Sevilles most famous square

The Plaza de España is one of the best places you can visit while you’re in Seville. Its beauty, nice little touches, tranquillity and its size make this a magnificent place to spend a few hours and making the most of all its parts.

The ‘Plaza de España’ in Seville is one of the biggest open spaces of regionalist architecture. Its construction was taken on by the architect Aníbal González for the Iberoamerican Exposition of 1929.

When you first get here, its size is what most impresses you, because it takes up a surface area of 50.000 m2, of which 19.000 have been built upon and the rest of the 31.000 are free of any kind of man-made buildings, and the canal is 515 metres long with a width of 200m and a total area of 14.000m2.

The square combines its huge size with the most minimal details. It has 50 benches, made up of colourful tiles, with each one of these representing one of the 50 provinces which Spain is made up of. You can spend a whole afternoon admiring every one of these benches, which as well as being stylish and colourful, also tell a story.

There is a symbolism behind every element which the square is made up of, for example, the semicircular shape symbolises the link between Spain and its old colonies. Although as a citizen of an ex-colony, I must admit that a shape that had referred to the slavery and intolerance between Spain and its former colonies would have represented the reality of this old relationship better.

The square looks towards the river as the path to follow towards the American continent, and is decorated in brick, marble and ceramics, all of which give it a renaissance and Baroque touch. The path clearly refers to the discovery of the American continent, which is one of history’s successes and which brought so much wealth and power to Spain.

The canal inside the square is crossed by 4 bridges that represent the four old Spanish crowns (Castilla, León, Aragón and Navarra). And it’s really pleasant and relaxing to walk along these magnificent bridges.

Nowadays, the square is homes to military buildings and it an important point of reference within the city. It is located next to the University of Seville and is in an area with lots of monuments and very few Apartamento Sevilla

Transport: Prado de San Sebastián L1 Tram