About Seville

Seville is the capital and largest city of the Spanish Andalusia. It lies on the two banks of the River Guadalquivir. Seville with its population of about 703,000 is the fourth largest city in Spain.

Seville was founded as the Roman city of Hispalis, and later renamed as Ishbiliya after the Muslim conquested the city in the 8th century. In the thirteenth century it was finally blended into the Christian Kingdom of Castile under Kind Ferdinand in 1248. After the American continent was discovered, Seville became one of the economic centres of the Spanish Empire. The 17th century represented the most brilliant flowering of the city's culture.

Its old city center houses three UNESCO World Heritage Sites offers a lot of things to see in Seville: the Seville Cathedral the Alcazar palace and the General Archive of the Indies.

The Real Alcazar of Seville is one of the oldest royal palaces in Europe and is a group of buildings from different time periods with different architectural styles. The Alcázar palace was constructed from a earlier Moorish Palace. The building was started in 1181 and went on for more than five centuries, mostly in the Mudéjar stylecontaining some Renaissance motifs.

The other world heritage site is the General Archive of the Indies, is the repository of extremely valuable archival documents illustrating the history of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the Philippines. The General Archive of the Indies exists from the eighteenth century at the order of King Charles III, in order to collect in a single place all the important papers which refer to the colonies in the Indies.

Together with the Alcázar and the Indias Archive, the Seville Cathedral has the UNESCO World Heritage designation. Just as the Alcazar palace developed on a mosque, it is known as the third largest church in the European continent and the biggest Gothic building in Europe. It also boasts the largest altarpiece in the world.

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