Puerta de la Macarena (Seville)

The Puerta de la Macarena (in Arabic: Bab-al-Makrin), also known as Arco de la Macarena, is one of the only three city gates that remain today of the original walls of Seville, alongside the Postigo del Aceite and the Puerta de Córdoba. It is located in the calle Resolana, within the barrio de San Gil, which belongs to the district of Casco Antiguo of the city of Seville, in Andalusia, Spain. The gate faces the Basílica de La Macarena, which houses the image of the Our Lady of la Esperanza Macarena, one of the most characteristic images of the Holy Week in Seville.

This is the northernmost entrance to the city's walls and the largest of the set. It is one of the few remaining remnants of the original city walls, along with the section of wall that connects it to the Cordoba Gate (Puerta de Córdoba), in which seven towers are preserved.

Although the city's walled enclosure was originally built during the time of Julius Caesar (replacing earlier Carthaginian defenses), the gate itself dates to the 12th-century expansion ordered by the sultan Ali ibn Yusuf. Its current appearance results from extensive remodeling between 1723 and 1795, during which the original Islamic architectural elements were replaced with a classicist style.

This gate was traditionally used by kings entering the city for the first time. Before its walls stood an altar where visiting kings would perform a symbolic act of homage, after which they were presented with the keys to the city. This ceremony was performed by: Alfonso XI of Castile (1327), Isabella I of Castile (1477), Ferdinand II of Aragon (1508), Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and his fiancée Isabella of Portugal (1526), and finally Philip IV (1624).

Text adapted from “Macarena Gate” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Puerta de la Macarena (Seville) ranks #4,257 of 8,134 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #183 of the 602 mapped in Spain. Founded c. 1150, it is older than 81% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 564 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. 11 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Seville, 2 km away. It is one of the 125 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Andalusia. See how Spain compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗