Last Day Then Adios 11-8-25

 Deb wanted a quiet day to pack and get organized for our trip over to Nice. So I had the morning to see a few last things. First on my list was the Contemporary Arts Museum, which was a 25 minute walk. I took an indirect route through the heart of our neighborhood using some familiar streets and some new streets. I had to cross the river over to the Triana side, which was originally where the Gypsy population lived. But it held an old monastery where Columbus lived before leaving for his first voyage to the west.

The monastery was dissolved at some point and was derelict. But in the 19th century it was purchased by an English industrialist and converted into a ceramics manufactory in order to bypass the tariffs imposed by Spain on English porcelain. The factory continued into the 20th century but eventually acquired by the city and turned into its current venue.  As I approached the front gate I happened to see an outdoor class underway for aspiring young toreadors.  There were perhaps 10 young men all with capes and blunt swords practicing the required moves for addressing the bull. Their teacher was a man in his 60’s who was giving them orders and correcting their moves.  Maybe he faced the bulls when he was not much older that this batch. 

It turned out that it was a free day, so I was able to walk right in.  The exhibitions are located throughout the three buildings of the old monastery/factory.  They appear to be temporary exhibits so if I were to come back in the future I might be seeing an entirely different lineup.  What is really fun is that the artists are exhibiting in chapels, dormitories, and refectories.  Most of the artists are Spanish and unknown to me but I did recognize an installation by Louise Bourgeois.  Like any contemporary exhibit there were things that really got my attention and others that were totally wasted on me.  There was one particular artist that did a sequence of installations in former monks cells called ‘Paradise Lost’ that had several rooms with installations that were quite thought provoking, I thought I had their name but it’s not mentioned in the literature I picked up.  The other thing I really liked was walking around the spaces between

buildings that had the kilns and smokestacks still in place and contrasting to the monastic buildings.  Another really interesting chapel I found had several medieval tomb effigies of Spanish knights and their consorts still in place the complete change of emphasis in the course of the visit was refreshing.  I could sort of translate the tomb inscription and it turned out that the knight had taken part in the battles with the Moors several times in the recapturing of Sevilla and had finally been killed in a another Moorish versus Spanish battle and was entombed there in the chapel with his wife.  I could also tell he was killed in battle because of his legs being crossed, which was a sign that he fell fighting for the cross.  I didn’t have a

whole lot of time to go through the art center because we were committed later in the day but I was able to spend enough time to see and enjoy several of the works.  It was also interesting to see the juxtaposition of medieval and contemporary artistry.

I left the center and walked back towards the apartment and having a little slack before I had to be back I made a stop at site that I just stumbled on as I was walking over earlier that morning.  It is called the Palacio Bucarelli and it didn’t show on any literature or websites at which we looked.  Deb and I saw the front of the building several days ago and remarked that it looked like the front of a convert or palace or something.  And it turned out to be exactly that.  It was built by a Florentine family in the 17th century and is still owned by them.

Definitely not a highly polished affair but still a wonderful opportunity to see a baroque palacio that has not been overly polished.  I was able to see the ground floor and garden  in the little time before it closed for the day.  The rooms were basically empty of furniture but displayed artworks on the walls. Primarily portraits of the former Earls of Santa Coloma. But the gardens were really interesting even though quite small in comparison to the other city palacios we’ve seen earlier.  The rose gardens were still blooming with more that just the single blooms elsewhere.  In addition there was a banana palm that was over 20 feet tall and actually had a bunch of bananas ripening on a branch.   I finished my visit and walked back to the apartment to gather Deb up for our last lunch at Maestro Rufino.  Suffice it to say that we had a wonderful lunch and it was very fortunate that I reserved a table.  I’ll spare you the photos. Tomorrow is a long train day with an early start but we both feel that Sevilla is worth another visit if the opportunity arises.\\