La Catedral de Sevilla, A Sight to See!

Photo by Maria Jose

By Ashley Lyons

  The most fascinating moment I had in Seville was my visit to the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See, also known simply as the Seville Cathedral and the Torre Giralda. It was unlike anything that I have ever seen. The Seville Cathedral is the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the world. It has Gothic style architecture throughout the entire place to show Seville’s wealth. The Tower of Giralda has very intricate patterns as well as the cathedral done in heavy Gothic stonework. The ceilings were extremely high done in stone and bricks with stained glass windows everywhere you look. There’s a monument inside the cathedral of Christopher Columbus where his remains are at its final resting place. Men representing the four kingdoms of Spain at the time are holding up the tomb. I thought this was kind of cool visiting a piece of history of a man we’ve been learning about in history since a child. There is a main mass area that is used for special occasion made up all of silver. The main choir area holds 117 chairs and has a large pipe organ that I wish I had the chance to experience.All of the mahogany wood that was around the church came straight from Cuba that gave the cathedral a real authentic feel. There were many beautiful paintings all around the church. It almost felt like we were in a museum with all of the history around us. The cathedral is still open to the public for mass and it is in Spanish. They are free to attend, but short in time. There are three times a day for daily mass. The Giralda is the bell tower attached to the cathedral. It’s over 300 feet tall. This was a rough walk up, but a beautiful sight to see overlooking all of Seville. You can see all the beautiful terracotta roofs and rooftop pools and gardens of people’s homes. Instead of stairs, the tower is a ramp going up 36 flights. It was made as a ramp so men were able to go up with horses more quickly than walking. The pathway was so narrow you can only pass by one at a time. Going down on foot was definitely harder than going up!