A Tale of Three Courtyards

By Helen Matthews

Patio del Yesu, Real Alcazar

The pigeons lined up at the edge of the pool, as if daring each other to be the first to take the plunge. Their cooing was the only sound to be heard in the Patio del Yesu. At ten-thirty in the morning, Seville’s Alcazar was surprisingly quiet and free from tourists.

A little further on, in a courtyard surrounded by intricate plasterwork and tiles, it was possible to experience how the Alhambra of Granada might be without the crowds. The Patio de las Doncellas or Maidens’ Courtyard forms the heart of a palace built in the 1360s by King Pedro I of Castile and Leon and the similarity of decorative styles is no coincidence. Although Seville was reconquered more than two centuries earlier than Granada, Pedro formed an alliance with its Muslim ruler, who provided many craftsmen to assist with the work.

From this courtyard, a staircase leads to Alfonso X’s thirteenth century Gothic palace, built over the original Almohad palace. After pausing to admire the tapestries, mere eighteenth-century replicas of originals which were destroyed in an earthquake, I found my way into the gardens.

Fuente de la Fama, Real Alcazar

The first thing I noticed was a large pool fed by water from a former Roman aqueduct, but there is a more intriguing water feature. The Fuente de la Fama has a hydraulic mechanism that is linked to an organ. On the hour, (or just after, this is Spain, after all), the fountain plays a tune. Not a few notes, but a real piece of music. There is an opening round the back of the fountain through which you can see mechanism: organ pipes and giant version of a cylinder from a musical box.

After spending an hour or so exploring the extensive gardens and avoiding the importunate peacock in the café, I returned to the palace, to find the crowds had finally arrived. It was time to move on.

Hungry peacock, Real Alcazar Cafe

 The following day I found myself in another palace with beautiful courtyards and peaceful gardens. Although the Casa de Pilatos is, like the Alcazar, one of the biggest attractions of Seville, a morning visit was remarkably lacking in crowds. Built in three main phases starting in the fifteenth century, it is a little more recent than the Alcazar, but it too is built around a central courtyard, with gardens as appealing as those of the royal palace.

The house is designed for the climate. The layout of the ground and upper floors is identical. The lower floor was inhabited during the hot summer months, with elaborately tiled walls providing a cooling effect. In the winter, the family moved upstairs. The design of the tiles downstairs was meant to resemble the tapestries that lined the walls of the upstairs rooms.

On my third and final day in Seville I found my way to the Museum of Fine Arts. This is not a typical art gallery, as it is located in a former convent. The building dates mainly from the seventeenth century and is built around three peaceful, jasmine-scented courtyards. The interior is for the most part simply decorated, making it more of a shock to arrive at the sumptuous baroque church.

Seville may be famous for bullfighting and flamenco, but I prefer its quieter side: the citrus trees, jasmine and pools of its secluded courtyards.

 First published in VISA 117 (October 2014)