Casa de Pilatos
The Casa de Pilatos dates from years when Christians controlled Seville, but before the capitulation of the Emir of Granada. The Chief Governor of Andalusia at the time, under and close to the Castilian monarchs, commissioned the palace to show just how important he was. His son, Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, inherited the complex and brought his experiences from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1518-19 and passage through Italy back home to the palace.
His experiences in the Holy Land inspired him to create a Via Crucis (Stations of the Cross: a spiritual journey representing Jesus’s final path from Pilate to the cross). He identified fourteen Stations-of-the-Cross locations between his palace and a monument about 2 km / 1.2 mi away, which was the distance he believed he had measured between Pilate’s offices and Calvary in Jerusalem. Hence the name Casa de Pilotes, or Pilate’s House.
By the time the palace was completed in the middle of the 16th century, well after the defeat of the Emir of Granada, when no Muslim realms remained in Spain, the Catholic Monarchs were well on their purist path and the Inquisition was up and running. Interesting then that the palace celebrates art and architecture much like that of the Nasrid Alhambra in subjugated Granada.
But we also find Gothic and Renaissance elements, classical sculpture, and royal crests.
The melange of styles and elements in this palace communicated that this Aristocratic family was favored by the Catholic monarchs who had subjugated Andalusia and incorporated all the best of the previous, but now expunged rulers. As if often the case, we see style in service of politics and religion.
La Plaza de España
You can’t visit Seville without a stop at the imposing Plaza de España.
The city constructed this plaza as the centerpiece of the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929. Goals for the exposition included modernizing the city and strengthening cultural and economic links with Spain’s former American colonies.
It seems that most of the goals were not achieved. Seville did succeed in creating a lasting symbol of cultural ties between Spain and the former colonies. But otherwise, attendance and financial performance of the exposition were disappointing. While most Latin American former colonies contributed national pavilions in the park around the Plaza, that participation was seen as more about their expressing independent pride than Spanish identity. Many historians regard the exposition as embodying a neo-imperial, hierarchical vision with Spain as “spiritual leader.”
But the exposition did leave us a grand, impressive public plaza — that looks a little like a late-19th-century train station, albeit a major rail terminus!
The best parts are what you find up close. Colorful Andalusian ceramic tiles decorate many of the surfaces.
Around the great arc of the complex, 48 tiled benches (azulejo alcoves) celebrate all the Spanish provinces. Stepping from one bench alcove to the next was like flipping the pages of a book of Spanish geography and history.
A nice note was that a flamenco group was performing for us visitors under the central portico.
Ceramics and flamenco in Triana
The Triana neighborhood looks back across the Guadalquivir river at the historic center of Seville. This is one of the birthplaces of famous Andalusian ceramic tiles and of Flamenco. Could you imagine Andalusia without either?
The ceramics industry here goes back to Roman times. The name Triana comes from the name of the Roman Emperor Trajan, who was born in Italica, just 10 km / 6 mi north of modern Seville. The clay from the banks of the river was perfect for pottery, and the river connects to the Atlantic for trade connections.
In the Islamic period, local craftsmen advanced the industry by introducing new glazing techniques that allowed bright durable colors. To this day, you see walls of vibrant, richly decorated ceramic tiles throughout Seville and Andalusia.
After visiting places like the Alhambra and the Alcázar of Seville, where intricate geometric stucco patterns cover every surface, we wondered if there’s a link between the carved patterns and the painted ceramic tiles. The answer is assuredly yes.
Even during the Islamic times, the lower parts of palace walls were often covered with geometric patterns made from tile mosaics. Intricately carved tiles covered the upper parts of the walls. Even after the Christians had superseded the Muslims, mudéjar craftspeople continued to use both carved stucco and mosaic ceramic tile.
Over time, the technology of colored glazed ceramic tile-making progressed. Ceramic tile is easier to produce that carved stucco, is more durable, and ultimately offers much greater diversity of design options.
In Muslim times, motifs grew from geometry and the natural world. In Christian times, motifs included depiction of people, events, nature, religious symbols, and more.
Yet the tiles were, and are, still used to create wall fields of color and pattern in a spirit remarkably close to that of 800 years ago.
We stopped in the Centro Cerámica Triana in the neighborhood. They offered a nice overview of the history of ceramics in Triana. We also liked their contemporary vibe.
Triana was for centuries the home for the ceramics industry, as well as blacksmithing and river-related work. Located across the river from the city center meant that it was outside the proper part of the city, and city authorities were lenient about what happened over there, as long the residents supplied labor and crafts important to Seville’s economy.
This mixture of productivity and look-the-other-way tolerance in Triana provided immigrant Roma (or Gitano, or the disused term gypsies) a place to settle and work. Originally from northwest India, the first Roma arrived in Spain in the early 15th century. At first, the Roma were welcomed in Spain because some of them were Christian pilgrims. The same turn to Christian intolerance under the Catholic Monarchs that expelled Muslims and Jews targeted the Roma, mostly because they continued to identified as foreign. So, they lived at the margins of Andalusian society and they consolidated and protected their own culture.
In the 19th century, Triana enjoyed an industrial boom in ceramics, thanks to developing technologies and diversification of demand. Records show that Triana was a Roma center, and that many local people worked in the ceramics factories, so it is likely that at least some Roma worked in ceramics.
Seville’s flamenco culture grew out of this mixture in Triana. Tight-knit families, clans, and neighborhoods celebrated via singing, instrumental music, drumming, and dancing. Flamenco is all these media together.
We visited the Flamenco Dance Museum in Seville. A celebrated flamenco dancer and choreographer, Christina Hoyos, founded the museum to share the history and beauty of the art form. In one hall, screens show vintage video from decades ago. In small spaces, like bars, or houses, or even caves, people have gathered. One after another, different men and women take the focus in the small circle of family and neighbors. They dance in a wide range of emotions, from fun and joy, to anguish and intensity. We could see how flamenco arose out of community, out of everyday folks sharing and partying.
After we saw those videos, as we attended more theatrical flamenco performances, we could see the Roma roots of folks sharing their lives wherever they could gather, especially in taverns and homes in Triana.
November 2025