Ticket to Royal Alcazar Seville and official guide

In this tour you will discover all the secrets and magnificent stories and curiosities with our guides .The origin of the Sevillian Alcazar is in the old citadel (al-qasbah) of Madinat Isbiliya, Islamic Seville Reserv now your Ticket to Royal Alcazar Seville and official guide. Over the centuries, the palatial space has been modified and renovated until it is in unbeatable conditions today, being considered the oldest royal palace in Europe that is still in use.

Ticket to Royal Alcazar Seville and Santa Cruz Quarter. Visit one of the most beautiful monuments with the best guides in the city.

Ticket to Royal Alcazar and Santa Cruz Quarter 

Our guided walking tour begins with an official guide discovering Santa Cruz´s quarter, the old Jewish´s quarter, a labyrinth formed by narrow streets that leads to the famous Plaza de los Venerables. Next, it is your turn to visit the Real Alcazar of Seville.
The Real Alcazar of Seville is a group of palaces surrounded by a wall, different styles have been used (Islamic-Mudejar and Gothic). In successive reforms, Renaissance and Baroque elements have been added. This place is usually used as accommodation place for the Royal Spanish House, being the oldest royal palace in Europe, as recorded by Unesco.

Gardens 

Finally, we must point out the important transformation of the gardens since the Renaissance with the creation of new fountains and ponds, pavilions, portals and galleries. The parterres have been permanently remodeled and, until the middle of the 19th century, improved with important innovations that make this garden environment one of the most beautiful and wonderfull spaces in Spain.

History of  the  Alcazar Palace

Next to the Plaza del Triunfo, on the corner between Calle Miguel de Mañara and Calle Santo Tomás, flanked by two towers and connected to a wall canvas that belonged to the former Al-Mubarak Palace of Al-Mutamid (11th century), you will find the Puerta del León, the main entrance to the Alcázar. On the lintel, under a machicolation, there is a tile mural designed by José Gestoso where a lion is represented in the Gothic style holding a crucifix with a phylactery or band where it can be read in Latin Ad utrumque (ready for everything).

Entrance to the Real Alcázar and Barrio de Santa Cruz. Visit one of the most beautiful monuments in Andalusia with the best guides in the city.

The lion is considered the king of animals.

Since ancient times, the lion has been used as a symbol of strength, power or wisdom, and in cultures such as Egypt, Mesopotamia, China or Japan it was already placed in buildings to drive away evil spirits, in addition to representing the sun and the light from her golden hair and from the belief that she never closed her eyes. The explanation that appears in many European buildings from the Middle Ages is that the royal houses adopted the lion as an emblem of royalty, which is why it is usually represented with a crown.

Ticket to Royal Alcazar Seville and Santa Cruz Quarter.

Visit one of the most beautiful monuments with the best guides in the city.

The door was the old entrance to the palace of Pedro I and apparently it adopted the name of Puerta del León from the 19th century. It was previously known as Puerta de la Montería, since it gave access to the Patio de la Montería. There are several hypotheses of this story, among others that the name of the door is given because it was the door through which the kings went hunting. This and other anecdotes will be explained by our guides in depth.

Ticket to Royal Alcazar and Guide tour 

Justice room

With entrance through the Patio del León, it is located in the old Sala del Mexuar, where the sura or council of viziers of the old Almohad palace of Yeso met. This work continued to be exercised in Christian times.

The Hall of Justice was built in the Mudejar style between 1340 and 1350 by King Alfonso XI, where heraldic decorations alternate with plasterwork of Muslim origin and is topped by a spectacular golden dome that closes a space that is similar to the Sala de Comares in the Alhambra in Granada.

Structurally, it is shaped like a qubba, an Arabic term that identifies a building with a square plan normally closed by a dome. This type of structure passed into Christian architecture through Mudejar art and, although it was used in burials and palatial buildings, it ended up giving rise to the word alcove.

The Palace

This Palace of more than 2,500 m2 built by King Pedro I between 1356 and 1366, owes its name to the Mudejar style that predominates in all its rooms, both in its structures and in its decorations. However, it is a Christian construction of new plant on existing Almohad remains and not an Arab construction conditioned for the use of a Christian monarchy. The palace was structured around the Courtyards of the Dolls and the Maidens, courtyards that differentiated the private life from the public life of the monarch, around which the rest of the palatial rooms were arranged.

Ticket to Royal Alcazar Seville and official guide

In love with Seville and the exotic taste of Muslim palaces, Pedro I established the seat of his court in the capital of Seville and planned a great palace to magnify his power. However, the project was not completed because he was assassinated in the Alcázar itself by his half-brother Enrique II after a civil war that led to the arrival of the Trastamara dynasty to the monarchy. Thus the works of the palace were slowed down until the arrival to power of the Catholic Monarchs, at which time Seville acquired great strategic relevance for the conquest of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada.

Entrance to the Real Alcázar and Barrio de Santa Cruz. Visit one of the most beautiful monuments in Andalusia with the best guides in the city.

The Mudejar Palace

Has undergone important remodeling in courtyards, gardens and buildings, adapting to new tastes and styles as the centuries progress, such as those carried out by Isabel I, Carlos V or Felipe II, with countless interesting stories and anecdotes happening. such as those of the Casa de Contratación or the Corral de la Montería, which will be told by our guides to the visitors as they make the tour of the different rooms.

Ticket to Royal Alcazar Seville and official guide

Meeting point from Monday to Saturday to visit the Barrio de Santa Cruz and Real Alcazar de Sevilla.

Meeting point on Sundays to visit the Barrio de Santa Cruz and Real Alcazar de Sevilla.