The Alcázar of Seville and its Great Mosque (the palace and the Giralda)

Enan says: “The palaces of the Banu Abbad were famed in history and poetry, and among them in the city of Seville were several seats of their rule, including the Palace of the Emirate, which was the “Blessed Palace”. It stood east of the Guadalquivir, on the site now occupied by the famous Alcázar of Seville.” It is likely that al-Mu‘tadid built it, or that he added to it (Enan 2/55). Al-Maqqari mentions “his splendid palaces, among them al-Mubarak and al-Thurayya”, in a poem longing for al-Mu‘tamid’s gatherings (Nafh al-Tib 4/267, excerpt). The tower was built from the bricks of Ibn Abbad’s palace wall a century later, as will be seen.

Enan says: “The greatest of the works of the caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf in Seville is the Great Mosque.” He records that work on laying it out began in Ramadan 567 AH, and that many houses were demolished for it under the supervision of the ‘arif Ahmad ibn Basa. The reason was that the old mosque of Seville, the mosque of Ibn Adabbas built in 214 AH, had become too small for the people (Enan 4/72).

Enan, citing Ibn Sahib al-Salat, who was an eyewitness, reports that the caliph “founded it of water, with fired brick, mortar, pebbles and stones”. Ibn Sahib al-Salat describes it: “It rivalled the mosque of Córdoba in its breadth; there is no mosque in al-Andalus to match it, in its breadth and the number of its aisles” (Enan 4/72–73, citing “al-Mann bi-l-Imama”). This is reported second-hand, as the manuscript is not available in the library.

Among the construction details that Enan summarizes (4/73):

- The channel of running water beneath the site of the mosque was diverted elsewhere.

- A sabat (covered passageway) was built on the left of the mihrab, which the caliph crossed from the palace to the mosque for Friday prayer.

- The minbar was made of sandalwood, ivory and ebony, inlaid with sheets of gold and silver.

- Construction took three years and eleven months.

- The first sermon was delivered there on Friday, 24 Dhu al-Hijja 577 AH.

So the sabat connects the palace to the mosque here, just as it had connected them in Córdoba before. As for the old mosque of Ibn Adabbas, its site is today occupied by the Iglesia Colegial del Salvador in the centre of the city, and in its courtyard are remains of its sahn and the base of its minaret. This is general information from outside the downloaded sources, but it makes a useful extra stop for anyone who wants to see Seville’s two great mosques: the Umayyad and the Almohad.

Enan records that Abu Yaqub ordered the tower built in 580 AH, and that the ‘arif Ibn Basa laid its foundations. Then his son Yaqub al-Mansur resumed the construction in 584 AH, “with bricks taken from the wall of Ibn Abbad’s palace”. Construction went ahead quickly when the caliph was in Seville and slowed when he was away (Enan 4/230).

When al-Mansur returned from the victory of al-Arak (Alarcos), he ordered the golden finials (tafafih) made, and Enan quotes Ibn Sahib al-Salat’s description of them, including:

- Their number and their gold: “The gold with which these three large finials and the smaller fourth were gilded amounted to seven thousand large Yaqubi mithqals.”

- The iron column on which they were mounted: “The weight of the column was one hundred and forty rub‘ of iron.”

- Their raising: they were carried covered with linen sheets on carts, with takbir and tahlil, and raised in the presence of the caliph, his heir and the Almohad shaykhs.

- Their date: “On Wednesday, after Rabi‘ al-Akhir, corresponding to the nineteenth of March of the ‘ajami calendar, in the year four and ninety and five hundred.”

- The moment of unveiling: “Then their coverings were removed, and they nearly dazzled the eyes with their sparkle of pure, refined gold” (Enan 4/232).

Enan adds, citing “Rawd al-Qirtas”, that its maker was the master Abu al-Layth al-Siqilli, and that it was valued at one hundred thousand dinars. He then states that the tower survives, “although it lost its golden finials long ago, and its upper storey was turned into a belfry” (4/232–233). Elsewhere he notes the link between the three Almohad minarets: the Kutubiyya in Marrakesh, the Hassan in Rabat, and the Seville tower (4/725).

Enan, citing Ibn Sahib al-Salat, describes the palaces and garden built for the caliph on the outskirts of the city, also by Ibn Basa. He notes that the engineer al-Hajj Ya‘ish al-Malaqi followed an old Roman channel until he brought the water to the lake and then into the city, in Jumada al-Akhira 567 AH (4/71–72). As for the present palace, some Almohad remains survive in its structures and courtyards. Most of what the visitor sees today is a Castilian Mudéjar building from the reign of Pedro I, that is, after the fall of Seville in 646 AH/1248 CE. This last piece of information is general, from outside the downloaded sources.

Ibn Sahib al-Salat’s text in “al-Mann bi-l-Imama” is the source of everything above, and has reached us only through Enan. If the al-Tazi edition is available to you, collation with it is preferable, especially for the double date of the golden finials and the weight of the column.

1) The cathedral in the morning, entering through the Puerta del Perdón or wherever admission allows.

2) The Patio de los Naranjos.

3) Climbing the tower, which takes about 30 minutes.

4) Crossing the square to the palace through the Puerta del León.

5) The Patio del Yeso and the Almohad remains, then Pedro’s palace with its two courtyards, then the cistern of Doña María de Padilla, then the gardens.

The two routes together take nearly a full day.