El Arenal is a neighbourhood in the historical centre of

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, the

Casco Antiguo The Casco Antiguo (Spanish for ''Ancient District'') is the city centre district of Seville, the capital of the Spanish region of Andalusia. The Casco Antiguo comprises Seville's old town, which lies on the east bank of the Guadalquivir river. It ...

. It lies on the east bank 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 Seville ...

river to the west of the old Jewish Quarter, Santa Cruz, and south of the neighbourhoods of Museo and

Alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...

. Its name comes from the sandy nature that this east bank of the river once used to have. El Arenal has a history characterised by its former position as the port of Seville, until river silting forced the city to relocate the port to the southern edge of the city in the 17th century. In the 16th century, the district called El Compás de Arenal, El Compás, or El Arenal was smaller than that of today and lay between the city walls and the river between the Puerta del Arenal, and the Puerta del Triana gates. A low-lying, sandy area, it was the main home of the Sevillan underworld, and the site of the notorious brothel, El Compás from where the other part of its name derived.Pike, Ruth (1971). Aristocrats and Traders, Sevillan Society in the Sixteenth Century, ISBN 0-8014-0699-4, Cornell University Press, pp. 203-4 Some of the historical sites in the current neighbourhood are: * The

Torre del Oro The Torre del Oro () is a dodecagonal military watchtower in Seville, southern Spain. It was erected by the Almohad Caliphate in order to control access to Seville via the Guadalquivir river. Constructed in the first third of the 13th century, t ...

, 13th Century Moorish watchtower * The Reales Atarazanas, the Royal Shipyards * La Real Maestranza, Seville's bullring and the second most important in Spain, after the Plaza de "Las Ventas" in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

References

{{Coord, 37, 23, 01, N, 5, 59, 47, W, region:ES_source:kolossus-eswiki, display=title Neighbourhoods of Seville