Plaza de San Francisco de Sevilla (istockphoto.com).
The Plaza de San Francisco has always been a center of excitement of life in Sevilla, the meeting point and setting for events of various kinds. Today it remains a fundamental part of the ‘carrea oficial’ at Easter and in the procession of Corpus Christi, in addition to host exhibitions, fairs and one of the most expected moments for families: the Christmas mapping projected onto the facade of the town hall.
Precisely the back of this historic building offers the most recognizable picture of the Plaza de San Francisco, with the masterful (and incomplete) plateresco work of Diego de Riano. On both sides, the seat in Sevilla of the Bank of Spain and the iconic Building Laredo – a tourist information office. In the remaining flank, the former Audiencia and regionalist buildings. It is without doubt one of the most unique sets of town and, as mentioned, the most active.
And so it has always been, for example bullfighting before the Plaza de la Maestranza was built. There is abundant literature on this stage, as in the work of Luis Toro Buiza and Pedro Romero de Solís Sevilla in the history of bullfighting, where the capture shown below is included.
La Plaza de San Francisco de Sevilla dibujada por Próspero Merimée.
As scenery on royal proclamation, illustrious visit or religious celebration that tertiary, Plaza de San Francisco was the site also chosen for autos of the Holy Inquisition. Not surprisingly, since the conquest of Sevilla in 1248 held the rank of major city square, and there spent all that had to happen.
Since the mid-nineteenth century, with the demolition of the convent of San Francisco and construction in place of the Plaza Nueva, life in the epicenter of Sevilla partitioned between these two outskirts of the town hall. But today the Plaza de San Francisco is still seething, and well we experience these days.
Plaza de San Francisco de Sevilla (Wikipedia)