rches
of Amiens and Chartres high into the northern air and rounded the dome
of Santa Maria del Fiore under Lombardy's azure vault.

If you stand in the Calle del Gran Capitan, or better, the Plaza del
Triumfo, best of all, near the gateway of the Patio de las Banderas,
where the Cathedral and the Giralda pile up in front of you,
unquestionably you have before you Spain's mightiest architectural work,
a sight as impressive as the view from the marble pavement of the
Piazzetta by the Adriatic.

The lofty tower is entirely oriental. The walls of the Cathedral which
rise from a broad paved terrace consist below of a classical screen,
whose surface is broken by a Corinthian order carrying a Renaissance
balustrade and topped by heavy, meaningless stone terminations. Windows
with Italian Renaissance frames pierce the ochre masonry. Above rises a
confusion of buttresses, kettle-shaped domes, and Renaissance lanterns,
simple, massive walls, some portions entirely bare, others overloaded
with delicate Gothic interlacings full of Spanish feeling; flowers and
rosettes, broad blazons and coats-of-arms,--above all, a forest of
Gothic towers, finials, crockets, parapets, and rails peculiarly Spanish
in carving and treatment. There is practically no sky line. The interior
of the nave and aisle vaulting are entirely concealed externally by the
parapets and walls.

So lacking in sobriety is the first view!--but you are ready to echo the
Spanish saying,--

Quien no ha visto Sevilla
No ha visto maravilla.[17]

or the words of Pope, "_There_ stands a structure of majestic fame!"

The Spanish Christians in Seville, like those who obtained possession of
other Moorish strongholds, first appropriated the old Arab mosque for
their house of worship. Later, when it no longer sufficed, they and
their fellow-believers elsewhere built the new cathedral on, around, or
adjacent to, the old consecrated walls. Like all other churches from
which Islam had been driven, the great mosque of Seville was dedicated
to Santa Maria de la Sede. The famous Moorish conqueror, Abu Jakub
Jusuf, had laid the foundation stones of his mosque and tower in 1171,
building his walls with the materials left by imperial Rome, and laying
out orange courtyard and walls in a manner befitting his power and the
traditions of his race. It belongs to what architectural writers have
for convenience called the second period of the Spanish Arabs, between
1146 and about