Part 4 (2/2)

If we enter the precincts of the old Mosque by the Puerta del Perdon, in the Calle de Alemanes, we shall see the bronze-covered doors which may have formed one of the entrances to the building. The bronze has been spoilt by paint, but one can note the distinctly Moorish character of these great doors. This gate was reconstructed by Alfonso XI. after the victory of Salado. In its present state it dates from 1340. Bartolome Lopez added the plateresque ornamentations about 1522. The sculptures over the doorway are statues of St. Peter and St. Paul, an Annunciation and the Expulsion of the Money Changers from the Temple. Before the Lonja was built, the merchants of Seville used the court within as an exchange. Hence the relief of the Expulsion, a fine piece of carving by the Italian, Miguel, representing Christ chastising the money changers from the Temple. Miguel of Florence was one of the early Renaissance sculptors who came to Spain.

Under the archway of the Gate of Pardon is a modern shrine. At almost all hours of the day sin-stricken supplicants, chiefly women, may be seen kneeling on the stones before the altar.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Puerta del Perdon]

Through the gateway we enter the quiet retreat of the Patio de los Naranjas, or the Court of the Oranges, which formed the courtyard of the ancient Morisco temple. The lofty Cathedral is before us; on the left towers the imposing Giralda, and to the right hand is the Sagrario, or parish church. There is a beautiful Moorish fountain in the centre of the court, with an octagonal basin. Every Morisco _patio_ had its fountain, orange and lemon trees, and marble seats. In the walls of the Sacristry of the Sagrario, we shall find further traces of the Moorish decoration in the form of _azulejos_ which belonged to the original Mosque.

The _patio_ is smaller than that of the _mezquita_ of Cordova, and with the exception of the few relics which I have described, there is not much suggestion of former grandeur.

But imagination calls forth the figure of a Mueddjin upon the minaret, chanting the _Adyan_, or call to prayer, as the sun tints the sky at its setting. The wors.h.i.+ppers repair to the baths to purify themselves for devotion by was.h.i.+ng their bodies. 'Regularly perform thy prayer at the declension of the sun,' says the Sura, 'at the first darkness of the night and the prayer of daybreak; for the prayer of daybreak is borne witness unto by the angels.' Five times during the day the pious Mohammedans spread their mats here, and prayed to Allah.

The Crescent has vanished from the Giralda. A figure of Christian faith stands there in its stead, and from the Cathedral issue the strains of the choristers and the swelling of the organ. For long centuries this spot in the heart of Seville has been dedicated to wors.h.i.+p. Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Catholic Christians each in their day of power have bent the knee to their deities upon the ground which we are now treading. It is a strange, composite fane! The lower part of the Giralda is Moorish, the upper part Christian. In the middle of the Court of the Oranges we have the Moslem fountain; and in the wall is a stone pulpit from which many eminent Catholic divines have preached against heresy.

The Giralda, incorporated with the Cathedral, dominates all, but it is the most Moorish feature of the great pile.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Stone Pulpit in Court of Oranges.]

We must now inspect the minaret. Our way is through the Capilla de la Granada of the Cathedral. Here we may see one more monument of the Moors, a horseshoe arch, once a part of the Mosque. Within, suspended from the roof, is a huge elephant's tusk, a bridle, said to have belonged to the Cid's steed, and a stuffed crocodile, a present from the Sultan of Egypt, who sent it to Alfonso el Sabio, with a request for the King's daughter as wife.

The ascent of the Giralda is not laborious. We can walk up the inclined plane without losing breath; and at each window of the stages there are lovely peeps of the city and the vast plain of the Guadalquivir. From these windows there are fine outlooks upon the Cathedral, and the details of its wonderful b.u.t.tresses can be well studied as we ascend stage by stage. The stages, or _cuerpos_, of the tower are all named.

We soon arrive at the Cuerpo de Campanas, where there is a peal of bells. Santa Maria is a ponderous bell which cost ten thousand ducats.

It was set up in the year 1588 by the order of the Archbishop Don Gonzalo de Mena. This bell is vulgarly called 'the plump' by reason of its great bulk and weight. Its note is deep and resonant, and can be heard all over the city, and far away in the country, when the wind is favourable.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cuerpo de Azucenas]

Another _cuerpo_ is that of the Azucenas, or white lilies, so called on account of its architectural urns, with ironwork flower decorations. El Cuerpo del Reloj (the Clock Tower) contained the first tower-clock made in Spain. It was put in its place in the presence of King Enrique III.

The present clock was the work of Jose Cordero, a monk, and it dates from 1765. It is said that portions of the old clock were used by Cordero.

Around the more modern part of the Giralda is an inscription in Latin: _Turris Fortisima Nomen Domini_. Each word of the motto occupies one of the faces of the tower. The Cuerpo de Estrellas, or Stage of the Stars, is so named in allusion to the decorations of its faces. Notice the _ajimez_ windows as you ascend the tower. The fourth and last _cuerpo_ is the Corambolas, or billiard b.a.l.l.s, referring to the globes of stone in the decoration.

We emerge upon a gallery below the great statue of La Fe, thirteen feet in height, and made out of bronze by Bartolome Morel, in 1568. This figure of a woman is a vane, which moves with every wind in spite of its size and weight. It is a wonderful piece of workmans.h.i.+p. The head of the Faith is crowned with a Roman helmet, and in the woman's right hand is the great standard of Rome in the time of the Emperor Constantine. In the left hand the figure holds a palm branch, a symbol of conquest. The true name of the statue is La Fe Triumfante; but in the common speech of Seville it is spoken of as Victoria, Giraldillo, Santa Juasma, and El Muneco.

Don Alfonso Alvarez-Benavides, in his little book on _La Giralda_, published in Seville, tells us that the statue of the Faith has suffered several lightning strokes. One of these attacks severely scorched the upper section of the tower. In the afternoon of April 26, 1884, during a terrific thunder-storm, a shower of sparks fell upon the Giralda and caused much damage. Again, on the 18th of June 1885, lightning a.s.sailed the building. The work of restoration began in the year 1885, and was completed in 1888, under the direction of Fernandez Casanova.

It was in 1568 that Hernan Ruiz erected the highest _cuerpo_ of the minaret by order of the Cathedral authorities. Ruiz was often employed by the Church, and his work may be seen in the restored _mezquita_ of Cordova.

The Giralda is about three hundred feet in height. As the surrounding country is level, we can command a very wide expanse from the gallery below the statue of the Faith. Looking over the roofs and dome of the Cathedral, we see the Plaza de Toros, and the suburb of Triana, on the opposite bank of the Guadalquivir. Among the low hills beyond the Cartuja, to the right of Triana, is the ancient Roman amphitheatre of Italica, while in the extreme distance are blue mountains.

Beyond the Alcazar we note the Parque, the Delicias, the Prado de San Sebastian, and the red clay hills of Coria on the right bank of the broad river. Further away are the interminable marshes bordering the estuary, and beyond is San Lucar. Below us is the Archbishop's Palace and the gardens of the Alcazar. Seville is spread beneath us like a huge map. We look down on roof gardens, into _patios_, along the white, narrow _calles_, into the _plazas_, and across the housetops to the fertile land beyond the Roman walls.

It is a prospect that inspires the spectator. Fair, sunny, fruitful Andalusia stretches around for league upon league, under a burning blue sky. The air is clear; there is scarcely a trace of smoke from the myriad chimneys of the city. No town could be brighter and cleaner. We are above the brown hawks that nest in the niches of the Cathedral. They float on outspread wings over the b.u.t.tresses. The pa.s.sengers in the streets are like specks; the trees in the Court of the Oranges are but shrubs. It is one of the finest panoramas in Spain. One is reluctant to descend from this breezy platform, and to turn one's back upon the fine bird's-eye view of Seville and the surrounding landscape.

It is a misfortune that sun, wind and rain have almost expunged the frescoes that decorate the niches of the Giralda. They were the work of Luis de Vargas, who painted the altar-piece in the Chapel of the Nativity in the Cathedral. Vargas was a pupil of Perino del Vaga in Italy. One of the paintings on the Giralda represented the Saints of Seville, St. Justa and St. Rufina, who protect the tower from harm, and other subjects were scenes in the lives of saints and martyrs. Vargas also executed the fresco of Christ bearing the Cross, or the _Calle de Amargura_, on the outside of Patio de los Naranjas. The picture was restored by Vasco Pereyra, in 1594. We read of Luis de Vargas that he was extremely devout. He practised austerities and mortifications, and slept with a coffin by his bedside, to remind him of the insecurity of this earthly life. The ascetic artist was born in Seville, in 1502, and died there about the year 1568.

Like the monument of London, and many other high towers, the Giralda has often been used by suicides. A number of despairing persons have thrown themselves from its summit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Giralda]

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