Giralda

Giralda

Giralda is the name given to the bell tower of the Cathedral of Santa María de la Sede in the city of Seville, Andalusia (Spain). The lower part of the tower corresponds to the minaret of the old mosque of the city, from the end of the 12th century, in the Almohad period, while the upper part is a superimposed construction in the XVI, in Christian times, to house the bells. At its top is the bronze statue that represents the Triumph of Faith and that has the function of a weather vane, the Giraldillo.

He is 94.69 meters tall.

On December 29, 1928, the cathedral, including the Giralda, was declared a National Monument. In 1987, the Alcázar complex, the Archivo de Indias and the cathedral, with its tower, were considered World Heritage Sites.

There are replicas and buildings inspired by it in Spain and in various countries around the world.

History

Lamina of Alejandro Guichot showing the three states of the Giralda. To the left the primitive almohade tower (s. XII), to the right an intermediate phase after the fall of the yamur that crowned the tower (1356), and in the center the current tower, with the renaissance of the bell tower (s. XVI).

Almohad Period

During the Almohad period, Abu Yaacub Yúsuf, who ruled between 1163 and 1184, and Abu Yúsuf al-Mansur, who ruled between 1184 and 1199, made the capital of Al-Andalus in Isbiliya (Seville). This brought to the city an update of its infrastructures, proceeding to the construction of some large buildings.

The first major mosque, built in 829 and located where the Church of the Savior currently stands, became too small. In 1172 construction began on a new one, under the responsibility of the chief architects, Ahmad Ben Baso and the architect builders of Marrakech and Fez. In 1176 construction was halted due to the caliph's march to Africa, when only the flooring and stained glass windows remained to be installed. Subsequently, on April 14, 1182, Abu Yaacub Yusuf delivered the first khutba in the mosque.

On May 26, 1184, Abu Yaacub Yúsuf had the minaret built when he arrived in Seville on his way for his campaign against Santarém. He also ordered the construction of a wall that would be attached to the minaret. However, the works did not start at that time.

The caliph left on June 7, towards Badajoz, and then headed west to besiege the town of Santarém, which he arrived on June 27. This city was defended by Alfonso I of Portugal. The siege lasted until July 1184 and he was killed in combat on July 29. The new caliph, Abu Yusuf al-Mansur (known among his subjects as Muminin) was proclaimed on August 10, 1184, in the Alcazar of Seville.

Construction of the minaret must have begun in the autumn of 1184. The person who started its construction was Ahmad Ben Baso. In the excavation for the foundation, he found a spring that was blocked with stones and lime, creating a flat surface on which to place the foundations. Surveys carried out in 1987 seem to show that the foundations reached a maximum depth of about nine meters, with a square base of 17.50 meters on each side.

The stones that were used, called tayud al adi, were extracted from the wall of the Alcázar palace of Ibn Abbad. The walls of this palace had defensive characteristics. The stones were lowered without the need for stairs, since these walls were ascended by a slope suitable for horses.

In the 1990s, seven Roman altars were discovered embedded in the first course of paving. In the southeast corner, one of the altars, dated to the second half of the II century d. C., retains an epigraph dedicated to an "oil diffuser" called M. Iulius Hermesianus, from Astigi, where other inscriptions referring to the same person have appeared.

The works came to a halt between 1184 and 1185, when Ibn Said, the amojarif in charge of recording expenses, was dismissed, until Abu Bakr arrived to replace him between 1188 and 1189. Then the works resumed, under the charge of the alarife Ali al-Gumari (also known as Ali de Gomara), with brick. The tower is made of this material from two meters above the ground. The works continued intermittently due to the frequent trips that the master builder made to Marrakesh.

On July 19, 1195, Abu Yaacub al-Mansur defeated Alfonso VIII of Castile in the battle of Alarcos. Upon returning, he ordered the making of large gilt bronze spheres to be placed on top of the minaret. He also ordered these to be placed on a marqaba with a large iron column whose base was founded on the minaret. A chronicler from the XIV century, Ibn Abi Zar, tells us that these spheres were made by Abul Layz al-Sigilli, who in 100,000 gold dinars were spent on its gilding and that, given the enormous dimensions of the larger ball, it did not enter through the door of the Almuédanos, but by tearing off some marble from the lower part. They were placed on March 10, 1198 in the presence of by Abu Yúsuf al-Mansur. These four golden balls or apples strung on a vertical stem are called yâmûr in Arab culture and have been used, although not always, to crown mosques.

The outline of the minaret derives from the model of the Mosque of Córdoba. The first body was 50.51 m high and had a square plan of 13.61 m wide. The second body was 14.39 m high and its plant was square, 6.83 m wide. On the second body there was a dome and on this the yâmûr. The total height of the tower was 82 meters.

The course of the works is known in detail thanks to the chronicles of Ibn Sahib al-Salá.

Christian Period

Réplica del Giraldillo de 1998, located at the gate of San Cristobal de la Catedral.

In 1248, the Castilian-Leonese king, Ferdinand III, conquered the city of Seville and the mosque was consecrated as a Christian temple. Something common when Christians conquered Muslim populations was to add bells to the minarets, as well as remove the yâmûr to place a cross and, under it, a weather vane, although this yâmûr was not removed.

However, on August 24, 1356 there was an earthquake that caused the collapse of the four balls. There is not much information about the appearance of the tower between this event and the century XV. Apparently, this structure was replaced by a belfry with a bell and, at some later point, the tower was crowned with a cross.

In 2008, the researcher Begoña Alonso Ruiz discovered the oldest surviving plan of the Seville Cathedral, in the Bidaurreta Monastery. The document is dated between 1480 and 1498 and it is possible that it is a copy of the original plan, which must have been drawn between 1433 and 1439. Neither the old minaret nor the old courtyard of ablutions appear on this plan, which were finally maintained.

Mural paintings by Luis de Vargas in the middle of the centuryXVI.

In the middle of the XVI century, Canon Francisco Pacheco designed an iconographic program with murals to decorate the Giralda. The frescoes were made by the painter Luis de Vargas between 1553 and 1558. Thanks to the painting of Saints Justa and Rufina made by Miguel de Esquivel in 1620, it is known that on the north façade, under the first balcony, was the Annunciation. To the left and right of this balcony, on two stucco surfaces that still exist, were the images of San Isidoro and San Leandro on one side and Saints Justa and Rufina on the other. Above this balcony, there was a painting of Christ Crucified with the Virgin Mary and Saint John the Evangelist. On the sides of the other balconies were other paintings of saints. In 2018, during the restoration, it was shown that, in the 16th century, the Giralda was painted in a reddish color. The mural paintings by Luis de Vargas were badly deteriorated at the end of the XIXth century and were lost, along with remains of their reddish color, in the restoration carried out between 1881 and 1883 by Adolfo Fernández Casanova.

On June 6, 1556, the main teacher of the cathedral, Martín Gaiza, died, and the council called a contest to choose his replacement, to which the main teachers of the main Andalusian cities appeared: Hernán Ruiz, Andrés de Vandelvira, Francisco del Castillo, Juan de Orea, Luis Machuca and Pedro de Campo. Miguel Gainza, who had been a quantity surveyor at the cathedral since 1542, also appeared. On December 14, 1557, Hernán Ruiz was chosen. Apparently, he came from Córdoba with a definitive project of how the tower should be renovated and even had a 1:50 scale model.In his design, Hernán Ruiz added a complete body of bells. The works began in April, since the beginning of the payments made for brick and plaster is recorded. The works were especially slow in the first years, although there were greater advances from 1562.

Stylistic surplus

Alminar of the Hasan Mosque, Rabat), centuryXII.

Kutubia MosqueMarrakesh.

The Hasan Tower and the Alminar of the Kutubia Mosque, both in Morocco, constitute two brilliant precedents of the Giralda.

In 1565, the building works were finished.

In the week of December 10 to 16, 1565, 10 ducats were paid to Luis de Vargas, his servant, and a Flemish officer who had painted in the tower for five days. In 1566 large paintings were made for the north façade. Concluded the paintings of the tower, the statue that would crown it, which functions as a weather vane, was carried out. The work, an allegory of Faith, was made by Bartolomé Morel and placed on August 13, 1568. Originally, the word "Giralda" made reference to this sculpture and as such it appears mentioned in El viaje entretenido (1603) by Agustín de Rojas Villandrando or in Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes, who resided in the city since 1588. The very word "Giralda" It is defined by the RAE as a weather vane with a human or animal shape. In the end, that denomination was applied to the whole of the tower and the sculpture became known as Giraldillo.

Stylistic precedents

The construction of the Giralda was based on the minaret of the Koutoubia mosque in Marrakech (Morocco), also built in the 12th century, considered with its seventy-nine meters high, a masterpiece of North African art, it consists of a structure very similar to the Sevillian tower, it follows the most typical form of the minarets of the Hispano-Moroccan school, with a main body of orthohedral shape on which another much smaller one is placed, as a finish. Another great example of very similar architecture is the great Hasan Tower in Rabat, considered the sister of the Giralda and whose construction project provided for a height of sixty meters, but the works were interrupted when it reached 44 meters. In both precedents are the decorative elements of the Almohads, reproduced in the Giralda, with blind arches, lacework and reliefs that are inspired by those made by the Seljuks at the same time in the Asia Minor region.

Tower description

Upper bodies of the Giralda: 1.- Bell body.
2.- Watch body.
3.- Star body.
4.- Carambola body.
5.- Penacho.
6.- Sphere.
7.- Giraldillo.

The main body has a square floor plan, in which the west face looks at the Patio de los Naranjos, the east at the Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes, the north at Placentines street and the south at the Plaza del Triunfo.

Upper Bodies

The upper finish in a refined Renaissance style was carried out by Hernán Ruiz II, between 1558 and 1568, in which the following parts can be distinguished, decorated with reliefs:

1. First you will find the bell body with the same square surface as the bottom. It was raised between 1560 and 1562 and is filled with the call azucena terrace, for the four syrups of azucena originally placed in 1751 and made in bronze by the goldsmith Fernando Marmolejo Camargo during the restoration of 1981. At the base of this body there are 16 lion heads, four for each forehead. On each of the 16 circles, four for each front, is the head of a cherub. On each front there is a three-inflection front there is a male head representing each of the four major prophets respectively: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel.
2. Above is the watch body, whose design was commissioned by José Cordero in 1765.
3. Body of stars or well, finished on all its sides by half-point arches, in whose frieze appears a biblical inscription that runs through the four sides of the tower and says "TURRIS (E) - FORTISSIMA (S) - NOMEN DNI (O)- PROVERB (N). 18" (whose translation into Spanish is "The strongest tower is the Name of the Lord"), hanging inside the oldest bell of the tower, that of San Miguel de las Victorias, which gives the hours of the clock. On each front there is a bow and on each of the two rivets of each arch there are heads of men who must represent the minor prophets: Zechariah, Malachi, Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Joniah, Micah and Sophilia.
4. Body of the carambolas or round, the first of a circular character, and so called for the spherical petrosses.
5. The pityThat ends in a dome
6. Bronze sphere on which the sculpture of the sailboat is settled, is known with the name of the tinajaIt's 1.45 meters in diameter.
7. The sailing that represents the victory of the Christian Faith, known as Giraldillo, was carried out between 1566 and 1568, ending on August 13, this year. The statue was cast in bronze by Bartolomé Morel.

Dimensions

The primitive minaret is 50.85 m high and has a square plan with a side of 13.5 m. The body of bells, on the same floor as the minaret, reaches a height of 60.45 m. Above it is the terrace of the lilies, which reaches 65.30 m, where the body of the clock begins, with a square plan and 6.8 m on each side, which rises to 74.40 m. Above, the body of the carambolas, 4.5 m in diameter in plan, reaches 81.00 m, and the plume tower ends, which reaches 87.00 m. Including the Giraldillo statue, the total height is 94.69 m above ground level.

The Giraldillo figure is 3.5 meters high, seven and a half meters including the pedestal, and weighs 1,300 kg. The lábaro that indicates the direction of the wind weighs 180 kg, and the palm, of two meters, 91 kg. The Giralda tower has 35 ramps wide enough to allow the person in charge of summoning the population to prayer to climb them mounted on horseback, although at no time has it been documented that it was used for this, and a final section of 17 steps to access the level of bells, which is the currently visitable area of the same.

Jugs of lilies

The works by Hernán Ruiz finished in 1565 after seven years of work. The three successive years were used in ornamental work. Hernán Ruiz's design included some jugs. On February 28, 1568, the founder Bartolomé Morel undertook to make these jugs, made of iron and bronze.

The original intention of these jugs was to introduce some luminaries, that is, some wicks that were lit on the designated days of the year, whether for religious reasons, military victories or enthronements. Bartolomé Morel took three months to make them, and in June Antón Pérez came to gild them, also applying varnish and linseed oil.

In 1751 it was when the lilies were introduced in the jars. The author of these lilies was Basilio Cortés, who also gilded the lilies and the ball on which the Giraldillo sits, then called "la tinaja&# 34;.

Lilies have been a symbol of purity and virginity since the Middle Ages. The coat of arms of the Seville archdiocese during medieval times consisted of two towers flanking a jug of lilies. After 1568, the archdiocese coat of arms was changed to one showing the Giralda flanked by two jugs of lilies.

Bells

The Giralda has a total of 24 bells, of which 18 are tumble and 6 clapper. It is, therefore, the cathedral in Spain with the greatest number of bells, without taking into account the carillon. The bells, which were in a poor state of conservation, were restored in 1998, undertaking various actions: six were cast new, ten were welded and four were retuned, among other improvement actions. Below is a list of all the bells found in the Cathedral of Santa María de la Sede in Seville (the number shows the location according to this image [ 1] Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine.):

Detail of the bell body. In the upper room Watch Bell (A). Below, from left to right: Santa Cecilia (14), Saint Paul (13), San Miguel (12), San Isidoro (11) and Barbara (10).

The bell Santiago (21) in the foreground, behind Santa Rufina (22).

Past uses of the tower

View from the Gold Tower.

Since its construction, the Giralda has been used for many uses that are explained below:

• Element of religious call. The use as an element of warning or religious call has been the primordial since its construction, first for Muslims through the almuédano who invited prayer several times a day and then for Christians, with the use of the bells.
• Housing. The inner chambers served at the time as housing for the tower warden and the campers. In one of these rooms was born the Barbara nun of Santo Domingo, known as Daughter of the GiraldaHe became famous for his mystical visions.
• Barn. According to a record of the Cathedral Cabildo of October 29, 1567, for which the grain stored inside the tower is awarded.
• Rogatives. The Giralda was used in 1626 as a station element at the top of the tower, to beg the cessation of the rains that lasted forty days.
• Veleta. From 1356 onwards, when the decorative elements that then existed for an earthquake were dropped, they were replaced by a bell tower with a sailboat.
• Watch. In the year 1400 a watch was placed in the presence of King Henry III. It was the first tower clock in Spain. In 1766 a new watch was placed, which is kept inside. The latter was made between 1757 and 1764 by a friar of the San Francisco Convent called José Cordero.
• Watch out. At various times it was used as a watchtower for the defense of the city.
• Pararrayos. The first pararrhoea were placed from 1884, where an electric spark destroyed the balconies' ancestors.
• Bright. The Giralda was used as an element of illumination of the city for the celebration of certain events of a religious character, the choice of a pope, the canonization of a saint or the entry of a new archbishop in the city; on other occasions they were celebrations of a civil character, as a marriage of a king, or the birth of a prince; and also in some cases for having achieved some military victory. To this end, Hernán Ruiz II arranged the placement of 144 light points, on a series of bronze and stone vessels, placed in the Renaissance bodies, of ten different models. For the lighting, the four existing jugs were used in the bell corps, but in 1751 they placed bronze sulcenes in these, changing their original function.

Views of the Giralda

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  From the cathedral.

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  From the Plaza de la Virgen de los Reyes.

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  From Placentines Street.

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  Night views.

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  From the Naranjos courtyard.

Replicas and inspired buildings

Spain

The towers of the church of San Pedro de Carmona (province of Seville), the church of Nuestra Señora de la Oliva in Lebrija (province of Seville), the tower of the church of Santa María de Écija (province of Seville), the church of Nuestra Señora de la Granada in Moguer (province of Huelva) and the basilica of the Purísima Concepción in the Basque municipality of Elorrio are inspired by the Giralda.

In Badajoz (Extremadura), there is a building that is a replica of this monument. In Arbós (province of Tarragona) there is also a building that is a replica of the Giralda.

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  Tower of the church of San Pedro de Carmona

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  Torre de la Iglesia de Santa María de la Oliva de Lebrija (la Giraldilla)

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  Tower of the church of Santa Maria de Écija

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  Ntra church tower. Sra. de la Granada de Moguer

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  Torre de la basílica de la Purísima Concepción de Elorrio

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  The Giralda of Badajoz

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  The Giralda of Arbos

France

At the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1900, the Spanish Pavilion had a replica of the Giralda.

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  Spanish Pavilion of the Universal Exhibition of Paris

Belgium

The tower of the library of the Catholic University of Leuven is inspired by the Giralda.

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  Library of the Catholic University of Lovain

Poland

In Warsaw, Poland, the tower of the Palace of Culture and Science is inspired by the Giralda.

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  Palace of Culture and Science

United States

1924 announcement about the construction of the hotel Biltmore de Coral Gables.

In the United States, a Giralda was built on a building at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but was destroyed by fire that same year.

A tower similar to the Giralda (1895) was built on the San Francisco Ferry building.

New York's second Madison Square Garden featured a replica of the Giralda (1890) surmounted by a statue of the goddess Diana. It was the tallest building in that city. In 1925 the New York Giralda was demolished due to non-payment of some mortgages. That statue of Diana is kept in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Kansas City is twinned with Seville and exhibits a 40-meter replica of the Giralda (1967) in the Country Club Plaza shopping center. The correspondence in Seville is the statue of an Indian, called "El Explorador", on Kansas City Avenue.

In Toledo, Ohio, the Nasby Building (1895) was built, which was a replica of the Giralda. In the 1960s the building was renovated, losing its characteristic shape.

In Florida, the Freedom Tower (1925) in Miami, the Biltmore Hotel tower (1926) in Coral Gables, and one of the Alhambra towers in Coral Gables are inspired by the Giralda. In Miami there were two other hotels which had towers similar to the Giralda, the Roney Plaza (built in 1925 and demolished in 1968) and the Everglades (built in 1926 and demolished in 2003).

Also similar to the Giralda are the Terminal Tower (1930) in Cleveland and the Wrigley Building (1924) in Chicago.

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  The Old Madison Square Garden of New York

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  Chicago Colombin World Exhibition Building

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  Torre del edificio del Ferry de San Francisco

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  The Kansas City Tournament

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  Miami Freedom Tower

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  Hotel Biltmore de Coral Gables

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  Alhambra Towers of Coral Gables

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  Hotel Roney Plaza de Miami

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  Hotel Everglades de Miami

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  Tower of the Terminal of Cleveland

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  Nasby Building of Toledo, Ohio

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  Chicago Wrigley Building

Cuba

There is a sculpture, known as the Giraldilla, made in 1632, in the bell tower of the Castillo de la Real Fuerza in Havana, Cuba. The original Giraldilla is preserved in the Museum of Havana and the castle currently sports a replica. The Cuban Giraldilla has inspired the logo of the Havana Club rum brand.

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  La Giraldilla del Castillo de la Real Fuerza de La Habana

In popular culture

Russian Seal 1994.

Since the Giralda was finished in 1568, its image, flanked by two jugs of lilies, has been used as the shield of the archdiocese and in some civil buildings, as is the case of the most recent portals of the Real Fábrica de Tobacco from Seville.

The tower is mentioned in the work El viaje entretenido (1603) by Agustín de Rojas Villandrando and in Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes, who lived in the city for some seasons. Poems have been written to him by the well-known writers Juan Ramón Jiménez, the Álvarez Quintero brothers and María de los Reyes Fuentes.

Between the summer of 1932 and January 1933 the pasodoble Giralda, by Eduardo López Juarranz, was an Andalusian hymn.

In 2013 he appeared in the popular video game SimCity. He usually appears in films that are set in Seville, including the Hollywood productions Knight and Day (2010) and Assassin's Creed (2016).

The Giralda inspired, in 2007, the cover of the April Fair. The design was the work of Ricardo Hernández González.

In 1963 Correos issued a stamp with the Giralda. Around 1965 it issued another stamp showing the Giralda and the Puerta de la Concepción of the cathedral. The image of the Almohad tower appears on another Spanish stamp from 1998, commemorating the 800 years of the Giralda. In 1994 Russia issued a series of stamps with cathedrals, one of which features the Giralda.

In the XX century, the painter Amalio García del Moral y Garrido produced a series of 365 paintings of the Giralda, one for each day of the year. Of these, 64 are on display at the Pintor Amalio Museum, in the Santa Cruz neighborhood.