Seville's Plaza de España and the Spanish Pavilion

Wednesday, October 30, 2019                                                                         Seville

The North Tower of the Spanish Pavilion of the Plaza de Espana

Each Spanish region is represented in one of 48 smaller niches under each portico

 The bus stopped so that we could walk around the impressive collection of buildings that 

comprise the national exhibition of the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition. The Plaza de 

España is a plaza in the Parque de María Luisa, in Seville. According to our architects, it

is a landmark example of Regionalism Architecture, mixing elements of Baroque Revival, 

Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival styles of Spanish architecture

The central building of the pavilion

The southern semi-circle from the central building, with the South Tower and columns framing a porticoed walkway

The semicircle continues in the opposite direction, like a large circular hug

Framed in the María Luisa Park, this plaza was designed by the Seville architect Aníbal González as an emblematic space for the 1929 Ibero-American Expo. The result was a plaza-palace of lavish proportions with a total area of 50,000 square meters. Along the entire perimeter of the plaza, there is a canal 515 meters long.  The structure swings around the

plaza in a semi-circle, and a large fountain is in the center.

Schools group on a field trip to visit the Plaza

The four beautiful, tiled bridges cross the canal and represent the four ancient kingdoms of Spain: Castille, Navarre, Aragon and Leon.

The large canal is crossed by 4 bridges

The blue tiles form the handrails on the bridges over the canal

Surrounding the building are 48 small pavilions, each dedicated to a province of Spain and decorated in intricately illustrated ceramic tiles (azulejos). These were used to showcase the city’s industrial and craft capabilities. 

Tiles depicting the region of Huesca

Our tour guide, Elena, shows us where her family is from in the province of Cadiz

These tiles depict the region from Don Quixote's countryside of la Mancha

Several film directors have featured the Plaza de España. This monument has been seen in  “Lawrence of Arabia” and Episode II of “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones”.

This central staircase was featured in the film "Lawrence of Arabia"