Reales Atarazanas de Sevilla

In Seville, Alfonso X decided to build the Reales Atarazanas in 1252 to build galleys outside the walled city and very close to the Guadalquivir, in the area between the Torre del Oro, the Torre de la Plata, and the Puerta del Carbón gate and the Postigo del Aceite.

17 huge brick factories were built in the El Arenal area perpendicular to the Guadalquivir river in front of the city's Almohad enclosure, where the riverbank's carpenters built ships and the fishermen and traders salted fish. These facilities were later used as the royal customs house and warehouses, and then in the 18th century as an artillery factory and arsenal, with the Army being the last major tenant of the Reales Atarazanas, until almost the end of the 20th century.

Architecturally, it is an immense Gothic and Mudejar complex built entirely in brick, displaying the influence of the Almohad art in the medieval buildings of the city of Seville. The enormous length and width of the adjoining buildings with their groin vaults - ideal for building the largest boats of the time - is awe inspiring. The buildings are connected laterally through heavy slightly-pointed arches, sprouting in straight line directly from the ground. The overall effect is of unusual beauty.