Two churches …

I planned to have a slightly less hectic day today but I ended up being pretty busy - partly due to several attractions being included on tickets from the catedral and Alcázar which were only valid today.

My first stop, after breakfast from the bar next to my hotel, was the Church of Santa Maria La Blanca (Holy Mary the White) about 2 minutes walk further along the street.

In a slight variation from a regular theme in Seville, there was a 11th century mosque, which was replaced by a synagogue after the Reconquista (in 1248) until the Jews were expelled from the Santa Cruz district in 1391, by which time this area had become a ghetto.

After the Jews left, the synagogue was rebuilt as a church named for Our Lady of the Snow (who is connected to a miraculous snowfall in Rome in August 532). The church was remodelled in the 1660s in a baroque Rococo style.

Next, I walked across the historic centre to find the Church of San Salvador (St Saviour’s) which we saw on the walking tour. This is the second largest church, built on the site of the original grand Adabbas mosque of Seville, built by the Umayyads in the 9th century.

Immediately after the Reconquista in the 13th century, the mosque building was repurposed and reoriented as a church, with the main altar at eastern side and a sacramental chapel in place of the mihrab on the northern side (yes, I thought the mihrab would have faced east to Mecca, but not here)

By the 17th century, the city decided it was time for a new church, and so a new baroque church was built in its place. In some respects, this results in a more coherent and simpler worship space than the catedral (although it still has v ornate altarpieces).

After major renovations in the 1990s, the remains of both the mosque and initial conversion were uncovered, and are the focus of a fascinating account of the history of this site in the crypt. The ground in the time of the mosque was about 2m lower than it is now, and the water table has risen, such that it is above the ground level in the 9-13th centuries.Baca selengkapnya