Walls of Seville

Walls of Seville
Native name Murallas de Sevilla (Spanish)
Location	Sevilla, Spain
Spanish Cultural Heritage
Official name	Murallas de Sevilla
Type	Non-movable
Criteria	Monument
Designated	1908
Reference no.	RI-51-0000093
Location of Walls of Seville in Spain

Plan of the course that followed the Walls of Sevilla in the 17th century, drawn on the current street of the old town, where it included the layout of the primitive Roman walls as well as preserved sections and other data of interest.

The Walls of Seville (Spanish: Murallas de Sevilla) are a military Walls surrounding the Old Town of the city of Seville from the Roman time with continuous renovations, the result of the vicissitudes lived along history of the city during its Roman, Visigoth, Islamic and finally Castilian periods. Subsisted until the 19th century in that were partially demolished after the revolution of 1868, preserved at present some cloths in the barrio de la Macarena and the environment of the Alcázar of Seville, mainly.

There were up to eighteen gates and postigos of access, of which remain only four: Arco de La Macarena, the puerta de Córdoba, the Postigo del Aceite and the Postigo del Alcázar. The today preserved remains maintain an clearly Almohad appearance, mixed with Classicist air that provided the restorations of existing gates in the 18th century.

History

Construction during the Roman Empire

The defensive city Walls were built in times of Julius Caesar, approximately between the years 68 BC and 65 BC., when was quaestor of the city. This new building was aimed at replacing the old Carthaginian stockade of logs and mud that was, being expanded and refined during the rule of his son Augustus due to the growth of the city; these were protected by cyclopean towers.

The remains of the materials this stage are only recognizable in the material reused in Caliphate period in the new Walls of the Alcazar of Seville.

Expansion in the Islamic period: 9th-12th centuries

Cloth of the Walls in the Alcazar of Seville

During the Islamic rule, particularly in the year 844 the city was razed by the Vikings, and the walls were burned down. After that the emir Abderramán II, fourth Umayyad Emir of Córdoba (822 - 852) sent rebuild. These were again destroyed by his great grandson Abd-ar-Rahman III, eighth independent emir (912 - 929) and first Umayyad caliph of Córdoba (929-961), together with the gates thereof, in the year 913 thinking why attempts at secession against Córdoba, turned himself in capital of Al-Andalus.

In 1023, Abu al-Qasim first King Taifa of Seville (1023 - 1042), ordered to raise again the Walls to protect themselves from Christian troops, and between the 11th century and 12th century took place a major expansion that doubled the walled enclosure under the rule of Sultan Ali ibn Yusuf (1083-1143). The defense of the city was extended, widened and strengthened, expanding the space protected by the Walls in almost twice its old surface. His successors, aware of the progress achieved over the northern Christian kingdoms in the stage of the reconquista, it devoted themselves to strengthen their defenses, resulting in the final enclosure of the walls.

At this time they possessed a dimension of seven kilometers of Walls with 166 towers, 13 gates and 6 postigos.

The Walls after the reconquista: 13th-16th centuries

City Walls and the Torre Blanca in the barrio de la Macarena. In this image, seen one of the two postigos opened to promote communication in the intramural area with the new round.

After the Christian reconquest of the city by Ferdinand III of Castile in 1248, the Crown of Castile kept the physiognomy of the Walls that had been imposed by the Arabs during its construction, and as was usual in the kingdom of Castile, the successive monarchs swore the privileges of the city at take possession of it in some of its gates, always those of greater social or strategic importance, as symbol of power. In the Puerta de la Macarena swore Isabella I of Castile (1477), Ferdinand II of Aragon (1508), Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and his fiancee Isabella of Portugal (1526), ​​and finally Philip IV (1624), while the Puerta de Goles did Philip II (1570), why it was renamed Puerta Real.

During the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor carried out a major refurbishment of the public or royal gates of the Walls to integrate them into the widening promoted by the monarch in the cities and towns, in order to facilitate the transit of such common carriages in the period. These renovations affected the Puerta de Carmona, that the Puerta de la Carne, the Puerta Real, the Puerta del Arenal, the Postigo del Aceite, where Benvenuto Tortello made works in 1572, and Postigo del Carbón, which was moved from the beginning from the calle Santander until the end of it, as happened with the Puerta de Triana, originally on calle Zaragoza, which was transferred in 1585 farther north, at the confluence of that calle with de San Pablo.

Last period before being deprecated: 17th-19th centuries

Pipes inside the Walls near the Alcazar of Seville

Eventually its military function ceased to matter, and began to prevail a protective value against the flooding of Guadalquivir river. It also had a commercial function, because its presence and insulation factor it made in a customs through which it channeled and regulated the access to the city, stipulated with the payment of tariff. Also this surveillance facilitated the collection of important taxes and tributes that applied to the transit of people and goods, among which highlighted the portazgo, the alcabala or gored of the Walls, special tribute existing in Castile for this type of construction; finally it became a sanitary barrier, allowing the disease control.

In the 18th century it turn out to bring remodeling in the access gates. Was rebuilt the Puerta del Arenal, was opened a small chapel on the right side of the Postigo del Aceite, where was placed a baroque altarpiece with the image of the Immaculate Conception (patron of barrio del Arenal), work by Pedro Roldán; finally it rise the Puerta de San Fernando to the height of the Royal Tobacco Factory.

In 1836, during the invasion of Andalusia by Carlist forces, was made a moat with drawbridge near the Puerta de la Macarena in order to strengthen the set; then the Walls were practically intact. From the 1868 revolution began to tear down much of them, primarily due to the growth of the city; escaped the demolition stretches from the Macarena, where still seven square towers and one octagonal, until the Puerta de Córdoba, as well as some sections in the Jardines del Valle and the sector of the Alcazar. Furthermore are conserved the towers Torre Abd el Aziz, Torre de la Plata, Torre del Oro and Torre Blanca, own of the defenses of the walled enclosure.

See also

• List of Bien de Interés Cultural in the Province of Seville