If you have been in Seville, you already know it: Plaza de España is an essential step in the tour of the city, one of those places that you definitely cannot avoid visiting.
Dressed of a magical light, Plaza de España, due to its Neo-Moorish architecture colors and shapes, looks like a fairy-tale place.
The construction, began in 1914 and finished 15 years later in the Iberoamerican Exhibition of 1929, required the art and the work of more than a thousand workers. The entire complex, which includes the Square, a brick building with two towers and a 515 meters long canal, occupies over 50,000 square meters.
The charm of Plaza de España, as well as in the extraordinary beauty of brick, marble and ceramics shapes and colors, lies in its symbolisms: the semicircular shape of the square represents Spain embracing its colonies and, looking towards the Guadalquivir river, the square points to America.
The canal that runs through the square is crossed by four small bridges, symbolizing the four ancient kingdoms of Spain: Castile, Aragon, Navarre and Leon. It is surrounded by a huge palace with two towers; on the palace walls, under the great Baroque colonnade, there are some benches, all ceramic dressed, creating 49 small spaces that represent the Spanish provinces (currently the Spanish provinces are 50: the Canary Islands have been divided in Gran Canaria and Tenerife in 1927, after the design of the square). Behind each of these benches there is a mosaic that illustrate an historical events of the place and its emblem, and on the floor the geographical map of the province is represented.
Nowadays Plaza de España is one of the most visited attractions in Seville. Flanked by the vast Parque de Maria Luisa, another inevitable step to enjoy a pleasant walk in the nature, Plaza de España, with its arcades, offers refreshment during the hot summer days and during the sunset it revives its colors and becomes even more beautiful. You can also rent a boat for few euros and take a walk on the canal.
The entrance in the square is for free but, for safety reasons, from November to March it closes at 10 pm, while in the summer months at midnight. All the practical information are available on the official website.
If you are in Seville, then, you can’t miss Plaza de España, not just because it is one of the most important symbols of Seville, but also because you can fully enjoy its incredible beauty only admiring it with your own eyes.
