CARMONA: FROM THE NECRÓPOLIS TO SAINT MARY

The city of Carmona is located only 18.50 miles from Seville, and sits at the last important height of the Alcores, dominating the vast plain of the Corbones. It is one of the cities with more historical renown in the province, and it was intensely Romanised, becoming thus one of the most important city centres in the Baetica. Something which stands out from this period is the impressive Necropolis, currently visitable. If there is something that defines Carmona, that would be the quantity and the quality of its historical heritage.

The route

• Map: check it out Google Maps
• Route length: 1,86 mi.
• Estimated visit time: 3,5 hours.

Metropolitan bus line

• M-124 Sevilla-Carmona

Places of Interest

1. Roman Necropolis

The discovery of the Necropolis of Carmona took place at the end of the XIX C., thanks to the initiative of both Juan Fernandez Lopez and the English archaeologist Jorge Bonsor.

The Necropolis dates back from around 1st C. A.D. The most frequent funeral rite was cremation. The corpses were cremated in an “ustrinum” a hole dug in the rock where the pyre was placed. Sometimes, these ustrina or crematories were used also as burial places, placing the ashes inside the grave, which was covered with ashlars, bricks or tegulae (tiles). Once they were covered with soil, a tombstone was placed to indicate the place and the name of the deceased.

The collective mausoleum, composed of a subterranean chamber of familial nature, is the most extended type of burial in the Carmona Necropolis. The access is a staired pit. The chamber usually has a quadrangular shape, having a bench alongside the lower part of the walls, where offerings are placed and over which the funerary niches are open. The marks of the doors which closed some of the chambers still remain visible; others must have been closed with a flagstone. The exterior of the burials may have had funerary stele, tombstones, mounds or other constructions from which no testimony remains today. To conceal the coarseness of the stone, tombs were decorated. This Necropolis is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Iberian Peninsula due to the fact that it preserves a great number of paintings.

Visiting hours:

• Closed Monday and Bank Holydays; Tuesday-Friday 9:00-18:00; Saturday and Sunday 9:30-14:30

Rates:

• European Union Citizens: Free.

More information:

• Portal de Museos de Andalucía

2. Door of Seville Alcazar

Sitting at Blas Infante Square, the Alcazar raises above the Door of Seville, forming thus an almost impregnable defensive complex. During the 14th and 15th centuries it went through some important changes. It was restored between 1973 and 1975 and its rooms have been fitted out for the celebration of cultural and tourism related acts and nowadays it functions as the Tourist Reception Centre headquarters.

It possesses several remarkable elements such as the Homage Tower which reaches the courtyard and still keeps their bolstered ashlars intact. It also has the Golden Tower from where it is possible to see a beautiful panoramic view of the city of Carmona, several halls and the Courtyard of the Aljibes (a Moorish water storage tank) called that way because at the centre of the courtyard there is an aljibe excavated in the rock with six light shafts around it. If you are interested, you can previously arrange an appointment for a visit at the Tourist Reception Centre.

Visiting hours:

• WINTER: Monday - Friday, 8:00-17:00; Tuesday and Thursdays, 8:00-17:00 and 16.30-18.30.
• SUMMER: (From 16th July to 15th September) Monday - Friday, 8:00-15:00.
• Closed Sunday and Bank Holidays.

Rates:

• General: 2,00 €
• Reduced: 1,00 €
• Free admission on Mondays.

3. St. Ferdinand Square

It is situated at the intersection of the cardo (Roman street running from North to South) and the decumanus (street running from East to West), where the Roman Forum was placed. In the 16th Century it had the shape of a closed rectangle, but due to an error in a restoration project, it became circular. Public celebrations, bullfights amongst them, could be watched from their balconies. We must highlight the building on the east side, from the 16th C., decorated with glazed tiles from Cuenca, the Old Court House and the Mother of God Convent.

4. Town Hall

It is situated on the building which constituted the former conventual residence for Jesuits. The building of the convent ended in 1621. In the age of Charles III of Spain Jesuits were dispossessed of their properties in this city, which caused the School to become a boarding house. The final restructuring of the building into the Town Hall took place in 1842. The most recent refurbishments date back to 1980 and 1992. The building is arranged around the old cloistered courtyard, in which an important Roman mosaic (Medusa Mosaic), found in the old quarter, can be admired. In the council chamber there are a Tullius Amelius cippus from 1st C. A.D. and some fragments of the Bruma mosaic.

Visiting hours:

• WINTER: Monday - Saturday, 10:00-18:00; Sunday and Bank Holidays, 10:00-15:00.
• SUMMER: (July and August) Monday - Friday, 10:00-15:00 and 16:30-18:00; Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holydays 10:00-15:00.

Rates:

• Free admission.

More information:

• Carmona City Hall Web Site

5. Market Place

In the piece of land where the Market place is built there was formerly a monastery of Dominican nuns under the advocation of St. Catherin. It was created at the end of the 16th C. and it was secularized on April 27, 1837.

The current public market is a Ramon del Toro work, carried out in 1842 following the example of the Castilian main squares with arcades and business premises for stalls, of neoclassical style, although section of their spans belongs to the old conventual cloister.

6. Carmona City Museum at Marquis de las Torres Palatial House

The Carmona City Museum and Interpretation Centre is placed nowadays at an old palace from the 16th C.: the Marquis de las Torres House. The history of the municipality is shown through their 16 rooms, from the Palaeolithic age until the present day.

Visiting hours:

• WINTER: Monday, 11:00-14:00; Tuesday-Sunday and Bank Holydays, 11:00-19:00.
• SUMMER: (From 16th July to 15th September) Monday, 10:00-14:00; Tuesday - Friday, 10:00-14:00 and 18:30-20:30; Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holydays, 9:30-14:00.

Rates:

• General: 3,00 €
• Reduced: 1,50 €
• Free admission on Tuesdays.
• Free admission for pensioners and children under 18.

More information:

• www.museociudad.carmona.org

7. St. Mary Prioral Church and Permanent Exposition of the Cultural and Historical Patrimony

Erected over the Major Mosque on the second half of the 14th C., it is a fine example of the Andalusian late Gothic. The temple is a three-nave hall-church with lateral chapels. The Puerta del Sol (Sun Door) and the Sacramental chapel are Baroque works. The bell tower began to be built in the 16th C., although its construction wasn’t finished until the 19th C. The museum can be accessed through the Patio de los Naranjos (Courtyard of the Orange Trees), which formerly was the Mosque’s courtyard for ablutions, and where an old Visigoth calendar from the 6th C. is still preserved.

Visiting hours:

• WINTER: Monday-Friday, 9:00-14:00 and 17-19; Saturdays, 9:00-14:00. Closed Saturday afternoons, Sunday and Bank Holydays.
• SUMMER: (From 1st July to 20th September) Monday-Friday, 9:00-14:00 and 17:30-19:30; Saturday 9:00-11:30.

Rates:

• General: 3,00 €
• Groups: 1,80 €

8. St. Clare Convent

Enclosed convent of Franciscan Clarist nuns, founded by Pontifical Bull in 1460 and under the protection of the Duchess of Arcos, Mrs Beatriz Pacheco. Due to the slowness of its construction it comprises several architectural styles. The temple is connected to the exterior through two similar doorways on the main front, a vaulted niche with an image of St Clare being between them. The conventual church and the cloister, where the original ornamentation consisting of inlaid glazed tiles still remains, date from the last third of the 15th C. and the first third of the 16th C. The church follows the Sevillian conventual model, of Mudejar style. The watchtower dates back to the 18th C. and the upper part is equipped with large windows protected by thick iron grilles to preserve privacy and allowing a broad sight of the surroundings. As well as the visit, there the visitor can buy the conventual pastries which are hand-made by the Clarist nuns.

Visited hours:

• WINTER: Friday, Saturday and Monday, 11:00-13:30 and 16:00-18:00; Sundays, 11:45-13:30 and 16:00-18:00.
• SUMMER: (July, August and September) Friday, Saturday and Monday, 11:00-13:30 and 17:00-19:00; Sunday 11:45-13:30 and 17:00-19:00.

Rates:

• General: 2,00 €
• Groups: 1,00 €

Free guided tours

They can be made from Wednesday to Sunday at 11 am and leave from the Tourist Information Centre. The duration of these tours is 2.5 hours, and they include the visit to the Door of Seville Alcazar, St. Ferdinand Square, the St. Mary Prioral Church and the Carmona City Museum. It is necessary to arrange an appointment in advance contacting with the Tourist Information Centre, and the participants only have to pay the tickets for the monuments they visit. The maximum number of visitors is 25 people, and groups are not allowed nor are they made on neither July nor August.

More information

www.turismo.carmona.org

Versión en español