Casa de la Contratación, Alcazar Gardens and Arquillo de la Plata
In the 16th century, Seville was at the heart of the preparations for what would eventually become the first circumnavigation of the globe. A city that would beat unceasingly, with a constant coming and going of merchants, boats, sailors, etc. For two years the city witnessed the prelude to a great journey whose consequences are still felt today in its streets. This spirit can still be felt if you walk through strategic buildings from that era, such as the Casa de la Contratación and the Gardens of the Alcázar.
The Casa de la Contratación, located in the interior of the Alcázar Real, was the nerve centre of all that movement and the epicentre of the hustle and bustle of the city. Located in a square of with same name, it was created in 1503 to control the intense overseas traffic, although it also played an essential role in the technical and organisational aspects of the voyage round the world. It is also worth mentioning that this is where Magellan contacted those responsible for taking decisions which were decisive for the financing of the expedition. The Casa de la Contratación was also the scientific focus for the cartography used in the explorations. This made it an obligatory step for everything that had to do with voyages to and from the other side of the known world.
It is not difficult to imagine Magellan travelling between the port of Seville and the Casa de la Contratación on a daily basis. The merchandise and treasures that the ships unloaded at the foot of the Torre del Oro were taken directly to this institution. To access these offices, you had to cross the Postigo de Abd el Aziz, also known as the "Arco de la Plata" (Silver Arch), under whose keystones all kinds of riches and luxury goods were paraded. It was built in the 12th century to be used for defence and eventually became one of the main communication routes between the Alcázar and the Torre de la Plata.
I wonder how many times Magellan passed through this gate. Surely, every time he went to the Casa de Contratación to defend his project. Today, however, the gate goes almost unnoticed among the modern buildings in the Avenida de la Constitución. You need to look very carefully to find it, but you will not be disappointed!
There are many places that will take you back to the time when Magellan prepared his voyage. Not surprisingly, the famous sailor lived in Seville, right in the Alcázar, from September 1517 to August 1519, when he embarked for Sanlúcar de Barrameda. These were two key years in his life that were decisive for his inclusion in the annals of History. You can currently visit the Admiral's room, the Audience room and the Contracting room, as well as the offices, the Treasury room, officers' quarters, the jail and the warehouse where valuable cargos of spices were stored.
Surely, in the two years that Magellan lived in the Alcázar, he became intoxicated with its magnificent gardens. Impossible not to imagine visitors, nobles and merchants walking along beside the flowerbeds, to the rhythm of the prosperity generated by the riches arriving from the New World and how the monopoly of trade with the Indies was firmly established in Seville.
The gardens of the Real Alcázar of Seville contain thousands of plants of almost 200 different species, many of them brought from America and Asia, who came to be established definitively not only in the city of Seville, port and gateway to the New World, but also in Western Europe. If you want to go back in time and feel the magic of this place, you do not need to close your eyes and dream, you just need to enjoy one of the concerts organised in the gardens on summer nights.
