Sevilla: Architectural styles, the Golden Age, Islamic influences

Here are some architectural styles you might expect to see in Seville:

Fabric shop "Ciudad de Londres" of Seville, with exquisite Islamic arches, built 1912, designed by famous native Sevillano architect, José Espiau y Muñoz

This building is within the main shopping district, on the corner of Calle Cerrajería and Calle Cuna, not far from the busy pedestrian street of Calle Sierpes. Yes, Seville's shopping district still has stores selling textile fabrics, which is what "Ciudad de Londres" is (City of London - click for an even more beautiful photo of this intricate Espiau y Muñoz designed building, geo-mapped on Google's Panoramio.com).

The building is reminiscent of Islamic forms; but it was only born in 1912 and designed by native Sevillano architect José Espiau y Muñoz. This happens to be one of his more famous buildings.

Municipal Government building, 1526 (Ayuntamiento de Sevilla) or "City Hall" of Seville

This is the southern end of Seville's City Hall. It's elaborate style is consistent with the building's early origins in 1526 during the "Golden Age" of Seville. Even then, Seville was never a capital of a united Spain, but it was from Seville that Spain's vast empire in the Americas was controlled, and to Seville that the empire's riches flowed through.

This building (fronting Plaza Nueva, at the northern end of Avenida de la Constitucion after just running past the Cathedral) is usually marked on maps as being the seat of Municipal Government in Seville (Ayuntamiento de Sevilla), although the building might be more properly referred to as the Town Hall of Seville (Casa Consistorial de Sevilla - in English Wikipedia)(Seville Town Hall on Google Maps).