Qualla: Alcazar of Seville https://qualla.com/alcazar-of-seville en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:17 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/e/s/alcazar-of-seville-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Alcazar of Seville https://qualla.com/alcazar-of-seville Alcazar of Seville: Introduction https://qualla.com/alcazar-of-seville/ Photo credit Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie from London, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0. Pedro I of Castile had a problem that only his enemies' artisans could solve. In the 1360s, having conquered Seville from the Moors more than a century earlier, the Christian king wanted to build a palace of extraordinary beauty. He turned to Mudejar craftsmen -- Muslim artisans living under Christian rule -- and they created something that defied the logic of conquest: a palace built by the conquered for the conqueror, in the style of the conquered, on the ruins of the conquered's own citadel. The Royal Alcazar of Seville is that paradox made permanent, and it remains the oldest royal palace in continuous use in Europe.

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Image: Jocelyn Erskine-Kellie from London, UK | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/e/s/alcazar-of-seville-wp/eyes-alcazar-of-seville-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Alcazar of Seville: A Citadel's Many Lives https://qualla.com/alcazar-of-seville/ Photo credit Daderot, CC0. The site's history begins in the 10th century, when the Umayyads established an Islamic citadel here. The Abbadid dynasty expanded it into a larger palace complex in the 11th century, and the Almohads -- the Berber dynasty that controlled much of North Africa and Iberia -- develo...

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Image: Daderot | CC0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/e/s/alcazar-of-seville-wp/eyes-alcazar-of-seville-a-citadels-many-lives.mp3 0:06 2 full Alcazar of Seville: Gardens Where History Layers https://qualla.com/alcazar-of-seville/ Photo credit Chabe01, CC BY-SA 4.0. The gardens of the Alcazar are themselves a palimpsest. Islamic garden design -- with its emphasis on water, geometry, and enclosed paradise -- was overlaid with Renaissance and later Baroque modifications, creating a landscape that reads differently depending on which century yo...

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Image: Chabe01 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/e/s/alcazar-of-seville-wp/eyes-alcazar-of-seville-gardens-where-history-layers.mp3 0:06 3 full Alcazar of Seville: The Art of Beautiful Contradiction https://qualla.com/alcazar-of-seville/ Photo credit Anual, CC BY-SA 3.0. What makes the Alcazar architecturally remarkable is not just its beauty but its refusal to resolve its contradictions. Arabic inscriptions praise Allah alongside Gothic vaulting. Geometric tilework patterns that follow Islamic rules about the representation of living things shar...

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Image: Anual | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/e/s/alcazar-of-seville-wp/eyes-alcazar-of-seville-the-art-of-beautiful-contradiction.mp3 0:06 4 full Alcazar of Seville: A Palace That Still Works https://qualla.com/alcazar-of-seville/ Photo credit Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium, CC BY 2.0. The Alcazar remains one of the official residences of the Spanish royal family, making it the oldest palace in Europe still used for its original purpose. When the Spanish monarch visits Seville, the upper floors of the palace -- renovated repeatedly over the centuries -- still s...

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Image: Michal Osmenda from Brussels, Belgium | CC BY 2.0

]]> Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/e/y/e/s/alcazar-of-seville-wp/eyes-alcazar-of-seville-a-palace-that-still-works.mp3 0:06 5 full