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I am still spinning from the sights we saw today. The pictures don't begin to do the cathedral justice but they give an idea. Everything is larger than humungus. The citizens set out to build the most outrageous cathedral of its time. I would have to say they were successful.
Seville's Cathedral is the third largest church in Europe and the largest Gothic church in the world. In 1401 the Christians tore down a brick mosque (they left the bell tower) and began building the cathedral. It took them 120 years to build the building that is 126 meters long, 82 meters wide, and 30 meters high.
Besides the enormity and lavishness of the cathedral there are all the treasures that are on display. The high altar is 65 feet tall with 44 scenes from the life of Jesus carved out of walnut and chestnut and covered with a large amount of gold leaf. They worked on this from 1481 to 1564.
Then there is the organ with 7,000 pipes. Across from the organ is the tomb of Columbus. Several chapels line the cathedral. And in the courtyard is a grove of fragrant orange trees and a fountain
dating back to the 12th century.
And of course the bell tower. We climbed to the observation level (330 feet) where we had a magnificent city view. The spiraling ramp was built so that riders on horseback could gallop up to the top 5 times a day to give the Muslim call to prayer.
We were awe struck with all that we saw. It was hard to comprehend the fact that we were seeing things fron the 1400's. It was incredible to imagine how a building of that size and lavishness could have been built so long ago. It is an incredibly awesome building.
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Seville
Reading your Blog makes me want to go to Seville..!! And, it's only a 22 hour drive from us in Andover, Hampshire UK. So, I'm putting Seville on my Bucket List - thanks for all the lovely info.