Photos of the Beautiful Mudéjar style Alcazar of Seville Spain

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Photos of the Iconic Beautiful Mudéjar style Alcazar of Seville Palace, Spain and its Berber style plasterwork. Photos by photographer Paul E Williams. (TIP – use the icons below the slideshow for thumbnail photos and info)

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Photos of the Iconic Beautiful Mudéjar style Alcazar of Seville Palace,

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Photos the Alcazar of Seville, Spain.

Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis. It fell to to Muslin conquest of the Iberian Penninsular in 712. Seville came under the rule of the Caliphate of Cordoba and from the 8th to the 13th century was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate, followed by the Almoravid then Almohad dynasty.

Islamic Seville

500 years of Islamic rule has left Seville with a rich Islamic architectural heritage. The original nucleus of the Alcázar was constructed in the 10th century as the palace of the Muslem governor.

Rebuilding the Alcazar of Seville

The fortress was destroyed after the Christian conquest of Seville in 1248 and rebuilt in Mudéjar style. The Mudéjars refers to the group of Muslims left behind when the Islamic rule of Spain finished. Mudejar art, which was much influenced by Islamic art, but produced typically by Christian craftsmen for Christian patrons. The Alcazar of Seville is one of the great buildings that shows the influence of Islamic culture on Spanish architecture.

Alcazar of Seville a Blend of Styles

The Alcazar of Seville is a blend of the Gothic, Romanesque & Renaissance styles. The mathematic genius of the Islamic styles can be seem in the intricate plasterwork in the Alcazar and the palace is one of the best remaining examples of Mudéjar architecture.

Built and rebuilt from the early Middle Ages right up to our times, it consists of a group of palatial buildings and extensive gardens. The Alcázar embraces a rare compendium of cultures with areas of the original Almohad palace – such as the “Patio del Yeso” or the “Jardines del Crucero” – coexisting with the Palacio de Pedro I representing Spanish Mudejar art. Together with other constructions displaying every cultural style from the Renaissance to the Neoclassical.

The Alcázar and its gardens is a palatial fortress erected beginning in 712 by the conquering Arabs to control the Guadalquivir. It boasts a crenellated enclosure from the Almohad period as well as several interior spaces dating from before the Reconquest.

Alcazar of Seville A Royal Residence

After 1248 it became a royal residence for the Kings of Spain and was renovated during the reign of Peter the Cruel. The 1364-66 Alcázar renovation borrows its techniques and decorative expression from the Arabian art of Andalusia.

Today is used even today as the Spanish royal family’s residence in this city, thereby retaining the same purpose for which it was originally intended: as a residence of monarchs and heads of state.