Page 447 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Spain

SANT A CRUZ  445

include sculptures of St Peter
and St Ferdinand by Pedro
Roldán, flanking the east
door; and The Apotheosis of
St Ferdinand by Lucas Valdés,
top centre in the reredos of the
main altar. Its frieze (inscribed
in Greek) advises to “Fear God
and Honour the Priest”.
In the sacristy, the ceiling
has an effective trompe l’oeil
depicting The Triumph of the
Cross by Juan de Valdés Leal.
6 Archivo de Indias
Avda de la Constitución. Map 3 C2.
Tel 95 450 05 28.  @ C5, Puerta
Jerez. v Archivo de Indias. Open
9:30am–5pm Mon–Sat (to 2pm mid-
Jun–mid-Sep), 10am–2pm Sun and
public hols. ^
The Archive of the Indies
illustrates Seville’s pre-eminent
role in the colonization and
exploitation of the New World.
Built between 1584 and 1598
to designs by Juan de Herrera,
co-architect of El Escorial
(see pp334–5), it was originally
a lonja (exchange), where
merchants traded. In 1785,
Carlos III had all Spanish
documents relating to the
“Indies” collected under one
Fresco by Juan de Valdés Leal in the Hospital de los Venerables roof. Among the archive’s 86
million handwritten pages
on display in adjacent rooms 5 Hospital de los and 8,000 maps and drawings
include a bas-relief of Leda and Venerables are letters from Columbus,
the Swan and two Roman reliefs Cortés and Cervantes, and the
commemorating the Battle of Plaza de los Venerables 8. Map 3 C2. correspondence of Felipe II.
Actium of 31 BC. Tel 95 456 26 96. v Archivo de Upstairs, the library rooms
Coming back to the Patio Indias. Open 10am–6pm daily. contain displays of drawings,
Closed 1 Jan, Good Friday, 25 Dec.
Principal, you turn right into & (free 2–6pm Tue). 7 8 maps and facsimile documents.
the Salón de Descanso de los
Jueces. Beyond is a rib-vaulted Set in the heart of the Barrio de
Gothic chapel, with Mudéjar Santa Cruz, this home for elderly
plasterwork walls and ceiling. priests was begun in 1675 and
On the altar is a copy of a completed around 20 years later
4th-century sculpture in the by Leonardo de Figueroa. It has
Vatican, The Good Shepherd. now been restored as a cultural
Left through the Gabinete de centre by FOCUS (Fundación
Pilatos, with its small central Fondo de Cultura de Sevilla).
fountain, is the Jardín Grande. Stairs from the central, rose-
Returning once more to the coloured, sunken patio lead to
main patio, behind the statue the upper floors, which, along
of Ceres, a tiled staircase leads with the infirmary and cellar,
to the upper floor. It is roofed are used as exhibition galleries.
with a won derful media naranja The Hospital church, a show-
(half-orange) cupola built in case of Baroque splendours, has
1537. There are Mudéjar ceilings frescoes by both Juan de Valdés
in some rooms, full of family Leal and his son Lucas Valdés. Façade of the Archivo de Indias by
portraits and antiques. Other highlights of the church Juan de Herrera

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