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Seville
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About Seville
Seville (Spanish: Sevilla) is the artistic, cultural, and
financial capital of southern Spain, crossed by the river
Guadalquivir. It is the capital of Andalusia and of the province
of Sevilla. The inhabitants of the city are known as Sevillanos.
As of the 2003 census, the population of the city of Seville
proper was 709,975, and the population of the entire urban
urban area was estimated in 2003 to be 1,294,081, ranking
as the fourth-largest urban area of Spain.
Seville's "Giralda"
History
Seville was named Ishbiliya under the Moors and Hispalis under
the Romans. Legend has it that it was founded by the equally
legendary Greek hero, Hercules. Historians believe it was
founded by the Tartessos in the 8th or 9th century BCE. Later
it was occupied by the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians,
who destroyed the city in 216 BCE. In 206 BCE, Scipio Africanus
founded Italica nearby and began the reconstruction of Hispalis.
The architecture of the older parts of the city still reflects
the centuries of Moorish control of the city.
The city was long an important sea port, prior to the silting
up of the Guadalquivir. It sits well inland, but a mere 6
meters above sea level. Much of the Spanish Empire's treasures
from the New World came to Europe via Seville, and Seville
still holds the most important archive of the Spanish conquests
in the Americas.
It was the home of Expo 92 World's Fair. The showpiece bridge
across the Guadalquivir was designed by renowned architect
Santiago Calatrava was built for this occasion. Seville also
hosted the European Summit in June 2002; this was met with
a counter-summit by those opposing neoliberalism and the tightening
of European regulations on immigration.
Seville is known for its hot summer weather, reaching even
47 degrees Celsius in the hottest days of the summer.
Renowned People Born in Seville
Roman emperors Trajan and Hadrian were born in Italica, near
Hispalis
Baroque painters Velázquez and Murillo
Romantic poet Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
20th century poets Vicente Aleixandre (Nobel Laureate), Antonio
Machado and Luis Cernuda
actress Carmen Sevilla
singer Isabel Pantoja
Sights
The city's great Cathedral was built from 1401 - 1519 after
the Reconquista on the former site of the city's mosque. The
interior is lavishly decorated, with a large quantity of gold
evident. The Cathedral reused some columns and elements from
the old mosque, and most famously the Giralda, originally
a minaret, was converted into a bell tower. It is topped with
a statue representing Faith. The Giralda is the city's most
famous symbol.
The Alcazar is the city's old Moorish Palace; construction
was begun in 1181. Additional construction continued for over
500 years.
The Parque Maria Luisa was built for the 1929 Exposición
Ibero-Americana World's Fair, and now is landscaped with attractive
monuments and museums.
Education
University of Seville
Pablo de Olavide University
Sports
Home town of two rival soccer teams Sevilla FC and Real Betis
Balompié.
Seville hosted the 7th Athletics World Championships in 1999.
Motto
The motto of Seville is "NO8DO". The "8"
is shaped like a wool hank, in Spanish madeja. This makes
the motto, as a rebus read "NO madeja DO" which
is a pun on "no me ha dejado" = "she did not
abandon me". This refers to the city's support for King
Alphonse X in the war with his son Don Sancho in the 13th
century. This motto is seen throughout Seville, inscribed
on manhole covers.
Seville in fiction
Seville hosts the legend of Don Juan
Seville is the primary setting of Bizet's opera Carmen, and
also of Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville
Seville is the setting of the novel and film Nadie conoce
a nadie, which incorporates the elaborate Sevillian processions
during Holy Week.
The Plaza de España in the Parque Maria Luisa appears
in George Lucas' Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
This article is licensed
under the GNU
Free Documentation License. It uses material from the
Wikipedia article
"seville'.
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