Construct a new look at the past

For certain, during your walk through Seville, buildings like these will attract your attention.

Local art

They are part of the so called Regionalist art, a movement which rescued the shapes, materials and styles traditional to Seville. It uses specially the Mudejar art, which had been hidden in the interior courtyards of the palatial houses, so the artists wanted to show them outside.

It’s an art created to bring beauty to the city using ceramics, iron work, vivid colours and everything that fits into the ideal reproduction of the styles that have so characterized the city.

Aim: The Exhibition of 1929

Actually, the regionalist style was all over Andalusia, but in Seville it was especially well developed due to the Ibero-American exhibition held in 1929, thanks to which the work of art that is Spain Square was built. The Alfonso XIII Hotel, the Adriatica building, the Carmen Chapel, the Coliseo Theatre or even residential buildings such as those of Altozano Square in Triana were also designed by these regionalist architects.

Although the pavilions of the Ibero-American exhibition are in and around the Maria Luisa Park, regionalist buildings can also be seen everywhere, as they weren’t only built for the exhibition but also to renovate buildings and modernise the city.

The most renowned architects are Aníbal González, Juan Talavera y Heredia and José Espiau, although there are many others who through their talent gave Seville ones of its most characteristic art.

Images source: 35 – 41 (section 4); 88 (section 2). Front page: Coliseo Theatre.