Page 439 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

EL ARENAL  437

Seville’s Fiestas
April Fair (two weeks after
Easter). Life in the city moves
over the river to the fair-
ground for a week. Here,
members of clubs, trade
unions and neigh bourhood
groups meet in casetas
(enter tainment booths) to
drink and dance all night
to the infectious rhythm of
sevillanas. (Access to booths
may be limited to private
parties.) Every day, from
around 1pm, elegant,
traditionally dressed riders
Finis Gloriae Mundi by Juan de Valdés Leal in the Hospital de la Caridad on horseback and mantilla-
crowned women in open
4 Hospital de la Gloriae Mundi (The End of the carriages show off their finest
Caridad World’s Glory) by Juan de Valdés flamenco attire in parades.
Leal, and opposite hangs his During the after noons,
Calle Temprado 3. Map 3 B2. Tel 95 morbid In Ictu Oculi (In the Blink bullfights are often staged in
422 32 32.  v Puerta Jerez. @ 3, of an Eye). Many of the other the Maestranza bullring.
21, 40, 41, C4, C5. Open 9am–1:30pm, works that can be seen are by Holy Week (Mar/Apr). Over
3:30–7:30pm daily. & ^ 100 gilded pasos (floats
Murillo, including St John of God
Carrying a Sick Man and portraits bearing religious images) are
This charity hospital was founded of the Child Jesus and St John borne through the streets
between Palm Sunday and
in 1674 and it is still used today the Baptist as a Boy. Easter Day. Singers in the
as a sanctuary for elderly and crowds often spontaneously
infirm people. In the gardens burst into saetas, fragments
stands a statue of its benefactor, 5 Torre del Oro of song in praise of Christ or
Miguel de Mañara, whose Paseo de Cristóbal Colón. Map 3 B2. the Virgin. Emotions are high
dissolute life before he joined a Tel 95 422 24 19.  v Puerta Jerez. in the early hours of Good
brotherhood is said to have @ 3, 6, 21, 40, 41, C3, C4. Open Friday as the images of the
inspired the story of Don Juan. 9:30am–6:45pm Tue–Fri, 10:30am– Virgen de la Macarena and
The façade of the hospital church, 6:45pm Sat & Sun. Closed Aug & Mon. the Virgen de la Esperanza
with its whitewashed walls, & (free Tue & for EU citizens). ^ of Triana emerge from
reddish stonework and framed their churches.
azulejos, provides a glorious In Moorish Seville the Tower of Corpus Christi (May/Jun).
example of Sevillian Baroque. Gold formed part of the walled The Seises, boys dressed in
Inside are two square patios defences, linking up with the Baroque costume, dance
decorated with plants, 18th- Real Alcázar (see pp446–7). It was before the main altar of the
cathedral (see p443).
century Dutch tiles, and foun- built as a defensive lookout in
tains with Italian statues of 1220, with a companion tower
Charity and Mercy. At their on the opposite bank. A
north ern end a pas sage to the metal chain stretched
right leads to another patio, between them to prevent
containing a 13th- century hostile ships from sailing
arch which sur vives from upriver. The gold in
the city’s shipyards. its name may be
Inside the church the gilded azulejos
there are a number of that once clad its
original canvases by walls, or treasures
some of the lead ing from the Americas
painters of the 17th unloaded here, or
century, despite the the gold reflection
fact that some of its it casts on the
greatest artworks water. The tower
were looted by has had many uses,
Marshal Soult during The Torre del Oro, built such as a chapel
the Napoleonic by the Almohads and a prison. Now,
occupation of 1808– as the Museo
14 (see p66). Directly above the Marítimo, it exhibits maritime Float in Holy Week procession
entrance is the ghoulish Finis maps and antiques.

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