Grotto Gallery and The Gardens, Royal Alcazar of Seville

Grotto Gallery located between the large and small royal garden, this route can overlook the landscape and layout of the garden, making it easy to understand the structure of the royal garden. Designed by Vermondo Resta, this work is the result of the transformation of the old Almohad wall in a gallery lined up with grotta work (grutesco) and Renaissance paintings. A structure that, according to the tastes of the time, permits a broader perception of the gardens; without denying the most intimate experience inherited from the Islamic period. Thus, the path on the treetops allows to rebuild synthetically t the different gardens that make up the Alcázar of Seville. A heterogeneous conglomeration of styles where, as stated Murube, a pattern and common beauty seems to put it all together.

Behind the Mercury pond there is a 160-meter-long wall that runs in a northwest-southeast direction through the gardens and that compartmentalizes the green area into two distinct areas: on one side the primitive gardens and on the other, the old area of orchards that was also converted into gardens in the late nineteenth century, which abound with orange and lemon trees.

The origin of this construction is found in an old Almohad wall canvas from the 12th century, which served as a military defense and against the flooding of the Tagarete River. In 1612, the architect Vermondo Resta transformed the wall into the current Grutescos Gallery decorated on one of the faces of the wall. The ornamentation basically consisted of covering the walls with courses of different stones, plastering and painting between the stones, with imitations of marbles and frescoes by Diego Esquivel of classic mythological scenes. The transformations went as far as the 19th century, when this area acquired the appearance it currently has. This wall also has an upper gallery that can be visited since it has a splendid view.

Gardens of the Alcazar of Seville
The gardens of the Alcázar of Seville existed since the late Middle Ages, although they were remodeled in the 16th century, in the Renaissance.

Over time it has been enriched with exotic plants from all corners of the world, currently cataloging more than 170 species in its 60,000 m2 of surface.

In the 10th century the Muslims created a fortress in this area. In the 13th century it was a space of small gardens and large orchards. The gardens were remodeled in the 16th century. The Almohad remains of this palace are the Almohad courtyard of the Casa de Contratación, the Patio del Yeso and remains of the original walls.

Among the main areas is the Mercury pond, the garden of Dance and the garden of the Ladies.

Pond of Mercury
The Mercury pond is likely to have been built in the Arab period as a storage and regulation element for the water supply of the entire citadel.

In the center of this pond there is a 1576 bronze statue of the Greek god Mercury, designed by Diego de Pesquera and cast by Bartolomé Morel. By the same authors are the railing that surrounds the pond, the figures of lions holding shields at its angles and the 18 balls with pyramidal spikes that surround the pond.

Grutesco Gallery
Behind the Mercury pond there is a 160-meter-long wall that runs in a northwest-southeast direction through the gardens and that compartmentalizes the green area into two distinct areas: on one side the primitive gardens and on the other, the old area of orchards that was also converted into gardens in the late nineteenth century, which abound with orange and lemon trees.

The origin of this construction is found in an old Almohad wall canvas from the 12th century, which served as a military defense and against the flooding of the Tagarete River. In 1612, the architect Vermondo Resta transformed the wall into the current Grutescos Gallery decorated on one of the faces of the wall. The ornamentation basically consisted of covering the walls with courses of different stones, plastering and painting between the stones, with imitations of marbles and frescoes by Diego Esquivel of classic mythological scenes. The transformations went as far as the 19th century, when this area acquired the appearance it currently has. This wall also has an upper gallery that can be visited since it has a splendid view.

Dance Garden
Going down some stairs, next to the pond of Mercury, is the garden of the Dance. This garden was made in the 1570s. Through a passage you can access the María Padilla baths, which are vaulted passages from the 12th century.

The name is due to the fact that in the 16th century there were two statues in the two columns at entrance that represented a satyr and a dancing nymph. These statues were last photographed by Jean Laurent in the 19th century, but are currently missing.

In the center there is a low fountain from the 16th century.

Trojan Garden
It is a landscaped mannerist patio. On the south side there is a gallery with arches and grotesques details in the columns was performed by Vermondo Resta in 1606.

On the first floor on the opposite side there is a gallery with semicircular arches and Doric marble columns made by Lorenzo de Oviedo in the second half of the 16th century. There was a labyrinth here, but it was removed and a new floor was laid in 1599. From this moment on it was no longer called the Labyrinth garden and became known as “of Troy”.

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In the center is a fountain with a marble cup. The source was placed between 1675 and 1759.

Galley Garden
It is connected to the Troy garden by a semicircular arch and also by a staircase with a room in the palace of Pedro I. It has four flowerbeds with diverse vegetation. There is a marble column with an inscription in honor of Al-Motamid.

Flower Garden
In the center is a small rectangular pond. are the remains of a small grotto built at the end of the sixteenth century and now houses a bust of Carlos I.

Prince’s Garden
Next to the Flower Garden is the Prince’s Garden. Its name comes because it can be accessed from the Prince’s room, where Prince John was born in the 15th century. The façade in the background is the work of Lorenzo de Oviedo in the 16th century. In it there is a ground floor with a gallery with marble columns that support semicircular arches. Above there is a first floor with windows and, above this, a second floor with another row of columns and semicircular arches. It’s about mannerist architecture.

The garden is divided into four by hedges and has a fountain in its center.

Garden of the Ladies
It was made in 1526, on the occasion of the wedding of Carlos I and Isabel de Portugal. It was expanded in the seventeenth century in the direction of the old orchard of the Alcoba, having its limit in the Grutesco del Vermondo Resta gallery. In the 18th century, Spanish heraldic shields were made here with box hedges. At present it is structured in eight quadrants delimited with myrtle and bonnet hedges. In the center is an 18th century marble fountain with a bronze statue of Neptune. There is a 17th century hydraulic organ on the wall.

Carlos V Pavilion
Carlos V’s pavilion was built between 1543 and 1546 by Juan Fernández. It is in Mudejar style. It has a square plan. Inside there is a hemispherical vault. All its walls, both interior and exterior, as well as its benches, are covered with 16th century tiles made by Juan Polido and his father Diego Polido. The exterior is surrounded by four arcaded galleries with semicircular arches supported on marble columns.

Arbor of the Lion
Diego Martín de Orejuela built two gazebos in the 17th century. These were the Ochavado gazebo, now disappeared, and the Lion gazebo, which is preserved. The Lion’s gazebo was built between 1644 and 1645. There is a room with a square floor plan which is accessed by a semi-circular arch. On the three remaining flanks there are windows inserted in ornacinas. This room is covered by a tiled dome on the outside. In front there is a fountain with a lion, of unknown origin.

English Garden
This area has been within the walls of the Alcázar since the Almohad extension of the 12th century that was made in the direction of the current San Fernando street. Until the 20th century, this area had remained an agrarian space, of medieval origin, known as the Alcoba orchard. The current space, which mimics the style of English gardens, is a reform of 1927.

Garden of the Marquis de la Vega-Inclán
From the China garden you can access the Marqués de la Vega-Inclán garden. The entrance to the China Garden is the 15th century Marchena Gate, moved to this place in 1913 by the then curator of the Alcázar, the Marquis de la Vega-Inclán. This gothic cover was acquired by Alfonso XIII in an auction of goods from the Casa de Osuna and came from an abandoned palace of the Dukes of Arcos in the town of Marchena.

This entire garden was created in the early 20th century. It was the old orchard of the Retiro, which extended to the nearby Catalina de Ribera promenade. Today it is a garden of parallel and perpendicular streets decorated with various plant species and fountains.

Garden of the Poets
It was made between 1956 and 1958 by the then conservative, Joaquín Romero Murube. has two large ponds and garden tipológicamente recreates Seville, synthesis of Islamic influences, renaissance and romantic.

Royal Alcazar of Seville
The Real Alcázar of Seville is a walled palatial complex built in different historical stages. Although the original palace was built in the High Middle Ages, some vestiges of Islamic art are preserved and, from the period after the Castilian conquest, a Mudejar palatial space and another in the Gothic style. In later reforms, Renaissance, Mannerist and Baroque elements were added.

The Alcázar of Seville is a royal palace in Seville, Spain, originally developed by Moorish Muslim kings. The palace is renowned as one of the most beautiful in Spain, being regarded as one of the most outstanding examples of Mudéjar architecture found on the Iberian Peninsula. The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as the official Seville residence and are administered by the Patrimonio Nacional.

It is the oldest royal palace still in use in Europe, and was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Seville Cathedral and the General Archive of the Indies.

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