Monumental Carmona Tour-trip - Paseando por Sevilla

Programa Itinerary (4 hours approx.) 1- Visit to the Necropolis. We will visit the most relevant monument of the Roman period conservated in Carmona. Archeaological complex, unique in its kind, was discovered in 1868 by chance thanks to Juan Fernández López and the English archaeologist Jorge Bonsor iniciative. The use of Necropolis dates from I and II centuries. The most common ritual of burying was the incineration. The dead bodies were incinerated into incinerator that was excavated in the rock where the pyre was placed. Sometimes, these incinerators were also used as burial, by settling the ashes on the grave, which was covered with ashlars. Once it was covered, astele was put to indicate the place and the name of the dead person. It is the collective mausoleum composed of a subterranean chamber of familiar size which is the most general type of burying in the Necropolis of Carmona. But there are two spectacular graves in the complex by which people get surprised: "Elefante" grave (grave of the Elephant) and Servilia grave. Both are monumental and different from the traditional structures represented in the Necropolis. The graves are decorated to conceal the roughness of the rock (white land). The Necropolis is one of the deposits of the Peninsula in which a great number of paintings are kept. We will finish our visit to the archeaological complex by going through the rooms of the small museum of the Necropolis, where rests of the graves are conserved. 2.- Visit to the Alcazar of the Gate of Seville. The town of Carmona occupies an inexpugnable meseta and in its low part, the fertile lands of the valley of Guadalquivir are extended. This privileged situation propitiates the existence of an uninterrupted centre of population from the Prehistory to nowadays. The Alcazar of the Gate of Seville had that defensive feature that always characterized Carmona and it also shows us the antiquity of the town since archeaological constructions and modifications have been located from VIII a.c. century. The Carthaginians constructed a bastion upon the primitive tower of the VIII century a.c. and it was when its quadrangular aspect started to be adquired. But it was in the Roman period when the first lines of its actual aspect were adquired. The intervation of the Romans in this gate and the rest of gates that were constructed in the town, gave rise to the fact that Carmona was the most safe and strong place of the Betica during the Old Times. Between the IX and XII d.c. centuries, transformations under Moslem order were carried out and then the Christian transformations after the reconquest. At the end of the XVI century, Carmona took its definitive configuration with two main elements: on one hand, the Alcazar, primitive bastion with the Golden Tower, the Homenage tower and the towers that were built in the "Presos" room at that time. On the other hand, the Gate of Seville. 3.- Historical monumental part walking tour.
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We can enter in the historical city, place that were well defended during centuries, with the intention of walking along its streets and squares and getting surprised by the numerous rests that are still conserved in Carmona in historical periods. Above all, we will discover rests of the Medieval and Modern Carmona in the walk. We will see the Medieval part when we pass along its narrow and old streets with a clear Moslem style; we will see the Modern Carmona in the hermetical buildings, in femenine convents as the "Madre de Dios" or "de las Descalzas" convent, in front of palaces as the "Aguilar" or "Rueda" palace, in the monumental features of churches as "Salvador" or "Santiago" church. "San Fernando" square was a roman forum and a principal point of meeting of the habitants of Carmona. We will have a small pause in our walk in the interesting front of the "Casa Mudejar2 and the "Old Cabildo". The different bars of the squares will be very usefull for us. 4.- Visit to the "Prioral of Santa Maria". Without any doubt, the "Prioral of Santa Maria" is the major exponent of the religious architecture of Carmona. It was built on the site of the major old mosque, whose patio of "abluciones" is still conservated. The real importance of this architectonic complex is in the Christian temple, which was conceived according to the late-gothic Andalusian aesthetic and whose construction was finished in two parts in the XV and XVI centuries. Besides of the architecture of the building with its vaults, glass windows, chapels...Santa Maria also has: the Visigothic liturgical calendar engraved in one of the shafts of the columns of the patio, the major altarpiece made in 1563 by Juan Bautista Vazquez as the works of the most relevant Andalusian image maker, and of course the major sacristy that is interesting not only for its architecture but also for the artistic treasures that are kept into it. 5.- Visit to the Museum of the Town Marques de las Torres Palace House. The Centre of Interpretation and Museumof the town, placed in the Palace of the Marques de las Torres (example of the architecture of the palaces in Carmona of the XVIII), makes us to understand the history of Carmona from the beginning to nowadays in a didactic and amusing way, and with it, we can clearly contextualize all what we have visited when arrived in Carmona. We will be able to appreciate from the archeaological rests of the Paleolitic, Calcolitic, Tartesic, Turdetan, Roman or Andalusian period to the pictoric collection of the contemporary artists. Not only we will know the history of Carmona but also of the whole Andalusia.