Sep 25

Written by: Maribel Lopez
9/25/2008 9:30 PM

Today was our last day of intensive conversation class so tomorrow we have our final exam. I’m not too concerned, but I’ll do some studying tonight.

After class today, I finally got the chance to visit the cathedral of Seville. This cathedral is the third largest cathedral in the world following St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London and is considered the largest gothic cathedral in the world. I’ve seen St. Paul’s in London but I didn’t not enter and I hope to see St. Peter’s when I visit Italy, and I’ve seen many cathedrals through my travels but this was amazing. The main mosque and minaret were built between 1184-1198 and the courtyard as well as the lower two thirds of the minaret, known as La Giralda, are entirely original because the main Mosque was consecrated as a cathedral in 1248. In 1434 the gothic construction began and took more than 80 years to finish and the minaret was finished 1568 with a height of 98 meters. The minaret is the tallest structure in Seville and it is city law that no other structures may be built taller than it. The total surface area of the cathedral is 23,500 square meters.
Mass is held everyday at the cathedral which has more than 20 some chapels within and is also the home of Chistopher Columbus’ tomb.

I obviously took a ton a pictures, even though it was kind of tricky because the lighting isn’t the greatest, but when I climbed La Giralda, I got some excellent views of the city and the cathedral…it was amazing.

Once I got enough aesthetic pleasure for the day, I took the bus home for lunch. Then I told myself I was going to study, so I went to the school and instead got on the computers and began looking up flight plans for the semester. Oops. Around 7, I returned home and did a little studying for the test tomorrow. Can’t wait until it ‘s over.

Maribel

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