The former Royal Tobacco Factory

It’s the second biggest building in Spain, after the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial. The Royal Tobacco Factory is now the location of the University of Seville. Younger than its brother, it was built in the 18^th century, in a time when the economy was changing from a commercial market to an industrial one.

Construction

The Royal Tobacco Factory was designed by the Dutch architect Van Der Boch, who gave it its great majesty and beauty. When the State took on the monopoly of tobacco there was a necessity for a state-run factory to process and market it. Although it was already 1730, once Sevilla lost control of the American trade, it was this chosen city to raise it because of its close relationship with the continent. This is why the building was inspired by the legendary past of the city.

The architect based it on the former Auction House -Archive of the Americas-, which you can sense from its symmetry and its pervasive arches, adding to the entrance the busts of Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes, along with the reliefs of the boats that crossed the ocean and the images of indigenous people smoking the tobacco plant.

‘Cigarreras’, the female cigar makers

If the Royal tobacco Factory is known for anything, it’s for its famous character the cigarrera, Carmen. The story of this gitana woman was written by the French Merimee, but it was passed into popular fancy by the hand of Bizet, when the novel was converted into an opera. Carmen represents the model of a strong Andalusian woman working in the tobacco factory.  This example of a strong women, independent and untameable drew the whole of Europe’s attention who looked at the cigarreras with great exoticism, valuing them as the archetype of a Spanish woman.  

The cigarreras were the female workers in the factory, although they didn’t start there until the 19^th century.  Because of the increased demand of cigars and cigarettes, it was more economical to employ women to work in the factory. It was also said that they had more dexterity than the men when it came to rolling the cigarettes, which they learnt over the years from an instructor.  They are also famous for provoking various riots, of the reconciliation of family life with work, bringing their babies to the factory, or their habit of taking tobacco from the factory to sell outside of its walls.

The little watch towers, and the moat that goes around the factory were ways to dissuade thieves. If the tobacco fell into the moat, the water would damage it. To this we have to add that there was a register at the exit, many confirm that the cigarreras equipped themselves to hide the tobacco in places we can’t imagine

From Factory to University

Nonetheless, bit by bit machines started to substitute the cigarreras. The techniques were modified, and by the mid-20^th century the time of the workers in the factory had finished. 

Years later, in 1954, this building was chosen as the location for the University of Seville, it was founded in the 16^th century and whose headquarters was another building which was also destroyed in the beginning of the 20^th century.

Today, it’s the main building of the university, and the head office of the faculties of Geography and History, and Philology. Its symbol is the statue of Fama, the god who with her trumpet proclaims the prowess of humanity, which is situated in the highest part of the impressive facade of the building.

For the tobacco trade it was constructed,

From when Christopher Columbus brought it to Spain

It’s workshops and galleries we will not walk again

And so the workplace turns into University

Poem by Encarnación Lozana, cigarrera

Images sources: 15 – 25 (section 2)