Plaza Nueva () is a public square in the city center of

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, Spain, containing the Seville City Hall. The land which the plaza is built on was formerly part of the San Fernando convent from 1270 to 1840. The land was later acquired by the local government and converted into a public square. The plaza was completed in 1856.

Name

The plaza has undergone a series of name changes since the beginning of its construction in 1852: * 1852: Plaza Nueva * 1857: Infanta Isabel * 1868: Plaza de la Libertad * 1873: Plaza de la República * 1875: Plaza de San Fernando * 1931: Plaza Nueva

History

Prior to the 11th century, the area that is now Plaza Nueva was part of the

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from the Gulf ...

river. In the 1981, while digging to construct the

Seville Metro The Seville Metro ( es, Metro de Sevilla) is an light metro network serving the city of Seville, Spain and its metropolitan area. The system is totally independent of any other rail or street traffic. All 22 stations were built with platform s ...

, remains of a 10th-century ship and a two-meter-long 6th century Byzantine anchor were found under the plaza. By the 11th century the space was occupied by a cemetery and several orchards. From 1270 to 1840 the convent Convento Casa Grande de San Francisco occupied the area that is now Plaza Nueva. The convent and its gardens extended beyond the bounds of where the modern-day plaza is located, reaching as far as present day Calle Zaragoza. During the occupation of Seville by Napoleonic troops in the 19th century, the convent suffered great structural damage, including a fire in 1810. In 1840, the government decided to acquire the land and demolish what remained of the convent. The plaza was completed in 1856.

Monument of Ferdinand III of Castile in Seville

In the center of the plaza is an equestrian statue of

Fernando III Ferdinand III ( es, Fernando, link=no; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguela of ...

who conquered Seville for the Christians in 1248, and later was declared a saint by the Catholic church in 1671. Since its construction, the designers of the plaza wanted to place a monument in the center of the plaza, thinking first of constructing a monument to Murillo and later thinking of erecting a statue of

Isabella II Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...

. It was finally decided on to build a monument to Fernando III in 1920. The monument is the work of Spanish architect Juan Talavera y Heredia and sculptor Joaquín Bilbao, and was inaugurated in August 1924.

Buildings

Casa consistorial de Sevilla

The city hall of Seville is located in the plaza, in the

Casa consistorial de Sevilla The Seville City Hall () is a Plateresque-style building in Plaza Nueva in Seville (Andalusia, Spain), currently housing the City Council of Seville. The building has a large façade divided into five modules, decorated by Plateresque reliefs; th ...

building with an 18th-century façade.

Edificio de oficinas Philips, Seville

This office building was designed by Spanish architect Alfonso Toro Buiza.

Telefónica building

Seville's

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

building was designed in 1926 by Spanish architect Juan Talavera y Heredia. It utilizes Baroque architecture.

Capilla de San Onofre

The San Ofre Chapel is the only remaining part of the former convent that once occupied the plaza. Since 1520 it has been operated by Hermandad de las Ánimas de San Onofre. The chapel contains four altarpieces: *Altarpiece titled ''Animas and the Virgen de la Candelaria'' *Altarpiece by Bernando Simon de Pineda with sculptures by Pedro Roldán *Altarpiece dedicated to Saint Laureano *Altarpiece commissioned in the sixteenth century for San Onofre

References

{{reflist Tourist attractions in Seville Plazas in Seville 1856 establishments in Spain