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36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel gerrydawesspain.com
Photo by John Sconzo, Docsconz: Musings on Food & Life
Custom-designed
Wine, Food, Cultural and Photographic Tours of Spain Organized and Led by Gerry Dawes and Spanish Itinerary Planning
5/24/2023
Report on Day 00, May 3 of Gerry Dawes's A Taste of Madrid, Western Spain (Castilla y León and Extremadura), Andalucía & La Mancha Tour With Spain Expert & Author Gerry Dawes May 3 – May 14, 2023
5/01/2023
Gerry Dawes's A Taste of Madrid, Western Spain (Castilla y León and Extremadura), Andalucía & La Mancha Tour With Acclaimed Spain Expert & Author Gerry Dawes and Santa Fe Star Chef James Campbell Caruso May 3 – May 14, 2023
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4/27/2023
Sevilla: The Great Gothic-Mudéjar Churches Along My Original Route Into the City. Part Five, Ominium Sanctorum, Another Gothic Church with an Islam-inspired Minaret-like Tower
Another of the oldest churches in Sevilla, Omnium Sanctorum was built in 1249, during the reign of Fernando III el Santo, who defeated the Almohades in 1248 after a year-long siege. Obviously given the minaret tower and the fact that it was consecrated as a Catholic church so quickly after the reconquest, though just scant evidence remains of the foundation, this church was likely built on the site of a mosque, like any others from this period. The Mudéjar tower, originally built at the end of the XIVth Century, shows that its design was inspired by the Giralda minaret that was appropriated as the belltower of Cathedral of Sevilla, with similar arched windows and sebka decoration.
And, again, because of the damage from the earthquake of 1356. Omnium Sanctorum underwent major renovations. Declared an national monument in 1931, the church like most in this district was sacked and burned at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. It was finally restored in 1993.
The interior has an interesting Mudéjar wooden artesanado ceiling, although it is obviously a restoration since the roof was destroyed during the civil war.
Sunset in a Glass: Adventures of a Food and Wine Road Warrior in Spain Volume I, Chapter I Sevilla: Arrival in Spain (in 1968) Soldiers on a Train (Excerpt protected by copyright)Sevilla,
Sevilla, Retracing Steps Part Two: Iglesia de San Gil A Remarkable Walk From El Arco de la Macarena to the Cathedral Featuring a Half Dozen Mudéjar-and-Gothic Churches Built on the Sites of Former Mosques in the 14th Century
If you enjoy these blog posts, please consider a contribution to help me continue the work of gathering all this great information and these photographs for Gerry Dawes's Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel. Contributions of $5 and up will be greatly appreciated. Contributions of $100 or more will be acknowledged on the blog.
Please click on this secure link to Paypal to make your contribution.
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."
36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel
About Gerry Dawes
Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com
4/26/2023
Sevilla, Retracing Steps Part Three: Iglesia de Santa Marina y San Juan Bautista de La Salle A Remarkable Walk From El Arco de la Macarena Featuring a Half Dozen Mudéjar-and-Gothic Churches Built on the Sites of Former Mosques in the 14th Century
On my first entry into Sevilla I was uninformed about Sevilla, its history and its origins. I was just a newly arrived American Navyman on his first trip to a foreign country, so I took little note of some the monumental churches along calle San Luís, some of whose foundations date to almost a millennium ago.
Plaque on the church of Santa Marina denoting the route of Mudéjar churches in Sevilla. The Islamic Art in the Mediterranean subtitle is a Freudian slip. Although Sevilla is a city much closer to the Atlantic Ocean than to the Mediterranean, the weather is influened by both bodies of water. The climate is very Mediterranean and hot in summer, but in winter the Atlantic influence takes over and Sevilla can be quite chilly. But, there is no doubt that visitors to Sevilla can easily believe they are in a Mediterranean city.
The next church along the calle San Luís is the church of Santa Marina, which was one of the first parishes established in this populous district after the Reconquest of Sevilla in 1248 by Fernando III. It is one of the oldest Gothic-Mudéjar churches in the city, dating its construction to 1262 under the reign of Fernando’s son Alfonso X el Sabio. Though there is some polemic about this; it is claimed by many scholars not to have been built on the site of mosque even though there was supposedly a mosque built here in the 10th century.
Looking at tower, the uninitiated visitor could easily assume that Santa Marina, like several other churches in Sevilla was built over a mosque, since the tower is of Mudéjar construction and could easily be mistaken for the minaret of a long-disappeared mosque. However, it was not unusual for Moorish craftsmen working under Christian rule—Mudejares—to build structures that spoke of Islam, not unusual since even their Christian conquerors had long been used to seeing Islamic architecture and not only that, many of them had an appreciation for the aesthetics of such buildings. Thus it was natural for them to retain such structures as La Giralda, the minaret tower of Sevilla’s main mosque. It was functional, attractive and it cost much, much less to leave standing that it did to build a towering new structure.
In the case of Santa Marina, not only was the tower built in the early 14th century in the Mudéjar style resembling a minaret, the church and tower were was destroyed by a powerful earthquake and rebuilt in the same style in the mid-to-later 14th century under Pedro I (the Cruel), who ordered numerous structures around Spain built by Mudéjar builders and craftsmen, including the Palace in the Alcázar and the exquisite Mudéjar palace in Tordesillas that he built for his favorite Maria de Padilla and has since become incorporated into the Convento de Santa Clara.
Convento de Santa Clara, Tordesillas, built as a palace by Pedro I de Castilla (Pedro the Cruel).
Interior of the Convento de Santa Clara, Tordesillas, built as a palace by Pedro I de Castilla (Pedro the Cruel).
Sevilla, Retracing Steps Part Two: Iglesia de San Gil A Remarkable Walk From El Arco de la Macarena to the Cathedral Featuring a Half Dozen Mudéjar-and-Gothic Churches Built on the Sites of Former Mosques in the 14th Century
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If you enjoy these blog posts, please consider a contribution to help me continue the work of gathering all this great information and these photographs for Gerry Dawes's Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel. Contributions of $5 and up will be greatly appreciated. Contributions of $100 or more will be acknowledged on the blog.
Please click on this secure link to Paypal to make your contribution.
More true than Don Quixote's vapouring?
Hath winged Pegasus more nobly trod
Than Rocinante stumbling up to God?

"The Best Gastronomy blogs selected from thousands of Food blogs, Culture blogs and Food Science blogs in our index using search and social metrics. We’ve carefully selected these websites because they are actively working to educate, inspire, and empower their readers with frequent updates and high-quality information."
36. Gerry Dawes's Spain: An Insider's Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel
About Gerry Dawes
Gerry Dawes can be reached at gerrydawes@aol.com; Alternate e-mail (use only if your e-mail to AOL is rejected): gerrydawes@gmail.com