Lubna Alli

After a week of learning the background history of Seville and, more broadly Spain, our class continued to increase our understanding by reinforcing concepts outside of the classroom.

This visit in particular to The Cathedral of Seville and La Giralda was very interesting to me because it provided great insight into the religious background of Seville and how that played into the political tensions of the city over the years. It was interesting to see both the shift and the harmony of religion between the Muslims and the Christians in Spain.

The first thing that struck me as interesting, and (possibly offensive) was that the church was referred to as a church. The history that we have learned has taught us that the Moores ruled before from 700-1492 and specifically in Seville until 1248. During the tour, it was brought to our attention that La Giralda was a minaret used for the Muslim call to prayer 5 times a day and that attached to La Giralda was a mosque, which is the Muslim house of prayer. In the courtyard, there was a marble fountain that was also pointed out for the use of washing and cleaning of Muslims before prayer. These are all things that make it evident that the Muslims had a very strong presence and history, which I felt like was dismissed in history books that push for a Eurocentric agenda. It is understandable that this is the case because, after the reconquest, the land became Christian territory again, allowing the place of worship to be converted to cathedral instead of a mosque. Regardless of reconquest or not, the advanced technologies and the strong foundations that the Moores left for Christian Spain should not be brushed over.