The establishment which opened its doors in the 1920s is located in Mateos Gago Street, a stone’s throw from the cathedral and the Giralda, a former mosque of which only the minaret has become a bell tower. This monument was listed as a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 1987 as well as the Royal Alcazars and their gardens and the archives of India. This Moorish bath dates from the 12th century, exactly from the time of the Almohads (1121 – 1269), Berber invaders from southern Morocco today. The building was renovated in 1928 by the architect Vicente Traver y Tomás, initially to turn it into a hotel, which is what undoubtedly allowed the building to be well preserved.
Since 2007, the Giralda tapas bar has been owned by four partners who have had work done in recent months. They were expensive, they say, but they made it possible to discover this vestige and to give a certain luster to their house. During this work, three identified rooms appeared, a cold room adorned with an octagonal vault resting on four columns located in the current main room of the bar, a warm room placed under a barrel vault and a warm room whose there is only one part left. It is the decor more than the architecture that has excited archaeologists.
One of them, Álvaro Jiménez Sancho, responsible for this work says “we have checked that the large bathroom was completely painted, from top to bottom, with high quality geometric ornaments. The designs are in almagra (reddish pigment) ) on white and large fragments have been preserved in the vaults and walls “. He believes that this is the “only Islamic bath that has kept its full decoration”.
It is a discovery of great importance that allows researchers to know what could be the other Moorish baths in the Almohad era, mainly in Seville. In addition, this place is “very close to the main mosque, which was also built in the 12th century”, according to archaeologist Fernando Amores, who collaborated in the excavation work.
Needless to add that this old Almohad hammam will be the subject of special development. This does not mean that the neo-Mudejar decor that we were satisfied with until now will be neglected or that the bar will not continue to serve the tapas that have made it famous …
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