Catedral de Sevilla, Seville

Seville Cathedral is the vast Gothic cathedral before you, built on the site of a former mosque. Its scale is the striking fact: it is among the world’s largest churches and is the largest Gothic cathedral, with the Gothic building extending 126 m in length, 76 m across, and 36 m high in its main nave. The Giralda beside it began as the mosque’s minaret and later became the cathedral’s bell tower; its full height reaches 104.5 m.

The surviving Patio de los Naranjos preserves another piece of that earlier complex, with its ablutions courtyard, fountain, and orange trees. Work on the present cathedral began in 1402 and continued for more than a century, reaching completion in 1506–7. Juan Gil de Hontañón designed a replacement crossing lantern after an earlier collapse, and the tower’s Renaissance crown was added by Hernán Ruiz.

Inside, the royal chapel holds Ferdinand III, Alfonso the Wise, and Peter the Cruel. Christopher Columbus and his son Diego are also buried here. The cathedral’s story is therefore written into its fabric: Islamic foundations, a monumental Christian rebuilding, and a bell tower that still carries its earlier identity.