The Giralda, a lofty square tower of Moorish architecture, which originally formed part of the ancient mosque, serves now as a belfry to the cathedral. It was built about 1196. It was originally only 250 feet high; but In 1568 Fernando Buis, an architect, raised it 100 feet higher. On the top is a statue of Faith, of gilt bronze, which, though 14 feet high, and of the enormous weight of 3600 lbs., turns on a pivot and acts as weathercock, thus giving its name Giralda to the tower, from the Spanish word 'girar,' to turn. The ascent to the belfry is not by stairs, but by an inclined plane which goes round and round, and is of easy ascent. This tower and the Court of the Orange Trees (Patio de los Naranjo+) are the only remains of the ancient Moorish mosque, which in point of size and magnificence equalled that of Cordova. Attached to the cathedral is a very valuable library called the Biblioteca Columbiana, from the name of the founder Fernando Columbus, the son of the great navigator, who bequeathed to it upwards of 20,000 volumes.
The edifice which after the cathedral moat attracts the attention of travellers 1, the Alcazar (Al-Kaar), or royal palace of the ancient Moorish kings, which, though modernised by the Christian kings, still preserves much of its original beauty. In its present state it is a compound of Gothic and Moorish architecture. The principal hall, called La Sala de los Einbajadores (Hall of Ambassadors), is as fine as that iu the Alhambra. It is fifteen yards square, and three times that height. The pavement is of marble, the ceiling is painted blue and gold, and the panelling of the wainscots is formed of painted tiles. The gardens which surround the palace are very beautiful. to one of the rooms on the ground-floor are several statues, inscriptions, and other remains of antiquity, which have been found on the site of the ancient Italics, the birthplace of Trojan and Hadrian, which is contiguous to Sevilla.
Sevilla contains other buildings remarkable either for their antiquity or architecture. La Torre del Oro (the Tower of Gold) is so called because the ships laden with the precious metals at the time of the discovery of America, deposited their cargoes there. La Lonja, or Exchange, is a magnificent building, erected by Philip II. in 1523, over which are the archives of the colonies. The Casa de Pilatos, or palace belonging to the dukes of Alcala ; the archbishop's palace ; the town ball ; the theatre ; the naval college; the cannon-fouudry ; the prisons ; the barracks ; 11 hospitals; and the tobacco-manufactory, an immense building GOO feet in length by nearly 500 feet iu breadth, inclusing twenty courts, and cmployiog about 3000 persons, chiefly females, are among the chief edifices of Sevilla. The aqueduct called
the Caries de Carmons, was originally constructed by the Roman% and afterwards repaired by the Moors ; it conveys water from Alcala.
Sevilla is said to have at one time contained 140 churches and wealthy convents. It now contains about 30 pariah churches, of which some aro remarkable for their architecture. Many of the con ventual buildings still remain, and have been converted to secular nice. In that of La Merced have been oollectod the pictures and other works of art which have been removed from the other sup pressed monasteries.
Sevilla has a university, founded in 1502; an academy of painting, sculpture, and architecture ; a literary and scientific institution, named the Lyeko, and several other establishments for the diffusion of knowledge and education. The trade, which was very considerable, greatly declined at the separation of the Spanish colonies from the mother country ; but it has since somewhat revived. Oil, wine, corn, hemp, flax, liquorice, but above all lemons and orauges, are annually exported in great quantities by the Guadalquivir. There is also an active fishery on the river. The imports are hides and flax from the Baltic, iron from the Asturias, and colonial produce from Cuba. The silk manufacture is of some importance. The other manufactures are woollen and linen goods, hats, soap, earthenware, leather, nitre, and ironmongery.
Steamboats ply daily between Sevilla and Cadiz.
Sevilla, under the Romans, became a colony with the title of Colonia Julia Romula. It was afterwards held by the Goths till 712, when it was taken by the Moors, who made it's Kalifate, or kingdom. In 1247 the city was besieged by Fernando III., king of Castilla, and taken, after fifteen months, Nov. 23, 1248. From that period Sevilla formed part of the dominions of the king of the whole of Spain became one kingdom.
(Ford, Handbook of Spain ; Townsend, Journey in Spain, and other volumes of more recent travels. There are three good histories of Sevilla—Morgado, Historia de Sevilla, Sev., 1587, fol. ; Rodrigo Caro, Antiguedades y Principado de Sevilla, 1634, fol.; Ortiz y Zuhiga, Angles Eclesiasticos de la Ciudad de Sevilla.)