San Marcos and Its Mudéjar Tower
Why is it significant?
Find a spot in the little square where you can see the whole tower of San Marcos at once, from its plain lower shaft to the decorated upper storey. If it reminds you of something, you are right: Sevillians often call it a little sister of the Giralda. The resemblance is not an accident.
Key Facts
| Place | San Marcos and Its Mudéjar Tower |
|---|---|
| Address | Plaza de San Marcos 10, 41003 Sevilla, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 37.39630, -5.98750 |
| Part of Walk | The Macarena and the Almohad Walls: Seville's Barrio of Faith |
| Generated | Generated |
Find a spot in the little square where you can see the whole tower of San Marcos at once, from its plain lower shaft to the decorated upper storey. If it reminds you of something, you are right: Sevillians often call it a little sister of the Giralda.
The resemblance is not an accident. The lower part of the tower is believed to have been the minaret of a mosque that stood here before 1248. When the Christians took over, they kept the solid shaft, added a bell chamber and covered the upper walls with sebka, that diamond-shaped brick lattice you met at Omnium Sanctorum. It is the Giralda story told in miniature: a call to prayer turned into a peal of bells.
Now look at the main doorway. The pointed arches and the carved figures are Gothic, but around them runs a frame of brick and interlacing decoration straight out of Islamic tradition. This mixture is what we call Mudéjar, named after the Muslims who stayed under Christian rule, and whose craftsmen kept building for their new masters for generations. San Marcos dates mostly from the fourteenth century and is one of the finest examples in the city.
Step inside if it is open, and you will be struck by how bare it feels. In July 1936 the church was set on fire and its altarpieces and images were destroyed. What remains is the architecture itself, naked: whitewashed walls and pointed brick arches. Some visitors find it sad. Others find that, without the gold, they finally see the building.
This square is the heart of the old barrio of San Marcos, once full of convents, and the bells you hear in the morning are still calling nuns to prayer. One of those convents is around the corner, and it has something sweet to offer. Leave the square to the east, into Calle Santa Paula.