CASA DE PILATOS
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Construction of Casa de Pilatos began in 1483 at the initiative of Pedro Enríquez de Quiñones, Adelantado Mayor of Andalusia, and his wife Catalina de Ribera. Together they founded the noble House of Alcalá.
After Pedro Enríquez died in 1493, Catalina de Ribera continued the development of the residence. Their son, Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, first Marquis of Tarifa, later transformed and considerably enlarged the palace.
1483
Pedro Enríquez de Quiñones and Catalina de Ribera began the construction of the palace that would eventually become Casa de Pilatos.
16th Century
Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera and later Per Afán de Ribera expanded and transformed the residence, introducing strong Renaissance influences from Italy.
Fadrique travelled through Italy during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land between 1518 and 1520. The architecture and artistic language he encountered there would have a profound influence on the development of his Sevillian residence.
Later in the 16th century, Per Afán de Ribera, who served as Viceroy of Naples, continued the transformation of the palace and enriched it with an important collection of classical sculpture.
The name of the palace is closely connected with the pilgrimage made by Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera to Jerusalem.
After returning to Seville, Fadrique established a devotional route beginning at his palace and ending at the Cruz del Campo. The route evoked the path followed by Christ from the Praetorium of Pontius Pilate towards Calvary.
This tradition became one of the historical roots of the Via Crucis in Seville. The route from Casa de Pilatos towards Cruz del Campo played an important role in the development of the city's public penitential traditions.
Casa de Pilatos is considered one of the finest examples of Andalusian palace architecture because of the way it combines different artistic traditions within a single residence.
Gothic and Mudéjar forms inherited from late medieval Seville coexist with the new architectural language of the Italian Renaissance. Later modifications added further layers without destroying the character of the earlier palace.
Main Courtyard
The central courtyard combines marble columns, Renaissance proportions, Mudéjar plasterwork, colourful tiles and classical sculpture in one of the palace's most spectacular spaces.
Imperial Staircase
One of the great features of the palace, the monumental staircase is covered with tilework and crowned by an extraordinary octagonal Mudéjar wooden dome.
Thousands of glazed tiles cover walls and rooms throughout the palace, while carved plasterwork, wooden coffered ceilings and marble elements reveal the extraordinary craftsmanship employed by generations of artists and builders.
Outside, the palace gardens provide a very different atmosphere. Renaissance loggias, fountains, ponds, classical sculpture and vegetation form a series of quiet spaces away from the streets of central Seville.
Casa de Pilatos is not only an architectural monument. Successive generations of the family assembled an important collection of paintings and classical antiquities that remains closely connected with the history of the palace.
Roman Sculpture
Classical busts and statues brought from Italy during the 16th century are displayed throughout the courtyards, gardens and galleries of the palace.
Francisco Pacheco
The upper floor preserves the celebrated ceiling paintings of the Apotheosis of Hercules by Francisco Pacheco, painter and teacher of Diego Velázquez.
The palace continued to evolve during later centuries. Romantic restorations carried out in the 19th century added another chapter to a building that had already been transformed repeatedly since the late Middle Ages.
Why Visit Casa de Pilatos?
Casa de Pilatos offers something very different from Seville's great royal and religious monuments. It is the result of more than five centuries of aristocratic life, collecting and architectural transformation.
Its extraordinary combination of Mudéjar decoration, Italian Renaissance architecture, classical sculpture and peaceful gardens makes it one of the most rewarding historic houses to discover in Seville.
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