Plaza de España is a square, in Parque de María Luisa, in Seville, Spain.
built in 1928 for the 1929 Ibero-American Exhibition. It is a striking example of Regionalism in Architecture , which mixes elements from Neorrenascença, Moura Revival (Neo-Mudéjar) and Spanish architecture styles.
The surface of the square is 50,000 m², of which 19,000 m² are built on and the remaining 31,000 m² represent open space. All around is a canal with a length of 515 meters. This is crossed by 4 bridges, which are supposed to represent the four ancient kingdoms of Spain (Castile, León, Aragón and Navarre).
The Plaza is covered with clinker bricks, marble and ceramics, which give it an appearance in a playful mixture of Renaissance and Baroque. On the walls there are a number of tile ornaments (azulejos), which are supposed to remind of the 48 Spanish provinces and are arranged in alphabetical order. They represent maps of the provinces, mosaics with historical events and the coats of arms of the capitals of each province. The square was thus the most expensive exhibition element of the event.
Today, the exhibition buildings are occupied by the Seville City Hall and museum institutions.The square has been classified as a property of cultural interest since March 16, 1981.
Access : Coordinates: 37.376944, -5.986944 / Walking is the best option for sight-seeing: Plaza de España located to the northeast of the María Luisa Park and is bordered to the west by Avenue d’Isabelle-la-Catholique, to the north by Avenue du Portugal and to the east by Street Nicolas-Alperiz.
Highlights :
- The Marie Louise Park: The center is the Parque de María Luisa, a “paradisical in the Moorish style” with half a mile in tiles, pavilions, walls, ponds, banks, and exhedras green plantations of palm trees, orange trees, Mediterranean pines, and stylized flower beds and with a hidden vine. Several buildings were constructed for the exhibition. At the edge of the park, the architect Anibal Gonzalez designed a semicircular Plaza de España, to which figured bridges were thrown across a channel. There is a large fountain in the center of the square. The surrounding buildings have niches dedicated to certain provinces of Spain, following in alphabetical order. The décor of the square combines fabulously transformed Moorish elements with the art deco style popular in the 1920s.
- The palace : The palace is formed by a central three-storey building flanked on both sides by a wing forming a quarter-circle. In the center of each wing is a secondary building. At the end of each of the two wings stands an 80-meter tower, a replica of the Giralda
- Filming : The Plaza de España was often used as a setting for filming, for example in Lawrence of Arabia as the Cairo Great Britain Army Headquarters, in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clone Warriors as a setting on the planet Naboo, whereby the scenes were later digitally edited and changed and in The Dictator as the setting for the fictional desert state of Wadyia. In 2017, the plaza was therefore included in the list of treasures of European film culture.
Go next : Explore Seville , Andalucia’s capital. The city of “Don Juan”, “Carmen” and “Don Quixotes” is full of evidence of the diverse cultures and epochs without being outdated.
