Plaza de toros de la Maestranza, Seville

Plaza de toros de la Maestranza is Seville’s historic bullring, associated with the Real Maestranza de Caballería, a noble guild formed around cavalry training. Its annual Feria de Abril programme makes it a major setting for one of the world’s best-known bullfighting festivals, and the arena holds 12,000 people. The building carries a late Baroque character, with a monumental entrance and enclosed galleries that give the complex its theatrical presence.

Construction began in 1749, and the work unfolded slowly across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The ring was completed in 1881, after long interruptions and changes to the design. Look at the Prince’s Box above its entrance: this royal viewing space was completed in 1765 for Felipe de Borbón, and its composition includes four arches, a half-orange vault, and a sculptural finish by Cayetano de Acosta.

The box remains reserved for Spain’s royal family. Inside, the building houses a bullfighting museum, opened in 1989, with paintings, posters, costumes, tiles, and sculpture. The main contests take place during the April fair and the September San Miguel fair, while the museum and the bullring are also open through regular tours. The arena’s long history is concentrated in that ornate royal box and the circular space below it.