La Giralda, Seville

John Taylor Arms

La Giralda is the bell tower of the Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain, as seen from Mateos Gago street in the Old Town district. Much of the neighborhood looks the same today, with narrow streets lined with balconied apartments and cafes. Though now a part of the Catholic Church, the bell tower was first a minaret built for the Great Mosque of Seville when it was a part of al-Andalus, Moorish Spain. This can be seen by the ornately carved Almohad-era patterning of the tower’s facade. After Seville was taken by Christians in 1248, the Mosque was turned into a cathedral and the minaret’s crown was replaced with a temporary belfry. The current iteration seen here was finalized in 1568, with a weather vane in the shape of Athena atop it.

The entire title of the cathedral is The Holy, Metropolitan, and Patriarchal Cathedral Church of Santa María de la Sede y de la Asunción, a title that befits what has been recognized as having the largest total area of all Catholic churches in Europe. It houses the remains of Christopher Columbus, is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is the fifth most visited tourist attraction in Spain and is responsible for the bulk of the tourist trade in Seville.