Seville

Spain 2009
IMG_5881-0137 Flamenco show at El Palacio Andaluz, Seville
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IMG_5881-0139 Gypsies from the south of Spain have created flamenco music since their arrival at Andalusia in the 15th century
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IMG_5881-0142 Andalusia is an autonomous community of Spain and recognized as a historical nationality. Andalusia is in the south of the Iberian peninsula and was the center...
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IMG_5881-0143 Flamenco has its roots in Hindu, Arabic, Jewish, Greek and Castilian cultures. It has a long history of legends and unanswered questions...
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IMG_5881-0144 Flamenco music began with a voice and the palms of hands, and later on the guitar was incorporated. The tapping of feet was only introduced this century.
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IMG_5881-0148 Carmen, the show's story is set in Seville around 1830. A story about the eponymous Carmen, a beautiful Gypsy with a fiery temper.
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IMG_5881-0154 Carmen, free with her love, wooed the corporal Don Jose, but when she fell for the bullfighter Escamillo, the corporal's jealousy led him to murder Carmen...
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IMG_5882-Seville Spanish Square Plaza de Espana, the Spanish Square, Seville
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IMG_5883-5020 Plaza de Espana was built for the Ibero-American Exhibition of 1929, held in Maria Luisa Park (Parque de Maria Luisa), Seville
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IMG_5888 Plaza de Espana is a huge half-circle with buildings continually running around the edge accessible over the moat by numerous beautiful bridges.
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IMG_5890 Plaza de Espana has 2 towers, one on each side of the enclosed area.
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IMG_5891 Today the Plaza de Espana mainly consists of government buildings.
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IMG_5892 The Seville Town Hall, with sensitive adaptive redesign, is located inside.
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IMG_5893-5025 Plaza de Espana was used in the films Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
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IMG_5893-5027 Blue and white polychromatic ceramics are used extensively.
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IMG_5894-5884 Plaza de Espana, designed by Anibal Gonzalez, construction started in 1914.
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IMG_5895 Beautiful ceramics...
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IMG_5899 The building's style today is called Sevillian Regionalism.
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IMG_5899-5028 Major parts of the grounds of María Luisa park were donated in 1893 to the city of Seville by the Dutchess of Montpensier to be used as a public park.
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IMG_5900-5029 The central building flanked at each end with a tower, has 58 benches in recesses decorated with tiles.
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