Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Seville Cathedral

Seville Cathedral







Ceiling at the crossing










Largest altar in Christendom; I wonder if the
people of Peru or Mexico would like to have
some of their gold back













Silver (spare) altar piece; 3,500 lbs.











Moorish depiction of the Giralda, as it was
before the reconquista












The huge choir blocks any possible view
from one end to the other; can't let the
common people see what's going on on the
other side....














The poorly-lit Big Attraction...the tomb of Cristobal Colon,
who sailed the ocean blue, in 1492; now what do you think
of that?







Ceiling of one of the side chapels














Column in side chapel depicting agonies of hell...
something we always look for







The cloisters, now sort of an orangerie, but was originally
the ablution court for the mosque; Moorish irrigation bricks
still in place

























































































Seville's cathedral is 14th-15th century built over the mosque, which was built over the Visigothic church, which was probably built over a Roman temple, which was probably built over a Celtic temple, etc.  Recycling is not such a new idea. Anyhow, the cathedral is said to be the 3rd largest religious building in Christendom, after St. Peter's and St. Paul's. (Check this out in the Guinness Book). It did not strike us as so large...neither particularly high nor long. I don't know how they calculate these things...maybe it's all the side chapels and other buildings that add up. (Are they really integral, structurally, to the main building? my inner architect asks...). There was plenty of other stuff of interest, however.

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