Publication Date
617 / 1221
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;es;Mon01;10;ar
Library Location
Seville, Spain
Date
617 / 1221
Notes
Beginning in 541 / 1147, the year in which the Almohads conquered Seville under Almoravid rule, the public works program of the new government left a strong mark on the city. During the first third of the 7th / 13th century, when Almohad control was at its lowest levels, the palace wall and various towers were extended to the river, where a powerful defensive structure was constructed: the Tower of Gold (Torre del Oro). Its octagonal shape afforded a wide field of observation and formed the most advanced end of the entire defensive complex of the city. The purpose of this tower was to protect the port, secure river trade, and in the event of a siege, cut off the passage to the city across the river. Only the two lower bodies, of the three parts that make up the tower, date back to the Almohad period; While the Al-Azri, which is located above the upper hull, dates back to an eighteenth-century building. The lower body was constructed of clay (rammed earth) and supported at the corners with sandblasted stones, and its height reaches 20.70 metres. Its base is formed from a twelve-cornered prismatic structure, inside which there is a hexagonal structure where the stairs leading to the three floors and to the roof are located. Each floor was covered with cross vaults, alternating triangular and square. At roof level, the inner prismatic transforms into a twelve-angled shape to form the second hull, which is 8.15 meters high. The latter was built of brick, and its interior was filled, which left only a cylindrical void in which the spiral staircase was located, through which one could access the second deck. Both surfaces are crowned with stepped parapets. The tower introduces a new form to the Iberian Peninsula, represented by the use of glazed pottery for exterior decoration. The corners of the solid arches were covered with inlays of white and green verdant ceramics (zaleij) that formed lozenges, a decorative composition that would later become familiar. According to a source dating back to the mid-seventeenth century, the name of the tower comes from the Zellige sect that covered it.
Sample Text
Margarita Sánchez Llorente “Tower of Gold (Torre del Oro)” in Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;es;Mon01;10;ar
