Calle Sierpes: Cervantes in the Royal Prison
Why is it significant?
Let the crowd carry you a few steps into this narrow, gently curving street, lined with shop windows, old pharmacies and, in summer, great canvas awnings stretched from roof to roof for shade. This is Calle Sierpes, and it is the main artery of Seville's old centre.
Key Facts
| Place | Calle Sierpes: Cervantes in the Royal Prison |
|---|---|
| Address | Calle Sierpes, 41004 Sevilla, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 37.39010, -5.99460 |
| Part of Walk | From Baroque Domes to Las Setas: Seville's Architecture Between Sierpes and Casa de Pilatos |
| Generated | Generated |
Let the crowd carry you a few steps into this narrow, gently curving street, lined with shop windows, old pharmacies and, in summer, great canvas awnings stretched from roof to roof for shade. This is Calle Sierpes, and it is the main artery of Seville's old centre.
Nobody quite agrees on where the name came from. It may have come from an old inn sign, or simply from the way the street twists like a snake. What is certain is that at its southern end, near Plaza de San Francisco, stood the Real Cárcel, the Royal Prison of Seville, a crowded, corrupt and notorious place where thieves, debtors and nobles' sons were thrown together.
In 1597 one of its inmates was a tax collector in his fifties, a veteran of the battle of Lepanto with a crippled left hand, jailed over irregularities in his accounts. His name was Miguel de Cervantes. Years later, in the prologue to Don Quixote, he wrote that his book had been conceived in a prison, where every discomfort has its seat. Most scholars believe he meant this one. A plaque on a bank building near the bottom of the street remembers him.
Take a short detour into Calle Jovellanos, off to one side, to see the little Capilla de San José, the chapel of the carpenters' guild. From the outside it is modest. Inside, it is a cave of gold: an altarpiece so dense with carved and gilded wood that it seems to have grown rather than been built. It is Seville's late Baroque at full volume, hidden among the shoe shops.
During Holy Week, Sierpes becomes part of the official route of the processions, and the great floats inch along it between walls of people, sometimes with only centimetres to spare. At its northern end stands Confitería La Campana, a pastry shop that has been selling sweets since 1885. But first we turn east: take Calle Sagasta and follow your nose towards the large church on Plaza del Salvador.