Much research and writing has been done on the history buried in the basements of the Alcázar of Seville, but its gardens and orchards continue to conceal many unknowns. One of them, the one that flew over the Charles V Arbor, has been resolved after the archaeological intervention that has just culminated in this pavilion located in the gardens of the Alcázar and considered “a masterpiece of the 16th century”.
Until now, it was thought that the Arbor was “a reconversion of a funerary tomb”, but after 20 days of work in two archaeological tastings, it was discovered that the Renaissance construction is actually based on an old Almohad palace with a recreational function. This is the main conclusion reached by the team of archaeologists responsible for developing the research, led by Professor Miguel Ángel Tabales.
With this discovery, one of the enigmas that most intrigued researchers begins to be solved. “In the world of the great Almohad caliphal building, which was its immense Alcazar of 17 hectares, we knew a lot about the 16th century, but nothing about previous periods and we were left orphans when we entered its orchards, of which we knew nothing,” recognizes the American archaeologist who led the work. Now, celebrates Tabales, “we have discovered a world of leisure that we did not suspect, but that is obviously there and allows us to know that the orchards were regularized and intended for many functions, including leisure and enjoyment of the place.”
A pleasure palace instead of a tomb
The importance of this first phase of the investigation therefore lies in the fact that it dismantles the “almost incontestable” idea that had been established around the Arbor of Charles V, where it was supposed that “the remains of the ancient funerary alcoves of the Taifa of the kings or, at most, of the caliphate”, as the archaeologist Miguel Ángel Tabales recognizes.
It has been confirmed that the belvedere built in the 16th century “deeply” reworks a previous “entirely Almohad” building, dating from the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century. The novelty is that the palatine complex that was used for the construction of the Renaissance building did not contain a funerary function, but rather would have “a recreational, recreational function”, at least on the outside, as noted this Monday by the professor who directed the work during the presentation of the first results.
Work that “will support the future restoration and conservation of the Cenador itself”, as stated by the mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, who has set himself the goal of completing the intervention in this enclave by 2026, the year in which the 500th anniversary of the marriage of Charles V to Isabella of Portugal is commemorated in the city, an event that motivated the construction of this precious Renaissance building.
The hypothesis that the Almohad pleasure palace was larger than the Renaissance construction is based on the fact that the current belvedere is surrounded on the perimeter by a series of rooms, “with their own plasters and compartments”. In one of the archaeological tastings, a latrine was even found. All this, added to the fact that it is now known that the original palace had four arches that served as entrances on each of the facades (currently the pavilion only has one entrance to the south), dispels the suspicion that it was a tomb. . of the ancient Muslim kings, as Tabales details in SevillaelDiario.es.
Continue to eliminate unknowns
This discovery, beyond dismantling the researchers’ hypotheses, increases the value that the Charles V Gazebo already had, “a masterpiece of the 16th century,” according to Tabales. “It is not just any building: in Granada, Marrakech or any other city there is no qubba – an Arabic term that refers to an architectural structure with a square base and a dome or wooden roof – surrounded by another similar building and noble rooms around it,” explains the archaeologist who led the archaeological study carried out in one of the most emblematic pavilions of the Alcazar.
However, Professor Tabales recalls that the restoration project also includes an intervention inside the pavilion, where “one of the most spectacular pavements of the Spanish Renaissance” is located, and therefore he hopes to be able to collect more information in the future, taking advantage of the intervention to clean the source.
For the moment, the first works carried out in the Charles V Gazebo allow us to reconstruct “what the Muslim gardens looked like” and to confirm that “the area called the gardens of the Royal Islamic Alcazar had leisure buildings that until now we know we did not have, areas of public life that were perfectly urbanized, organized and planned”, as the mayor of Seville pointed out.
However, even if these discoveries have destroyed the hopes of locating the tombs of the ancient Muslim kings, the door is open to know the unknown past of the Almohad orchards and continue to clarify the unknowns, since the tombs “will have to continue to look for elsewhere.”
