Jardines de Murillo: 1483, 1492 and a Ship of Stone
Why is it significant?
Walk into the shade of the ficus and palm trees and stop beside the monument of two tall columns, a lion at their foot and a little bronze ship sailing on top. It is dedicated to Christopher Columbus, and it is one of the most photographed things in the gardens.
Key Facts
| Place | Jardines de Murillo: 1483, 1492 and a Ship of Stone |
|---|---|
| Address | Paseo de Catalina de Ribera, 41004 Sevilla, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 37.38350, -5.98790 |
| Part of Walk | The Lost Judería of Seville: Santa Cruz, Susona and the Synagogues That Became Churches |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk into the shade of the ficus and palm trees and stop beside the monument of two tall columns, a lion at their foot and a little bronze ship sailing on top. It is dedicated to Christopher Columbus, and it is one of the most photographed things in the gardens.
These Jardines de Murillo were once orchards belonging to the Alcázar, the royal palace whose wall you can see along one side. In 1911 they were handed over to the city as a public garden and named after the painter Murillo, who spent his last years living in this barrio. The avenue beside them is named after Catalina de Ribera, a great noblewoman who founded a hospital for the poor. Everything here is gentle, which makes what follows harder to hear.
In 1483, eight years before the rest of Spain, the Jews of Seville were ordered out. The newly founded Inquisition persuaded the Catholic Monarchs that conversos could never be good Christians while Jews lived beside them, and the Jews of the dioceses of Seville, Córdoba and Cádiz were expelled. The Judería, which had already been broken in 1391, now emptied.
Then, on the thirty-first of March 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella signed the decree expelling every Jew from their kingdoms who would not convert. They were given a few months. Tens of thousands left by land to Portugal and by sea to North Africa, Italy and the Ottoman Empire, selling houses for almost nothing. The story goes that some families carried the keys of their houses in Sefarad with them, and passed them down for generations.
And here is the coincidence that the column above you invites. On the third of August 1492, just days after the deadline for the Jews to leave, Columbus sailed from Palos, not far from here, on the voyage that reached the Americas. Spain was closing one world and opening another in the same summer. Now follow the garden south, cross towards the open space of the Prado de San Sebastián, and the darkest stop of this walk.