Gothic - Mudéjar Seville Walking Tour

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The Mudejar Art is going to be a relevant politics of construction for the Christian in the XIII and XIV centuries. After the recovery of the South of Spain from the hands of the Arabians, temples are immediately built on mosque sites as a symbolic operation: to represent the new power. The artistic confrontation between the Castilian, Gothic culture and the Andalusian, Moslem culture immediately appears, being the second culture the most characteristic artistic movement in the Medieval Spain: The Mudejar. The Gothic-Mudejar Seville is a loved city by the Castilian medieval monarchs and that is why numerous religious constructions became experimentations of the Mudejar architecture and so this art will be an important cultural focus, above all under the Alfonso X's reign. It is a city in which the development of the trade (the guilds) starts and it is a more hierarchized society, in which a pair of families will try to take more influence in the decissions of the city. We can not forget the numerous legends that everyday maintain the memory of such historical period alive. The Route: We will start in front of the famous Casa de Pilatos, in Zurbaran square. From that moment, the guide will try by all manner of means to move us to the Seville of the XIII, XIV and XV centuries. We will walk along the urban framework that keeps a Medieval style.
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We will pass throughout streets and squares, some of them unknown but in medieval times, they formed a very active zone: narrow streets and areas, legacy of the times under Moslem domination, where guild workshop, taverns, inns, houses were located; Squares were points of meeting and interchanging of trade, above all food that came from Extremadura. Apart from the temples, it is evident that the main constructions were the palaces and commercial buildings, such as "Alhondiga", where products of first necessity as the wheat were stored. In memory of this building, we will discover the church of Santa Catalina in Alhondiga street, the first visit of our walking tour. The church of Santa Catalina is a very interesting model of the Gothic-Mudejar architecture of the XIV century. To know the historical-artistic value of this church we will back to 1912, when it was declarated National Monument. From the church of Santa Catalina, we will walk to other fantastic model of the Sevillian Gothic-mudejar arquitecture: the church of San Pedro. But before, we will pass through the important Palacio de las Dueñas, named so because the Compañias de Dueñas that serve to the queens of San Fernando and Alfonso X el Sabio was placed there in 1248. Today it is the residence of the Duquesa de Alba. We can not forget that it was also the place where the poet Antonio Machado was born. After our visit to the church of San Pedro, we will walk the last part of our tour to arrive to the church of San Esteban. We will pass along the old "moreria" area, a minority population in all reconquested cities, but they helped to the development of an important artistic style: the Mudejar. We will walk again along narrow streets, squares with a Gothic-mudejar touch. We will make a pause in Cabeza del Rey Don Pedro street in order to know the legends in which the cruel monarch is mentioned. In our last visit, the church of San Esteban, we will appreciate the interesting and genuine Spanish Mudejar architecture with a mixture of Gothic elements, introduced by th Christians, gave the name of the original Gothic-mudejar art. It is now the moment of sitting down to rest with a fresh beer and a fantastic tapa. For this, we will go to the "meson extremeño" whose tables are placed in a Sevillian Gothic-mudejar area.