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A fair
It was built in 1928 for a world's fair
The Plaza de España was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, on the edge of Maria Luisa Park. It is a landmark example of Regionalism Architecture, mixing Baroque Revival, Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival styles.
The bridges
Four bridges over the moat stand for four old kingdoms
Aníbal González designed the plaza as a huge half-circle to show Spain's industry and technology. The buildings are reached by four bridges over a moat, which represent the ancient kingdoms of Spain. In the centre is the Vicente Traver fountain.
The alcoves
Each tiled alcove stands for a province, with a shelf of books
Many tiled alcoves were built around the plaza, each representing a different province of Spain. Visitors take portraits in the alcove of their own home province. Each alcove has a pair of covered bookshelves, now used like a Little Free Library.
The set
The plaza has been a film set for Lawrence of Arabia and Star Wars
The Plaza de España has been a filming location, including scenes for Lawrence of Arabia in 1962. In Star Wars: Episode II, in 2002, it appeared in exterior shots of the City of Theed on the planet Naboo. It also featured in the 2012 film The Dictator.
Restored
From 2007 to 2010 the lost ceramic pieces were recovered or copied
From 2007 to 2010 the city council restored the plaza to recover the monument as González conceived it. The team recovered ceramic streetlights, benches and pavements, and made reproductions of other elements from photographs and postcards from the municipal newspaper library.
Day 2, morning
Next is Maria Luisa Park.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Plaza de España, Seville, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.