Torre de Don Fadrique - Seville

The tower, built in 1252 according to the inscription on the door, was built in the gardens of the palace of Don Fadrique , son of the holy King Ferdinand III, who conquered the city from the Muslims.

It is an interesting example of architecture in the transition from Romanesque to Gothic , an example of what came to Seville by the hand of the conquerors and what, before the profound and grandiose synthesis of the Mudejar, reigned for a moment in the civil-military constructions that were built in the recently conquered city and of which the so-called Gothic Palace of the Alcázar or the Church of Santa Ana de Triana is another good example.

The tower has a square plan of 5.40 m on each side with three floors, most of which is made of brick, with the exception of some elements (ash slats on the ground floor, corners of the last door, openings and vaults) which are carved in stone. Narrow loopholes on the first floor, Romanesque windows on the second, passing to Gothic on the third, culminating in a tilted roof above an airy Gothic vault of eight panels on ribbed trumpets , give an austere and majestic appearance to a building that would distinguished - and still distinguished - both by its height and by the truly Western stamp of its architecture in a hamlet still steeped in ancient Islamic formulas.

The enmity between Don Fadrique and his brother, the future king Alfonso were placed within the walls of this tower, the intrigues, the affairs..., surrounded this ancient watchtower of the city with an aura of mystery and legend, which made it known for centuries as the "enchanted tower".

In 1289, Sancho IV the Brave, second son of Alfonso

In 1920, the city council acquired what remained of the orchard, the tower and some outbuildings no longer used by the Poor Clare community, establishing an easement of passage through the compass. In 1925, the Municipal Archaeological Museum was founded here, which deposited numerous pieces of the town hall and for which a small annex was built. It was then decided to beautify the area around the tower by transforming the remains of the orchard into a small garden , designed by the architect Juan Talavera (who also designed the tower's interior stairs), with a rectangular swimming pool that was to give the tower a perspective and a sense of perspective. The garden followed the eclectic aestheticism of the beginning of the century and surrounded the swimming pool with small flower beds in which some pieces from the collection were placed, with cypresses and pergolas on columns with climbing plants.

Between 1997 and 1998 it was planned that the tower and garden, as well as the enclosed monastery, would become part of the city museum . For this purpose, and in the light of a special plan, the intention was to develop 4,000 m² by renovating and expanding the existing gardens. In 1999, an attempt was also made to convert the tower - by renting it out - into a public viewing point, with an installation similar to that in the famous Tavira Tower in Cádiz.

Today the pool, surrounded by myrtle hedges (Myrtus communis), stands above a secluded garden where orange trees, an olive tree and acanthus, accompanied by a grandiose laurel (Laurus nobilis), probably the oldest in Seville , together with ancient pieces of sculpture and archaeology, guarding the ancient tower that, after centuries, still looks impassively over the daily life of the city.

Willem Vandenameele