Issue date: 17 Apr, 2012
The Cathedrals series devotes this issue to the Cathedral of Seville or Cathedral Santa Maria de la Sede. The souvenir sheet depicts the cruise dome flanked on both sides by the Choir and the Capilla Mayor. The stamp features an exterior view of the Giralda tower.
In 1401 the chapter of Seville cathedral agreed on building a new temple on the site of the old city mosque. In the planning stages, a member of the chapter is said to have commented, "we shall have a church of such a kind that those who see it built will think we were mad” and shortly thereafter began the construction of the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. Although works were concluded in 1506 with the placement of the last stone of the dome, decoration and building of new annexes carried on during the following centuries.
The cathedral is of rectangular base divided into five naves with ambulatory and side chapels between the buttresses. The intermediate naves are all the same height, whilst the central nave and the cruise are somewhat higher. Along the central nave is the choir which opens onto the Capilla Mayor (Main chapel) which is dominated by an awesome Gothic altarpiece with a 15th century Gothic crucifix. The Capilla Mayor and the Choir are enclosed within high golden iron screens of Renaissance style. The high columns are bundles of still beads with simple moldings. The exterior features a mix of Muslim, Gothic and Plateresque styles.
Attached to the cathedral is the Giralda bell tower. It was built in the 12th century during the Almohad period resembling the Koutoubia in Marrakesh (Morocco) and it was the tower of the former mosque. In the 16th century, during the Christian period, the upper part of the bell tower was added.
The Patio de los Naranjos is also part of the cathedral. It was the former ablutions courtyard of the mosque dating back to the Almohad period in the 12th century.. It has a rectangular shape and a fountain in the center. After the conquest of Seville by the Christians it was used as a cemetery and a place for preaching.
The whole of the Cathedral of Seville, the Real Alcazar and Archivo de Indias was declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.
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