Plaza de España, Seville

스페인 광장 (세비야)

Plaza de España is a grand half-circle plaza at the edge of Maria Luisa Park in Seville, Spain. It was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, a world fair held in the park. Its curved, palace-like building is covered in colourful tiles and wraps around a canal.

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At a glance

Country: Spain
Location: Seville, Spain
Built: 1928
Height: 74 m
Type: Historic district

Quick answers

Where is Plaza de España, Seville?

Plaza de España, Seville is in Seville, Spain.

When was Plaza de España, Seville built?

Plaza de España, Seville was built in 1928.

How tall is Plaza de España, Seville?

Plaza de España, Seville is about 74 m tall.

A grand semicircular plaza with a canal, bridges and tiled alcoves for each Spanish province.

The plaza was designed by the architect Aníbal González, who mixed 1920s Art Deco with Renaissance Revival, Baroque Revival and Neo-Mudéjar styles, a style inspired by Moorish art. It is a landmark of Regionalism architecture and one of Spain's most photographed places. In the centre stands the Vicente Traver fountain.

Tiles, bridges and a canal

A canal, called a moat in the sources, runs along the curved building, and four bridges cross it. The bridges stand for the old kingdoms of Spain.

Around the plaza, tiled alcoves each represent a Spanish province, and visitors like to be photographed in the one from their own home province. Each alcove has a pair of little bookshelves where visitors leave and share books about their province.

A fair and its park

In 1929 the whole southern end of Seville was rebuilt with gardens and wide boulevards for the fair. The park at its centre, designed by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier, has about half a mile of tiled fountains, pavilions, ponds and benches, with palms and orange trees.

The plaza was meant to show off Spain's industry and technology. Today the grandest mansions from the fair are museums, and the most distant one holds Roman mosaics from nearby Italica.

On screen and today

The plaza appeared in Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 and in Star Wars: Episode II in 2002, where it stood in for the city of Theed on the planet Naboo.

From 2007 to 2010 the city spent 9 million euros on a restoration to bring back the plaza as González planned it, including ceramic streetlights and benches. The buildings now house government offices.