Postigo del Aceite: Near the Ramparts of Seville
Why is it significant?
Walk up to the stone arch set into a surviving stretch of the old city wall. Above it sits the coat of arms of Seville, and in its side a tiny chapel with an image of the Virgin, where neighbours still leave flowers. This is the Postigo del Aceite, the Oil Gate. The name is perfectly practical.
Key Facts
| Place | Postigo del Aceite: Near the Ramparts of Seville |
|---|---|
| Address | Calle Almirantazgo, 41001 Sevilla, Spain |
| Geo Coordinates | 37.38530, -5.99500 |
| Part of Walk | Opera City: Carmen, Figaro and Don Juan in Seville's Arenal |
| Generated | Generated |
Walk up to the stone arch set into a surviving stretch of the old city wall. Above it sits the coat of arms of Seville, and in its side a tiny chapel with an image of the Virgin, where neighbours still leave flowers. This is the Postigo del Aceite, the Oil Gate.
The name is perfectly practical. Olive oil from the hills of the Aljarafe, across the river, was unloaded on the bank and carried in through this gate, to be measured and taxed. The shipyards you just passed stretched along the inside of the wall: King Alfonso the Tenth founded them in 1252, and galleys were built under their great brick arches. The gate itself was rebuilt in 1573 by the Italian architect Benvenuto Tortello.
Now listen to Carmen. In the first act, arrested after a knife fight at the tobacco factory, she is left alone with Corporal Don José. To make him let her go, she sings a seguidilla about a place near the ramparts of Seville, at the tavern of her friend Lillas Pastia, where she will dance and drink manzanilla. Près des remparts de Séville... these are the ramparts. The Arenal, the sandy port quarter between the walls and the river, was exactly the world of smugglers and soldiers off duty that Bizet painted.
Most of Seville's walls are gone. In the second half of the nineteenth century the city pulled them down, gate after gate, to let in air, traffic and new avenues. Only a few stretches survived, mostly in the north around the Macarena, and a handful of gates like this one. What looked like progress at the time took away most of the medieval outline of the city.
Long before Bizet, the Arenal had its own storyteller. Miguel de Cervantes lived in Seville for years, and in his tale Rinconete and Cortadillo two teenage rogues join a guild of thieves who pray devoutly before going out to rob. This was their neighbourhood. Now head west, towards the river, and turn left onto the Paseo de Cristóbal Colón for the opera house.