Church of San Salvador (Seville)

The Church of San Salvador is a church in Seville, Spain. It is the second-largest church in Seville, after the city's cathedral.[1][2]: 125 

Exterior of the church, seen from Plaza del Salvador

History edit

The Ibn Adabbas Mosque was built in 830 to serve as the main congregational mosque of Seville, during the period of Umayyad rule in al-Andalus.[3][2]: 127  It is believed to have been the second-oldest mosque in al-Andalus, after the Great Mosque of Cordoba (founded in 785).[3] This mosque had a hypostyle form consisting of eleven aisles divided by rows of brick arches supported on marble columns.[2]: 144–145 

 
Interior of the church

After the conquest of Seville by Castile in 1248, the mosque was converted into a church and named San Salvador ('Holy Savior'). The building did not undergo any major changes until 1669, when archbishop Payno Osorio visited it. He found it in dangerously neglected condition and decided to condemn the building and order its demolition.[2]: 125  Construction on a new church began in 1674 and was finished in 1712, resulting in the lofty Baroque edifice overlooking Plaza del Salvador today.[2]: 134–136 

References edit

  1. ^ Mena, José María de (1999). Art and History of Seville. Casa Editrice Bonechi. p. 56. ISBN 978-88-7009-851-8.
  2. ^ a b c d e Wunder, Amanda (2017). Baroque Seville: Sacred Art in a Century of Crisis. Penn State Press. ISBN 978-0-271-07941-7.
  3. ^ a b Bloom, Jonathan M. (2013). The minaret. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-0748637256. OCLC 856037134.

37°23′24″N 5°59′33″W / 37.3900°N 5.9926°W / 37.3900; -5.9926