Central Nave, Seville Cathedral

The central nave houses two buildings: the Choir, flanked by large organs; and the Main Chapel surrounded by high bars. Among them is the transept, whose vaults are the highest in the temple and at this point reach 37 m in height. Behind the Choir is the Trascoro and in line with the above the Royal Chapel.

Main Altarpiece
The Main Chapel, located in the central nave, is delimited on the sides and on the front by gilded iron bars, in the Renaissance style. The altarpiece of this chapel constitutes one of the most outstanding works in the history of art. The sculpture of a crucified, named del Millón, a 15th century Gothic work, stands out. 45 In this altarpiece is the small image of the Virgin of the See from the 13th century, owner and patron of the cathedral.

The main altarpiece of the cathedral of Seville is a gigantic work of art that was designed by the Flemish sculptor Pedro Dancart in 1482 and is considered the largest altarpiece in Christendom. It was carried out over more than 80 years, and was fully completed in 1564. Various Spanish and foreign carvers worked in succession, continuing the work of Dancart, including Pedro Millán, Jorge Fernández Alemán, Roque Balduque, Juan Bautista Vázquez the Old Man and Pedro de Heredia.

History and description
Dancart or Danchart designed it in 1482 and was personally working on its implementation until 1492, when he probably died. The work was continued by the master craftsmen Marco and Bernardo de Ortega, who worked on it until 1505 and reached the beam or canopy. In 1509 Francisco de Ortega, who was the son of Bernardo and who was, in turn, the teacher of Bernardino and Nufrio de Ortega, who succeeded him, succeeded them. At the beginning of the 16th century the micer Domingo (Domenico Alexandro) made several figures. The imagery was completed by Jorge Fernández Alemán in 1526, who was previously living in Córdoba. The gilding and the stew were made by Alexo Fernández with his brother and by Andrés de Covarrubias.

The original design of Pedro Dancart was an altarpiece 20 meters high by 18 wide divided into 7 vertical streets, the central double width, 4 bodies high and a bench in the lowest part, in total containing 28 scenes from the life of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary.

In 1550 the council decided to add two side streets on each side located at right angles to what was done. This extension meant the need to carve 16 new reliefs with scenes from the old and the new testament, so the number of main reliefs amounted to 44. This second phase began in 1550 and was completed in 1564. In 1551 Roque participated Balduque, Pedro Becerril, Juan de Villalba and Diego Velázquez (not to be confused with the 17th century painter). In 1552 Pedro Bernal participated. In 1553 they called Juan Reclid and Luis del Águila, who lived in Jaén, to assess what the previous teachers had done. In 1554 Pedro de Heredia, Juan López, Andrés López del Castillo participated. In 1555 the children of Andrés López del Castillo: Nufrio de Ortega and Juan de Palencia. In 1561 Juan Bautista Vázquez participated. Some of the teachers previously mentioned collaborated on other occasions until 1564.

The set is completed with a canopy as a roof, in the center of which is a piety flanked by representations of the apostles. At the top of the monumental altarpiece stands an ancient crucified Christ from the 14th century who is known as Cristo del Millón. In the lowest part of the altarpiece, in the center of the bank, is the old carving of the Virgin of the See, from the 13th century, which gives its name to the temple.

Beneath the Virgen de la Sede there is a silver tabernacle. This tabernacle was made by Francisco de Alfaro in 1593. It is a semi-elliptical container with various relief figures of prophets below and angels above.

According to art historian Jose Gestoso and Perez:
The spirit is abyssed when considering the prodigious display of material and inventive work that represents the true world of art, its colossal proportions, the care and delicacy of its size, the infinite majors with which it is enriched, which escape the most penetrating glance, and the exquisite taste that in all the work is noticed, produce a true astonishment.

The chapel where the altarpiece is located is closed by a large wrought iron and gilded gate paid for by Archbishop Diego de Deza. It was manufactured in the first half of the 16th century. This grille is the main work of the friar and priest Francisco de Salamanca, who was a Dominican religious. He made it with the help of his companion Juan de Yepes and his disciple Antonio de Palencia. This grating consists of three bodies. The lower body has six Corinthian columns. About intercolumnsthere are some ornamental moldings and a central circle with the face of Jesus. The second body has six more stylized columns, on which there is a strip of circles with Biblical characters. Above this strip there is a representation of the Holy Burial.

On two side flanks of the chapel there is another pair of 16th century bars. The Cuenca artisan Sancho Muñoz designed them and began to manufacture them together with Juan de Yepes in 1518. They were completed by Diego de Idobro in 1523. They consist of a pair of bodies with pilasters, separated by ornamental motifs.

Scenes represented
From top to bottom, left to right

First row
1. Saint Mary Magdalene anoints the feet of Jesus.
2. The Burial of Christ.
3. The Three Marys in the grave.
4. Mary Magdalene at the feet of the Risen Christ.
5. The Ascension of Christ.
6. Limbo.
7. The Supper of Emmaus.
8. The coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
9. Conversion of Saint Paul.

Second row
10. Transfiguration of Jesus.
11. Arrest of Jesus.
12. The flogging.
13. The crowning of thorns.
14. Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
15. Ecce homo.
16. Jesus carries the Cross on his way to Calvary.
17. He plundered.
18. Expulsion of merchants from the Temple.

Third row
19. Jesus among the doctors.
20. Presentation of Jesus in the Temple.
21. The Baptism of Jesus.
22. Resurrection of Lazarus.
23. Assumption of the Virgin.
24. Entrance of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem.
25. The Last Supper.
26. Prayer in the Garden of Olives.
27. Multiplication of the loaves and the fish.
28. Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt.

Fourth row
29. The embrace of San Joaquín and Santa Ana.
30. The Birth of the Virgin.
31. Annunciation.
32. Birth of Jesus.
33. The Massacre of the Innocents.
34. The Circumcision of Jesus.
35. Adoration of the Kings.
36. Final Judgment.

Bottom
37. Creation of women.
38. View of Seville from the west.
39. Martyrdom of Saints Servando and Germán.
40. Martyrdom of a saint.
41. Virgin of the See.
42. View of the Seville Cathedral with San Isidoro and San Leandro.
43. Martyrdom of a saint.
44. Southern view of Seville with Santas Justa and Rufina.
45. Original sin and expulsion from paradise.

Trasaltar
The presbytery walls are decorated externally by a series of sculptures of various saints in round bulk and baked clay on shelves and under canopies. The total of sculptures is 59 which compose a set of unquestionable beauty, although they cannot be appreciated well for the height in which they are. They are Gothic, Renaissance and Mannerist sculptures, the result of the succession of artists who participated in the execution. From 1522 Miguel Perrin appears, who remains linked to these works until 1552. In 1564 Juan Marín is named a sculptor. Later, in 1572, Diego de Pesquera was named. The decoration was finally finished in 1575.

The Virgin of Rest stands out among all, a beautiful image of the Virgin with the Child asleep on her chest attributed to Miguel Perrin, which is located opposite the grille of the Royal chapel and once had great devotion among the people of Seville.

The devotion spread linked to the request of the pregnant women to have a good delivery, supported by an old tradition according to which every day a Jew passed by the feet of this image of the Virgin who daily recited an offense against the Virgin for being origin of Jesus. Despite this, his conversion to Christianity took place, and repented by the previous blasphemies against the image of the Virgin, he dedicated the rest of his life to spreading devotion to the Virgin of the Rest, convinced that it had been the origin of his conversion and consequent Salvation, for this reason she became considered protector of the childbirths of the Faith and simultaneously of the natural childbirths, for that reason she was popularly known as Our Lady of Bienpariese, protector of good childbirths. The devotion was enhanced by Doña María Osorio, At the bottom of this wall there is a chapel with a burial, dedicated to Our Lady of Soterraño, which currently belongs to the Marquis of Yanduri.

Chorus
It is built with stonework walls on three sides, occupies the space comprised by the fourth and fifth vaults of the central nave and the front is closed with a Renaissance-style grille completed in 1523 by Francisco de Salamanca. The seating consists of 127 stalls with backups made in marquetry of different woods to give a special colorful ornamentation, with reliefs of scenes from the Old and New Testament and representations of characters grotesques in the arms of the chairs and mercieswhere there are also game scenes.

On the main entrance planks to the choir are pointed elements with the separation made with columns ending in pinnacles. The three seats corresponding to the archbishop and his assistants are those that show great sculptural work. In one of the seats there is an inscription that says: “This choir was made by Nufro Sánchez entallador… 1475”, was not, however, the only woodworker who worked in the choir, because at his death, his son for a short time and later the teacher Pedro Dancart of the Netherlands took the charge of continuing with the work, his death in 1494 made his disciple Juan Alemán continue. The stonework was finished around 1511.

Trascoro
The trascoro was carried out by Miguel de Zumárraga in the Baroque style, he designed it in the year 1619 and after the works had been stopped for ten years, they were completed in 1635. It was built in valuable and colorful materials, such as marble and jasper. It is adorned with reliefs and busts of bronze presided over by a Gothic painting of the Virgen de los Remedios clear Italian influence.

Organ
The current organ was built by Aquilino Amezua in 1901 and restored by Gerhard Grenzing in 1996. It replaced an older one by Jordi Bosch i Bernat that was destroyed in the collapse of 1888 and was considered one of the best organs that had been built. built in Spain.

The furniture that houses it dates from 1724, it is the work of Luis de Vílches who designed the box and Duque Cornejo who was in charge of the sculptural decoration. Actually, these are two opposing twin instruments that form a great ensemble. It is played with both simultaneously from the same keyboard. It has four manual keyboards, one pedal keyboard and around 15,000 tubes.

Alabaster Chapels
They are called so because of the material in which they are built. They are four small chapels located on the side walls of the choir. They were made from 1515, the master Juan Gil de Hontañón and the architect Diego de Riaño intervened in their construction, who rethought the interior of them, replacing the Gothic style in which they were projected by the Renaissance. They are mentioned independently below. It is the Chapel of the Immaculate, Chapel of the Incarnation, Chapel of the Virgen de la Estrella and Chapel of San Gregorio.

Chapel of the Immaculate
On February 14, 1628, Jerónima Zamudio, widow of the jury Francisco Gutiérrez de Molina, commissioned the sculptor Martínez Montañés an altarpiece with an image of the Immaculate Conception to place it in this funeral chapel. After some delays in the execution and the consequent lawsuit, Martínez Montañés justified the delay in finishing the work with the following sentence: it will be one of the first things in Spain and the best thing that the aforementioned has done. Time proved him right, given the size of the Immaculate that presides over the altarpiece that was inaugurated on December 8, 1631, it is considered a work of exceptional value. She is popularly known as La Cieguecita because of her low gaze with her eyelids barely open.

The altarpiece as a whole consists of a bench in which the portraits of the patrons of the above-mentioned chapel that were painted by Francisco Pacheco in 1631 are placed. The central niche with the image of the Immaculate is flanked by carvings of Saint Gregory the Pope and San Juan Bautista as well as reliefs of San José, San Joaquín, San Jerónimo and San Francisco.

La Cieguecita is made of cedar wood, measures 164 cm and is conceived according to the model that Francisco Pacheco describedin his book Treatise on the Art of Painting. Therefore, it is a Virgin girl with a long mane that falls on her back. He wears a long tunic girdled with a girdle that symbolizes his maidenhood and a cloak over his shoulders that is gathered with his left arm, producing numerous folds. The head is adorned with a crown of 12 stars that allude to the twelve tribes of Israel. On the base appear the faces of three angels on a dragon representing sin.

Chapel of the Incarnation
It is chaired by an altarpiece attributed to Francisco de Ocampo y Felguera that was made around 1630 with the main theme of The Annunciation. In the bank of the same there are reliefs of San Juan Bautista, San Juan Evangelista, Santo Domingo, San Francisco and San Antonio.

Chapel of the Virgen de la Estrella
I owes its name to a Renaissance image of the Virgin that is believed was done by the Renaissance sculptor French – born Nicolas de Leon around 1530. This carving is located in a Baroque altarpiece by Jerónimo Franco dated 1695.

Chapel of San Gregorio
It is named after a sculpture of Saint Gregory placed in a niche. The saint carries a book containing the signature of its author Manuel García de Santiago (17th century).

Seville Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See is located in Seville. It is Gothic in style. It is the largest cathedral in the world. The Unesco declared in 1987, with the Real Alcázar and the Archivo de Indias, Heritage and, on July 25, 2010, Good of outstanding universal value. According to tradition, the construction began in 1401, although there is no documentary evidence of the beginning of the works until 1433. The construction was carried out on the site that was left after the demolition of the old aljama mosque in Seville, whose minaret (La Giralda) and patio (patio de los Naranjos) are still preserved.

One of the first masters of works was Master Carlin (Charles Galter), from Normandy (France), who had previously worked in other great European Gothic cathedrals and arrived in Spain believed to be fleeing the Hundred Years War. On October 10, 1506, the last stone was placed in the highest part of the dome, with which symbolically the cathedral was completed, although in fact work continued uninterruptedly throughout the centuries, both for the interior decoration, such as to add new rooms or to consolidate and restore the damage caused by the passage of time, or extraordinary circumstances, among which it is worth noting the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 that produced only minor damage despite its intensity. The architects Diego de Riaño, Martín de Gainza and Asensio de Maeda intervened in these works. Also at this stageHernán Ruiz built the last body of the Giralda. The cathedral and its outbuildings were completed in 1593.

The Metropolitan Cabildo maintains the daily liturgy and the celebration of the Corpus, Immaculate and Virgin of the Kings festivities. This last day, August 15, is also the titular festival of the temple, Santa María de la Asunción or de la Sede, and is celebrated with a solemn third and pontifical procession.

The temple houses the mortal remains of Christopher Columbus and several kings of Castile: Pedro I el Cruel, Fernando III el Santo and his son, Alfonso X el Sabio.

One of the last important works carried out took place in 2008 and consisted of replacing 576 ashlars that made up one of the great pillars that support the temple, with new stone blocks of similar characteristics but with much greater resistance. This difficult work was possible thanks to the use of innovative technological systems that showed that the building suffered oscillations of 2 cm daily as a consequence of the expansion of its materials.