Murallas de Seville

The Walls of Seville were military enclosures that surrounded the old part of the city of Seville. Throughout history, Seville has had several walls as the city grew. The oldest references to the existence of walls date from the Roman period.

It is known that there was a first enclosure wall of Roman origin of which no visible remains have survived and which would have encompassed the southeastern quadrant of the current historic district.

The walls now preserved belong to the last defense system built in the 12th century , mainly by the Almohads; nothing remains of the Roman wall, only material reused mainly in the Caliphate or Taifa period and which, moreover, would not have covered the same area as the current one, as the city was much smaller.

The walls survived until the 19th century, when they were partially demolished and some parts are still preserved today, mainly in the Macarena district, Jardines del Valle, Jardines de Murillo, the area around the Alcázar and the dividing wall of houses in the Arenal district.

There were no fewer than eighteen gates and access hatches , of which only four remain: the Macarena Gate, the Cordoba Gate, the Oil Gate and the Alcázar Gate. The remains that survive today have a distinctly Almohadic appearance, mixed with the classicist atmosphere given to them by the restorations of the existing gates in the 18th century.

According to some researchers, the Islamic sources mention only 12 gates and 3 shutters. Other sources mention 8 to 13.

The present remains consist of a wall of rammed earth 1.90 meters thick, that of the barbican 1.45 meters, and both are separated by a distance of about 3 meters. There are towers at variable distances of 40 to 50 meters, eight of which are rectangular with a width of 4 meters.

Willem Vandenameele