From Medinaceli to Murillo

By Maggie Hamilton

Today was our first full day in Seville and we headed off bright and early with a guided walking tour of some of the city’s important monuments, districts, and museums. We first stopped off at la Casa de Pilatos, a palace belonging to the wealthy and noble Medinaceli family. Walking through the palace, we began to notice the layout looked very similar to the Real Alcázar we saw yesterday, and our tour guide, Reme, pointed out that the similarities between the two palaces were intentional, as la Casa de Pilatos was built to imitate the looks of the Real Alcázar! Like the palace we toured yesterday, the Medinaceli house had extensive and detailed Mudejar art and architecture on the ground floor and renaissance-style architecture on the top floor. However, in la Casa de Pilatos, Reme pointed out that the marble columns on the first floor were originally made of brick as a part of the Mudejar art style, but were replaced by a later owner during the rise of Renaissance architecture and style. 

Additionally, the chapel located in the palace was designed in the Gothic style, adding to the already interesting mix of art styles throughout the building. This marriage of the 3 styles was a unique way to view how quickly “popular” art and architecture styles can go out of fashion; it was awesome to see how much changed over the course of the building’s history. 

Reme then led us through the city and a popular shopping district to our next location: Las Setas. Las Setas, meaning “the mushrooms,” is the largest wooden structure in the world. Built by German architect Jürgen Mayer, Las Setas is located in the central Plaza de Encarnación and covers an area of approximately 3,500 square meters and has an approximate height of 23 meters (~75 feet!). We learned that the work’s name was originally Metropol Parasol, but was nicknamed “las setas” by the locals because of the structure’s mushroom-like shape. 

We then headed further to the Museum of Fine Arts, which I was greatly looking forward to! The museum was set up chronologically and was filled with works that were donated by various churches and monasteries throughout Spain, meaning most of the artwork we saw were biblical depictions. We started with artwork from the Middle Ages and worked our way up to Baroque. I found it interesting to learn that after a certain period, it was deemed incorrect to depict the Virgin Mary as older than 17-19 years old in artwork, regardless of her actual age; therefore in every following portrait, her face was that of a teenager. Upon stepping into the room full of an extensive collection of Murrilo works, I was drawn to one in the left corner of the room of two women holding what appeared to be a minaret from a mosque. After looking at the painting and wondering about the symbolism of the girls and their tower, Simon voiced my same questions to Reme, to which she explained that this was Murillo’s depiction of Santa Justa and Santa Rufina, the co-patrons of Seville. She began to tell the legend: the two sisters refused to sell their pottery during a Pagan celebration and instead professed their loyalty to Christ. This upset the townspeople, and they began to shatter all of their pottery and creations. In retaliation, the sisters overturned a statue of Venus and were instantly arrested. While Justa passed away in jail, Rufina refused to denounce her faith and was thrown into an amphitheater with a group of lions to be eaten; however, the spectators marveled to see that the lions approached Rufina only to lick her feet rather than attack. After refusing to give up her faith once again, she was martyred. Reme also pointed out that the minaret in the painting is the Giralda, the bell tower from the Cathedral of Seville that we saw yesterday, and that the two sisters are said to have protected the tower in every major earthquake since its creation. 

After our tour we grabbed a quick lunch and met back up for a guest lecture with Professor Daniel Padilla González where we talked about the history of playwriting and storytelling and important stereotypical character depictions. We then talked about the play we had to read for class, El burlador de Sevilla, and integrated our earlier conversations about character building while adding modern day analysis. Professor González’s insight was very helpful in understanding the history behind the play; I always really enjoy our guest lectures!

To end off the day, we took a relaxing river cruise on Canal de Alfonso XIII and took in the surrounding scenery while gently drifting along. The sun was just about to set, giving a golden color to all of the buildings and nature along the shorelines, which was stunning. Some friends and I then headed to dinner in the area and then back to the hotel after a long but enriching day!