Torre del Oro

The Torre del Oro ( German: Gold Tower ) in Seville is that once the most important port city in Andalusia. There is a - standing separate from the rest of the actual city walls - military tower. Its name is derived from a non-preserved - possibly yellow and just above the window wreath encircling - tile panel that showed golden glittering reflections in the sun.

History

The tower was built in the first third of the 13th century by order of the Governor of the resident in Marrakech ( Morocco) Almohad used Abū l - ʿ Ula ʾ.

Function

From the base of the tower from the time a heavy iron chain was performed under water on the other side of the Guadalquivir River to the non-preserved ' Torre de la Fortaleza '. In this way, the port of Seville against upstream propelled (war) ships could be protected. However, it should Ramón de Bonifaz manage to break through the chain to the Castilian fleet, which thus Ferdinand III. helped in 1248 to conquer Seville ( Reconquista ).

In medieval times, the tower served as a prison from the 16th century, then as repository of precious metals, which were herbeigeschifft at regular intervals from the Spanish silver fleet from the colonies overseas. This function could be another reason for his naming.

Today, the Torre del Oro houses a maritime museum with stitches, charts, models, old nautical instruments and other historical documents.

Architecture

The twelve-sided Torre del Oro - a dodecagon - is walled in substantial parts of dressed stone. Parts of the walls - as well as the preserved only in small parts of the city wall of Seville - are, however, built in originating from the south of Morocco Stampflehmtechnik; the corners, however, were built of stability reasons entirely of freestone. The slim, also twelve-sided lantern is built using the same technique, however, has in contrast to the structure - possibly added at a later date - Lisenenvorlagen at the corners. The top round tower attachment of Sebastián Van der Borcht dates from 1760.

Due to its military function, the tower had - apart from the aforementioned tiles - no decoration, only a deposed by a small cornice wreath of double windows relaxes the strictness of the building in the upper part a little. The platform of the tower is surrounded by a wall with a ride battlements.

Importance

The Torre del Oro is one of the few ( preserved ) Nachfolgebauten the - apply Pharos of Alexandria - in its central part, probably also polygonal broken and concluding with a lantern. A similar, but octagonal structure of Almohad times are in Badajoz (Extremadura ) - the ' Torre de Espantaperrus '.