executed several important commissions, generally representing dramatized genre on a grand scale. From 1678 onward Murillo worked on another series of paintings, for the Hospicio de Venerables Sacerdotes in Sevilla, which included the celebrated Soult Immaculate Conception (1678), which was removed to Franceby Nicolas-Jean de Dieu Soult during the Napoleonic period. Murillo’s late style is exemplified by his unfinished works for the Capuchin church at Cádiz and the Two Trinities (popularly known as the “Holy Family”). The often mystical significance of his subjects is countered by the idealized reality of his figures based on familiar human archetypes, with natural gestures and tender, devout expressions, creating an effect of intimate rather than exalted religious sentiment.

Murillo had many pupils and innumerable followers. His paintings were copied and imitated throughout Spain and its empire. He was the first Spanish painter to achieve widespread European fame, and until the 19th century he was the only Spanish artist whose works were extensively known outside the Hispanic world.

Citations
MLA Style:
"Bartolomé Esteban Murillo." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 04 Jun. 2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/398128/Bartolome-Esteban-Murillo>.

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Francisco de Zurbarán
Major painter of the Spanish Baroque, especially noted for religious subjects.

His work is characterized by Caravaggesque naturalism and tenebrism, the latter a style in which most forms are depicted in shadow but a few are dramatically lighted.

Zurbarán was apprenticed 1614–16 to Pedro Díaz de Villanueva in Sevilla (Seville), where he spent the greater part of his life. No works by his master have survived, but Zurbarán’s earliest known painting, an Immaculate Conception dated 1616, suggests that he was schooled in the same naturalistic style as his contemporary Diego Velázquez. From 1617 to 1628 he was living in Llerena, near his birthplace; then he returned to Sevilla, where he settled at the invitation of the city corporation. In 1634 he visited Madrid and painted a series of Labours of Hercules and two scenes of the Defense of Cádiz, which formed part of the decoration of the Salón de Reinos in the Buen Retiro palace. The Adoration of the Kings, from a series painted for the Carthusian monastery at Jerez, is signed with the title “Painter to the King” and dated 1638, the year in which Zurbarán decorated a ceremonial ship presented to the king by the city of Sevilla. The paintings for the Buen Retiro are the only royal commissions and the only mythological or historical subjects by Zurbarán that are known. His contact with the court had little effect on his artistic evolution; he remained throughout his life a provincial artist and was par excellence a painter of religious life. In 1658 Zurbarán moved to Madrid.
Zurbarán’s personal style was already formed in Sevilla by 1629, and its development was probably stimulated by the early works of Velázquez and by the works of José de Ribera. It was a style that lent itself well to portraiture and still life, but it found its most characteristic expression in his religious subjects. Indeed Zurbarán uses naturalism more convincingly than other exponents for the expression of intense religious devotion. His apostles, saints, and monks are painted with almost sculptural modeling and with an emphasis on the minutiae of their dress that gives verisimilitude to their miracles, visions, and ecstasies. This distinctive combination of realism and religious sensibility conforms to the Counter-Reformation guidelines for artists outlined by the Council of Trent (1545–63). Zurbarán’s art was popular with monastic orders in Sevilla and the neighbouring provinces, and he received commissions for many large cycles. Of these, only the legends of St. Jerome and of the Hieronymite monks (1638–39) that decorate the chapel and sacristy of the Hieronymite monastery at Guadalupe have remained in situ. Little is known of his production in the 1640s apart from an altarpiece at Zafra (1643–44) and records of a large number of paintings destined for Lima, Peru (1647). By 1658 both the style and the content of Zurbarán’s paintings had undergone a cha that can be attributed to the influence of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo.

In his late devotional pictures, such as Holy Family and Immaculate Conception (1659 and 1661, respectively), the figures have become more idealized and less solid in form, and their expression of religious emotion is marred by sentimentality.

MLA Style:
"Francisco de Zurbarán." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 04 Jun. 2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/658477/Francisco-de-Zurbaran>.

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Francisco Jose de Goya

Greatest Spanish Painter and Engraver of the 18th-Century.

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish painter and engraver of Spanish Rococo and Romantic styles. Goya's famous paintings include "Saturn Devouring One of His Sons," (c. 1822) "The Third of May 1808," (1814) and "La Maja Vestida." (c. 1803) He was a Spanish court painter who also painted portraits of royalties.

Goya produced about 500 oil paintings. He was a master of the traditional styles of portraiture, at the same time open to experiments. He virtually foreshadowed much later major painters, from Eugène Delacroix to Pablo Picasso.

Early years: Tapestry Cartoons
Francisco Jose de Goya was born on March 30, 1746, in a poor village, north of Spain. He began studying art at the age of fourteen. By 1766 he was working for a painter to the King of Spain. He later married his master's sister. Goya visited Rome, returned to his home in Saragossa, and in 1775 went back to Madrid where he obtained work in a tapestry factory, making painting used as designs called "cartoons" by the weavers. During the 17 years that followed, Goya made sixty such paintings that displayed colorful pictures of the more charming aspects of Spanish life in his day.

Painter to King Charles IV and other Spanish Royalties
At 40, Goya was appointed painter to King Charles IV. Like the contemporary baroque artist Diego Velázquez, he became a court painter. His portraits of the royal family and court immediately became famous that in due time, he was named Court Painter. He painted a portrait of Queen Maria Luisa and that of four successive kings of Spain.
He also continued to paint religious works for churches at Valdermoro, Santa Ana de Valladolid, Toledo Cathedral, and in Valencia Cathedral.
Read more: http://paintingdrawing.suite101.com/article.cfm/francisco_jose_de_goya_artist#ixzz0HUjgL9GX&B

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History of Seville

Seville's history is intimately linked to the Guadalquivir River. From its origins the Guadalquivir has played the role of river port and bridge between the Atlantic Ocean and the region of Andalusia. The original Seville was born where the river ceased to be navigable for large vessels. Archaeological excavations indicate that human settlement was stable to the ninth century BC.

For centuries, scholars and analysts called for Heracles, the most popular of the heroes of mythology, the honor of marking six stone pillars where Julius Caesar founded the city of Seville, which he called Luli Hispalis Romulo.

In the year 206 B.C. Scipio Africanus established a contingent of Italian soldiers in veterans, a few miles from Seville. Surely this is a must visit place for those who want to understand the high degree of development reached the province of Bética during the imperial era. The birthplace of Trajan and Hadrian lived days of glory over the centuries II, III and IV A.C. At the end of the Empire had become the most important city in Hispania and the eleventh of the world.

In the year 411, the Vandals seized silingos Andalusia province. Hispalis-taking occurred in the 426 by the Vandal Gunderico. Another important impact was during the Visigoth's domination stage which coincided with the reign of Emperor Justinian in Constantinople (527-565). During the reign of Recaredo, in the year 589, has a splendid cultural bonanza.

The Roman name of Hispalis was switch for Isbiliya in the year 712 when the city fell under the domination of Islam. During five centuries of domination, Seville played a political and cultural concern. The fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba in 1035 led to the disintegration of the territorial unit Andalusí, unveiling a series of independent kingdoms, among which was Seville. During the period of government of the monarchs Abbadie, Isbiliya not only reached its maximum territorial expansion, but also a total dominance over the other Taifas. (Small kingdoms)

To control the craving expansionist Alfonso VI, king of Castile and Leon, the Muslim kings of Badajoz, Granada and Seville, agreed to seek help from outside and there was another force that the closest of African Berber Almoravids. In the end, the power is resolved against almorávid own kingdoms Taifas, take over Seville in 1091. The extreme rigidity of religion and social intolerance imposed by this dynasty disappointed the people, who quickly organized in independence movements. This led to arrival in the country of Almohads who landed in Cadiz in 1146. The Almohad Seville imposed as administrative capital of Al-Andalus. Arrived on the welfare and prosperity; Although, interspersed with others of concern, because of the frequent incursions into Spanish territory and the periodic flooding of the Guadalquivir. This did not prevent the Almohads develop a constructive program in which we must mention the building of a mosque where today stands the imposing cathedral Seville. By the year 1220 the Almohad power walks toward his total decline, triumphantly entered the city in 1248 King Ferdinand III, turning the city into a vast realm of enduring Christian civil and ecclesiastical life. His son and successor Alfonso X "El Sabio" always felt real weakness for Seville, to be matched for by its inhabitants. The years following the reconquest of Seville, the city was a place of settlement of a large colony of Jews. In 1391 the Jewish community was subjected to a violent assault with numerous killings and looting. The old Jewish quarter of Seville is formed districts of Santa Cruz and San Bartolomé. In the year 1401, the council of the Cathedral of Seville adopted a landmark agreement for the religious history of the city, nothing less than building a new metropolitan church. The Seville Cathedral was consecrated in 1507. With the discovery of America in 1492 began the modern age, and Seville is raised for more than two centuries in the New World port. Reales Alcazares in Seville in 1503 created the Casa de la Contratación, fundamental body to regulate commercial relations, scientific and legal disputes with America. In the early sixteenth century, concern for counting in Seville with higher education resulted in the founding of the Colegio Santa Maria de Jesus Maese Rodrigo Fernández de Santaella. This institution was the germ of the future Hispalense University. Despite the affluence experienced during the previous century, the seventeenth-century Seville cannot escape the severe economic crisis that affected Europe at that time in general and Spain in particular. Seville, inflamed spirit counter becomes urbanistically convent in town. There is no doubt the weight of religion in the Seville Baroque pulse to earn the title of "Land of Holy Mary."
With the relocation of the Casa de la Contratación and the Consulate of Cadiz in Maritime 1717, Sevilla lost the monopoly of Indian trade and began its decline. It was not until the second half of the nineteenth century for the city to start a new expansion based on the railway construction and building on the demolition of part of its ancient walls. The city is growing to the east and south is the nineteenth Ensanche, which is completed in the first decades of the twentieth century with the buildings constructed during the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929 (Plaza de España, Maria Luisa Gardens). After exposure Seville undertakes the refurbishment of its infrastructure: creation of the airport, waterworks pipe from the river and its streams to curb the flood disaster, a network of trams, and so on. The city is thrown from the'60s to a real expansion that set the current suburb. In 1992 the World Exposition was held (Expo 92) in the Isla de la Cartuja. Seville enters the twenty-first century completely remodeled and modernized.

Translated from http://institucional.us.es/relint/sevillahist.htm

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An Authentic Temple: La Mezquita de Cordoba

As soon as you approach Cordoba your eyes will be searching for one of the most tolerant religious places in the world; Cordoba’s Mosque.

It is important to mention the history of this place before describing the wonderful architecture and magnificent details. The Mosque is a mosaic itself. First, The Roman Empire built a pagan temple on the site. Then The Visigoths after the fall of the Romans, replaced the temple with the Chrislargest mosque in all of Islam after that of Caaba, in Arabia. The Mesquite started to built during the 10th century, while the emir, Abd ar-Rahman 111 was consider a great ruler of tian church of Saint Vincent In the early 8th century, when the Arabs conquered the peninsula, they tore down the church and began building their great mosque, by doing this, Cordoba become the centre of Muslim power in Spain and the the Islamic history, by this time Cordoba was the largest, most prosperous cities of Europe.

The Mosque of Cordoba will welcome you with the Patio de los Naranjos (Courtyard of the Orange Trees) which is also the entrance point of La Giralda in Seville. The courtyard has also fountains that are used in the Islamic religion to get purified before going inside the temple.
Once you are inside of the Mosque, you will start to notice the many little chapels that are all around the place. This has also an historical explanation; the original mosque was surrounded by open arches. This is very common in the Islamic religion because it represent the mystical journey toward Allah. The Christians on the other side thought that they could be used as a backdrop for chapels dedicated to the various saints.

Regarding the arches and pillars, you will see an alternative chain of brick and stone, creating a colorful pattern that is very unique of this construction. If you have time, count the granite jasper and marble pillars, there is a total of 850 of them. Many of Andalusia constructions used recycle material from other places, in the case of ‘The Mosque the columns were taken from the Church of Saint Vincent which had previously occupied the site; others came from Roman and Visigothic homes in the city, and when these ran out, the Arabs made their own. But the columns were for the most part only seven or eight feet high, which meant that the huge ceiling would be aesthetically too low. So the Moors brilliantly invented a double-tiered column-and-arch.”

Another important detail is the mihrab, a key element in all mosques that indicates the direction of Mecca. The wall which is the closest to the river, is surrounded with arched windows, and adorned with mosaics.

Cordoba is the only place that has a Catholic cathedral that is call mosque instead of church. Open your eyes as much as you can and let the construction speak to you, please also remember to do a warm up exercise for your neck; you will be looking up all the time.

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Me Ha Tocado El Duende

Sentimientos tan puros como el amor, el deseo y la pasion son dificiles de explicar con palabras. Normalmente cuando queremos describirlos, no logramos mas que enredarnos con nuestra propia lengua y por lo general siempre nos quedamos cortos y con la sensacion de que no hemos dejado saber al otro lo mucho que lo amamos, lo mucho lo deseamos o la gran pasion que sentimos por el.

El Flamenco para mi no es un genero musical sino un sentimiento; tan puro y pasional como el amor mismo. Yo la verdad no estaba muy familiarizada con el, lo poco que sabia, era que se trataba de un estilo de musica tradicional espanol, que utilizaba mucho las manos y el zapateo. En cuanto al vestuario, me llamaba mucho la atencion la elegancia de sus trajes, en especial el de las mujeres pues siempre las veia impecables de los pies a la cabeza, hasta los agigantados puntos de las telas eran impresindibles para mi. Que decir de el peinado, nunca habia visto un baile que requiera de un tocado tan laborioso como el del flamenco y los zapatos; cerrados y con tacon alto y robusto. Esa era la imagen que tenia en la mente cuando me hablaban del flamenco.

Al llegar a Sevilla me causo mucha sorpresa ver que en las tiendas se podian encontrar con mucha facilidad, todas las piezas que hacen parte del ajuar para bailar flamenco. Ademas quede maravillada al ver como ulitizaban parte de los accesorios en sus vestimentas del dia a dia. Desde ese momento me di cuenta de que el Flamenco podria ser un estilo de vida.

Durante mi visita a la capital de Andalucia, estuve en el Museo del Flamenco. Este lugar, mezcla perfectamente la tradicion y el respeto que hay que tener por el arte, con la mas alta tecnologia audiovisual. En el museo, tuve tambien la oportunidad de tomar una clase de baile. La joven profesora logro que aprendiera una coreografia, simple pero al mismo tiempo bastante completa. Segun ella, no necesitaba de mas , pues incluso indico: “El Flamenco no lleva coreografia, solo aprendes los pasos y despues lo bailas segun como te salga del corazon.”

Algo que me llamo mucho la atencion durante la clase, fue la marcacion de los pasos. Hay que poner el pie con fuerza y de un solo golpe, pues este, debe ser seco y preciso. Las manos por el contrario bailan en el aire, son las munecas las que se liberan y pueden jugar sin ningura restriccion. La cara tambien tiene un papel importante, bastante diria yo. La mirada es intensa, profunda, casi casi embrujadora, tanto que se debe ser cuidadoso al momento de decidir a quien se esta observando, pues si te concentras lo suficiente, es posible alcanzar a ver alma.

Sali de ahi tarareando la cancion que aun no logro sacar de mi cabeza, compre un abanico en la tienda de recuerdos, y me fui zapateando en lugar de caminando. Los dias siguieron pasando y mi interez por el flamenco aun no se habia saciado, queria saber mas, asi que empece a investigar y despues de haber leido diferentes textos di con un termino que no habia visto antes: “El Duende.”

Segun lo explican, “El Duende” es esa sensacion de escalofrio que recorre todo el cuerpo, esto solo ocurre al ver a un bailador transformarce en un ser casi poseido por el toque y el cante. Cuando lo lei, me parecio un poco exagerado y la verdad hasta un tanto pedante. Pero como no se puede opinar de lo que no se sabe, tuve que tragarme mis palabras despues de ir a un “Tablao” (lugar en donde se baila flamenco) en Granada.

La Cueva de La Rocio, ubicado en el famoso barrio de El Albaicin, fue testigo de mi revelacion. Al llegar al lugar nos, sentamos justo en frente de la delgada pieza de madera que usan para bailar, digamos que es el escenario. De pronto bajaron las luces y se sentaron al otro lado del “Tablao” los cinco integrantes del grupo. Mis ojos no sabian a quien mirar, pues cada uno de ellos era como un personaje fantastico que habia logrado salir de algun cuento. Todos ellos cumplian a cabalidad, con los estereotipos gitanos. Todos menos una muchacha que en lugar de cabello oscuro tenia tonos claros y brillantes en su lugar. No me dio mucha confianza y pense que no iba a dar un buen show.

El guitarrista de cabello largo empezo a tocar y la senora que lo acompanaba con su voz, cerro los ojos y melancolicamente saco de su interior un canto estremecedor. Las otras tres mujeres, aplaudian fuertemente con las palmas de sus manos. No veia la hora de que empezaran a bailar. Yo estaba bastante ansiosa y queria que la primera fuera la que se veia mayor a las demas. Su cara me parecia bastante expresiva y ademas, el que aun siguiera bailando a pesar de sue edad, era para mi una Buena senal. Para mi sorpresa empezo la rubia, como dije antes no era mi preferida, asi que no mostre mucho interez cuando se paro sobre la desgastada tabla de madera negra.



Vestida de blanco, “La Bailadora” empezo a mover sus munecas en circulos, su cara cambiaba constantemente, y de un momento a otro, fue como si un espiritu hubiera entrado en su cuerpo. Cada zapateo contaba con una fuerza tal, que hacia crujir las fibras de la madera, y las manos se batian tan rapidamente que no se lograba ver donde estaban exactamente. No se si su mirada me hizo entrar en trance, pero sin saber por que?, empece a llorar. Las lagrimas no cesaban y dentro de mi sentia algo extrano; no era dolor o tristeza, sino una especie de melancolia mezclada con admiracion.

Como habia mucha gente a mi alrededor, trate de limpiarme las lagrimas sin que nadie se diera cuenta, pues ni yo misma podia explicar porque estaba llorando. Cuando termino, “La Bailadora” levanto sus brazos y mantuvo su elegante pose por un minuto, lo suficiente para que la audiencia aplaudiera hasta ya mas no poder.

Yo por mi parte logre evitar que salieran mas lagrimas, hasta que vi a una amiga que tambien estaba en la misma situacion. Las dos nos vimos y nos reimos, en ese momento me dijo: “Que cosa mas linda, estoy emocionada. Mirame la piel, estoy erisada.” Ahi se me vino a la cabeza lo que habia leido antes y le dije: “El Duende te ha tocado.” En un comienzo no entendio pero despues de explicarle lo que significaba, logre sacarle una sonrisa y me dijo: “Pues si, “El Duende” me ha tocao.” Y yo le dije: “Nos ha tocado a las dos.”

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