Seville Cathedral

Timeline

1. 1172

   Almohad Mosque Construction Begins

   Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf orders the construction of a new grand congregational mosque designed by Ahmad ben Basso on the southern edge of Seville.

2. 1198

   Mosque Completed

   The Almohad mosque covering over 15,000 square meters with its minaret and ablutions courtyard is fully completed as the largest in al-Andalus.

3. 1248

   Reconquest of Seville

   King Ferdinand III of Castile captures Seville and converts the Almohad great mosque into the cathedral of the newly Christian city.

4. July 1401

   Decision to Rebuild

   The cathedral chapter resolves to rebuild the aging structure as 'a church so grand and beautiful that those who see it will take us for mad.'

5. 1402

   Construction Begins

   Demolition of the old mosque proceeds in stages while construction begins at the northeast corner of the new Gothic cathedral.

6. 1528

   Main Body Complete

   After more than a century of work, the five-aisle Gothic cathedral is largely complete, supplanting Hagia Sophia as the world's largest church.

7. 1568

   Giralda Belfry Completed

   Hernan Ruiz the Younger adds a Renaissance bell stage with 28 bronze bells and the Giraldillo weathervane atop the Almohad minaret base.

8. c.1599

   Main Altarpiece Completed

   Designed by Dutch artist Pieter Dancart in 1482, the Retablo Mayor with 36 gilded biblical scenes is completed after over a century of work, ranking among the world's largest altarpieces.

9. 1899

   Columbus Tomb Installed

   Following the loss of Cuba in 1898, Columbus's remains are brought from Havana and installed beneath Arturo Melida's four-king monument in the south transept.

10. 1928

    National Monument Designation

    The Spanish government formally designates the cathedral a Bien de Interes Cultural, placing it under national heritage protection.

11. December 1987

    UNESCO World Heritage

    The cathedral is inscribed by UNESCO together with the Alcazar palace and the Archive of the Indies as a single World Heritage property.

12. 2008

    Facade Restoration Completed

    A five-year exterior restoration program begun in 2003 finishes, restoring the cathedral's intricate Gothic stonework and statuary.

Detailed History

The history of Seville Cathedral begins in 1172, when the Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf ordered a vast new congregational mosque at the southern edge of the city. Designed by Ahmad ben Basso, the mosque measured 113 by 135 meters with a footprint of more than 15,000 square meters and included a minaret and ablutions courtyard. It was dedicated in 1182 and completed in 1198, replacing an earlier mosque built in 829-830 as the principal house of worship in Seville. Following Ferdinand III's reconquest of Seville in 1248, the Almohad mosque was converted into the city's cathedral, its orientation reversed and its interior gradually partitioned into chapels. The eastern half held the royal chapel with the remains of Ferdinand III, his queen Beatrice of Swabia, and their son Alfonso X the Wise. By 1401 the converted mosque had become structurally unsound, and the cathedral chapter resolved to rebuild it from the ground up. According to local tradition the canons declared: 'Let us build a church so beautiful and so grand that those who see it finished will take us for mad.' Construction began in 1402 (some sources cite 1433) under a series of master architects from across Europe — the Dutch Ysambert from 1434, the French Carlin from 1439 to 1454, then Juan Norman and Simon of Cologne. Work proceeded in stages from the northeast corner, with the demolition of the old Capilla Real authorized by John II of Castile in 1433. The main body was largely complete by 1528. The Giralda, originally the Almohad minaret, was crowned in 1568 by Hernan Ruiz the Younger with a Renaissance bell stage holding 28 bells and the bronze Giraldillo weathervane. The Retablo Mayor, the cathedral's vast main altarpiece, was designed in 1482 by Dutch artist Pieter Dancart and worked on for over a century with 36 gilded wooden scriptural scenes — one of the largest altarpieces in the world. In 1898, after Spain lost Cuba in the Spanish-American War, the Columbus tomb was repatriated from Havana; Arturo Melida's four-king sculpture was installed in the south transept in 1899. The cathedral was designated a national monument in 1928 and inscribed in December 1987 as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. A major facade restoration was carried out from 2003 to 2008.

Cultural Significance

Upon completion in the early 16th century, Seville Cathedral overtook Byzantine Hagia Sophia — which had held the title for a thousand years — to become the largest cathedral in the world. It is now regarded as the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest cathedral overall, behind St Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Basilica of Aparecida in Brazil. Because it rises on the foundations of the Almohad great mosque, its rectangular plan departs from the conventional Latin cross of European cathedrals — an architectural memory of its Islamic past. The Giralda was the minaret of that mosque, and the Patio de los Naranjos preserves the orange-tree sahn of Islamic ablutions, making the site a rare living document of Islamic-Christian fusion in Andalusia. The 1987 UNESCO inscription bundles the cathedral with the adjoining Alcazar and the Archive of the Indies as a single complex telling Seville's medieval and Age-of-Discovery primacy. The patron saints are Justa and Rufina, two early Christian martyrs said to have prevented the Giralda's collapse during the 1504 earthquake — a miracle later immortalized by Murillo, Goya, and Zurbaran. The tomb of Columbus carries the dual weight of imperial glory and colonial loss, tying the cathedral to Seville's monopoly on trans-Atlantic trade at the empire's height.

Architectural Details

Seville Cathedral is a rectangular five-aisle basilica in pure Gothic style, with the nave measuring 126 meters long, 76 meters wide, and rising 36 meters at the central vault with 40 meters at the crossing — establishing its primacy among Gothic interiors anywhere on Earth. The overall footprint is 11,520 square meters and contains 80 chapels. The structure is carried by pointed arches and ribbed vaults, supported externally by flying buttresses that absorb the lateral thrust. The main altar holds the Retablo Mayor, a 20-meter-tall, 18-meter-wide gilded wooden screen of 36 biblical scenes designed in 1482 by Dutch artist Pieter Dancart and worked on for decades after his 1487 death — one of the largest altarpieces ever crafted. The Giralda rises 105 meters, built atop the 51.5-meter Almohad minaret with Hernan Ruiz the Younger's 1568 Renaissance belfry and 28 bronze bells. Crowning the tower are four bronze spheres and the Giraldillo weathervane, a bronze allegory of Christian Faith that gave the tower its name. Inside, the ascent uses 34 broad inclined ramps rather than steps, originally allowing horseback access. The exterior is articulated in Gothic spires, sculpted figures, and rose windows, and the great portals — the Puerta del Principe, the Puerta del Bautismo, and the Puerta del Nacimiento — bear elaborate programs of late-medieval stone carving.