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For you topographical map geeks, here's why there's been a town here seemingly forever. Carmona rests on plateau atop a hill steep on all sides except to the west. In fact, it's at the edge of a mountain chain called the Los Alcores. The closer these lines are, the steeper the slope -- and the more protection from invaders. Not shown is what the Arabs called the Great River, the Guadalquivir -- a long and navigable waterway draining Andalusia and carving fertile valleys with some access to irrigation waters. With an easily defensible fortress here, conquerors could control this long and productive river valley.
Carmona brags that this is one of the oldest inhabited spots in Spain. Their archaeological museum shows shards from Paleolithic times, perhaps found in the onetime quarries now called the Cuevas (caves) de la Batida shown above clinging to the hills rising just to the north of the town. The local tourist office claims humans have lived here for the last million years -- about twice as long as most experts say humans have been around. Perhaps those early Carmonians left for another planet long ago. (Can you blame them?)
Carmona has served as a bastion since pre-history. Its high position in the Sierra de los Alcores mountains gives it natural defenses except for three spots which man reinforced with forts (alcázars) such as this ruin -- once the site of Pedro I of Castile's 14th century palace. History has treated Pedro (1350-1369) much like time has treated these rocks -- he's known as Pedro the Cruel for such actions as boiling and roasting his enemies. (And we thought it was good when men started getting interested in cooking.) Pedro added to work originated by the Romans and expanded by the Moors into the Alcázar de Arriba. He may have gotten a bad rap as much of what was known about him came from a sole chronicler who worked for his sworn enemy.
Pedro's summer palace has been deteriorating since the 1504 earthquake although today the castle grounds sport a luxurious Parador hotel where people are probably much more comfortable than King Pedro ever was. By Pedro's time, Carmona's stature was already fading; but under the Moors and the Romans, its position -- both fortified and central -- made it a key player in the region. Roads led out of this igh town into the rest of western Andalusia.
Here's a much better preserved old timer (we're talking about the gate here, of course). The road from here led east (and still does) to Cordoba. This neo-classic structure was added between two Roman towers. Romans called this province "Further Spain" (Hispania Ulterior). Under Julius Caesar, Carmona was its strongest town. Note the steepness of the slope as the town sits on a high plateau with steep rises in every place but one on the west. The Andalusian regional government rehabbed this gate in the year 2000. We look here from the outside of town...
...and here from the inside. This is a classic Andalusian white town with a smattering of trees but mostly pavement and whitewash walls between numerous churches. Look through this arch to the steep and fertile slopes below. To tourists who interrupt their journey from Seville to the interior Andalusian cities with a stop in Carmona, this is a frustrating town. The exteriors are great but the interiors are usually locked up tight. Were they open, it'd be worth spending two days here and further boost Carmona's economy.
Those who approach from nearby Seville see the restored lower fortress (alcázar de abajo). City hall refurbished this complex in the mid 1970s and added a smattering of bi-lingual signage to guide visitors through 3000 years of history locked in its stone. Even with that, this place is a relative newcomer as Carmona has been populated for at least 5000 years and nearby caves much longer.
Carmona rests on a rocky ridge so steep that it can be considered naturally fortified -- except for the west approach. Therefore the inhabitants have maintained a fort here since at least the 9th century BC. Later in the 3rd century B.C., the Carthaginians added to the existing fortification, possibly raising the walls as high as this one. Some of their original stones remain at the lowest portions of the walls today. This is one of the first sites where Carthaginians beveled the edges of the blocks (called "rusticated ashlars") to keep battering rams from getting at the weakest parts of the stone: the corners. (Tourists take note: An excellent audio guide is available on the web and shows what a tourist office can do (and what your iPods can enable). If you're going to this site, download the MP3s first at: http://www.turismo.carmona.org/audioguiamonumento.php?id=1&idi=en ).
The Romans fought the Carthaginians in Hispania during the second Punic wars. They took Carmona in 206BC and finally expelled the Carthaginians from the peninsula around 200 BC. Nine centuries later, the Africans would return as Moors and further strengthen this fort (alcazar). In the meantime, the Romans gave this bastion much of the footprint it has today. When they finished, Carmona was the safest place in the lower Guadalquivir valley. They also built a temple here which the Moors "repurposed." Crenellations with this pointed shape are usually of Arabic origin. We look through these stones at a more recent high rise -- San Pedro's Andalusian Baroque bell tower.
This view shows the Andalusian white city of Carmona as seen from the Puerto Seville Alcazar (the fortress at the Seville Gate.) This fortress holds some of the only conserved remains of the Phoenician Carthaginian on the Iberian peninsula. The Carthaginians also built two circular v-shaped moats around this fortress.
We are looking down to the Patio of the Cisterns. In Roman days, their temple would be here, visible throughout the town to remind residents who was in control. The Moors used this area to collect rainwater, hence its name. Note the well and 6 skylights. The Moors usually stored enough supplies in their fortresses to feed the towns population during long sieges. The cistern here is over 20 feet deep. The Moors were the inheritors of the Roman's passion for bringing water to arid towns.
Here's a gratuitous texture shot of the brick steps descending to the cobblestoned patio of the cisterns. At bottom the path branches out to various rooms used over time for medieval prisons (for the upper classes) and governor residences.
Another shot looking into this white and steepled city through the Mudéjar arch of the west fortress. These white walls and plain exteriors -- enhanced by baroque doorways and towers -- are typical of Andalusian white towns. Here we see the church of San Bartoleme standing cyclops-like just inside the Seville Alcazar/Gate near where the Moors had their baths. Built in the 15th century, San Bartoleme was updated to Baroque standards later when this tower was added. This is another church closed to tourists even though it appears to have much worth seeing on the inside. For a town which lost a lot of jobs with the mechanization of agriculture, you'd think Carmona would be eager to open these places, createing guard and guide tourojobs which require little education or capital expenditures -- and make this an even better place to stop (or even stay overnight) for visitors.
Here's a couple of shots of San Pedro's dome looking the opposite way (west) from the Alcazar. This 15th century church was restored during the Baroque period after extensive damage caused by the 1755 Lisbon earthquake. Today it's the largest church in Carmona.
Our timing was bad and so we missed the small window when San Pedro opened its gilded interior. If you travel here, make sure you schedule this place (and let me know.) You may also want to download the MP3s to your iPod at http://www.turismo.carmona.org/audioguiamonumento.php?id=24&idi=en
This photo was taken from the upper prisoners' hall which was once a palace and which today exhibits the history of the area. At center is the keep whose walls stack stones from Carthaginians, Romans, and Moors in sort of a mason's ladder of history. The steeple is from San Pedro church just outside the walls. It was added in 1704, about 150 years after the rest of the church was built.
For once, this is not lens distortion, the San Pedro building is really curved to follow the contours of the road. This early 18th century steeple is thought to resemble the famous Giralda in nearby Seville.
Enough of the edges and walls of Carmona, let's go into this white churched town and see its most whimsical tower...
...this stairway. Perhaps this building replaced an old church and its steeple and the architect thought he have a little fun with the fire escape. You may also see some olive orchards in the distance as this area north of town is too arid for anything but olives; the south side includes a set of terraces called "la Vega" with enough moisture to support sunflowers, and wheat, giving Carmona primarily an agricultural economy.
Often as we walked through town, we'd be confronted by these Plateresque doorways on buildings whose exterior was pretty much rough hewn stone. They were all closed and, at best, we might be able to name them from the tourist map. This one is the Palacio de los Rueda, the home to a noble family across from a great (and open) church and near the city museum. The family crest at top rests under a crown suggest that this wealthy family had some royal connection although it's likely this was built long after the Castillian civil war saw King Peter the Cruel murdered in 1369. (The Catholic Kings did enhance Peter's palace about a century later.) These two story features Tuscan and Ionic columns. The town brags that beyond these doors rooms line a courtyard with winter quarters on top (where the sun could warm the interiors). Furniture, paintings, and chandeliers are also supposed to be great -- so why isn't this open?
Shortly after arriving in Carmona, we hightailed it to the church of Santa María de la Asunción before its closing. This is a large 15th century church in the late Andalusian Gothic style with a huge Plateresque altarpiece and very weird purple lighting (or, in some key spots, none at all.) Square shaped, (like the mosque it replaced) it has a nave and 2 aisles.
Funny how the Resurrection is not very prominent here (it's the 2nd from left at top); the Spanish government just spent 306,000 Euros to restore it. (If your Art 101 folks want to examine this picture in detail, exit slideshow mode and click on the magnifying glass.)
The bad news is that many of the best items are behind grilles (a common practice in Spain where often the great main altars/retables can be observed only from a distance.) The good news is that the grilles themselves can be works of art (or even a bit funky).
Like many Andalusian churches, the buttresses extend into the church, forming side chapels.
Locked behind a screen, the single-tier choir was very dimly lit with just enough light to get this shot. Use the magnifying glass to see details (or check our overflow pictures-directions later).
Santa Maria was built on the site of a Carmona's grand mosque and has kept the 11th century Patio of the Oranges often found outside large mosques.
Santa María de la Asunción patio retains this Mudéjar horseshoe-shaped door. Off this garden is a small museum with works from the 14th to 19th centuries including a work by Francisco Zurbarán, an Andalusian painter sometimes called the Spanish Caravaggio.
Our last slide of Santa Maria is of this quirky bit of fountain sculpture found on the walls in the Patio of the Oranges. If you'd like to see more photos of the interior and the church museum, exit slideshow and click on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/schmitt.dick/ChurchOfSantaMariaCarmonaSpainOverflowPictures#slideshow
Across from the church/museum of St. Mary of the Annunciation is this former Convent of the Descalzas. ("Descalzas" means the religious order goes barefoot or wear sandals -- it all started with Francis of Assisi.) Note here the twin doorways marked by sufficient crosses. When this was still an active convent, the town's religious processions would enter through one of these doors, proceed around the singing nuns in the choir, and exit out the other door. It appears that the twin doors were complemented by twin towers -- however the right tower seems unfinished. The town now uses it to house their cultural and sports departments and the courtyard is used for exhibits. Unfortunately, this courtyard is the only one open to vistors in Carmona -- and it was closed when we visited.
This convent is an excellent example of the Sevillian Baroque as seen by the tiled decorations on its dome, A Moorish influence.
As can be seen here, the maintenance on this 17th century building leaves a bit to be desired. Curiously, this convent was founded in 1629 by the Augustine nuns who did not have perission to settle here by the town council. Over a century later, things had been patched up when they started this building in 1748.
Just down (literally given the slope of this town) the street from the Convento de las Descalzas is another closed convent dedicated to Santa Clara. This appears to be a cloistered convent of Franciscan nuns founded in 1460. It's another convent with twin doors -- a feature of this street. Behind these doors we are told there is a Mudejar church and a Sevillian convent with an 18th century tower. This place was built over the centuries and has a bit of every architectural style in vogue during the construction cycles.
A typical street view in this white Andalusian town. This is a real place, a working town of about 25,000. At the start of siesta, the school disgorged hordes of chattering school children who smiled at us as we wandered through their town.
You Catholics of a certain age might recognize this. After Palm Sunday, we'd take our fronds home and braid them, placing them behind a religious picture until next year. I always thought we were pretty good at it until I saw the ones placed here near Corpus Christi square. (The Great Lisbon Earthquake (9 on the Richter scale) wiped out the Mudejar church here in 1755 but apparently did not at all dampen religious fervor.) Carmona and Lisbon are about as far away as Houston is from San Antonio -- relative neighbors in an earthquake this size. We are lucky we have this much left of Carmona.
We ended our Carmona visit at two Roman sites about a mile west of the city walls. This indentation is the excavated (and closed-to-the-public) 1st century BC amphitheater of the town the Romans called "Carmo." Rome used Carmona as a food factory to grind wheat and refine olive oil. Its central location and fortification made it one of the most important towns in this region. If you look carefully, you'll see a path radiating out at about 2 O'clock; this was one of 4 pathways (called vomitoriums) out of the amphitheater. This area was discovered in 1885. Unlike the freestanding coliseum built over a century later in Rome, this structure seems to be a bowl scooped out of the earth, using the hills for walls. It's on a street built above the Via Augusta which started at the sea in nearby Cadiz and wound its way over 1000 miles to the Pyrenees. It was one of four Roman roads leading out of Carmona. On the opposite side of the street is a large Roman Necropolis.
Across the street from the Amphitheater is the Necropolis Romans used to bury their dead in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. Typically Romans would incinerate and bury the ashes (although full remains have also been found at this site). Here we see niches in the wall to hold ashes -- a typical resting place for most. Two of Rome's greatest emperors came from what is now western Andalusia. These were Trajan and his younger cousin Trajan who ruled during the Pax Romana -- a quiet time when Carmo and its regions prospered.
But some families were buried in the luxury in which they lived. The columns here delineate an arcaded courtyard which opened into burial rooms as drawn at upper right. This wealthy family converted a quarry for their necropolis and built the equivalent of a villa. Many other necropoli were on the sides of the road so people entering the city could be impressed by the tombs. This “villa” had a marble statue (larger than life) of a women (perhaps named Servilla?) and excavators named this site Servilla's Villa. Excavations started in the 1880s. Today the site (and a decent museum) are funded by the Andalusian regional government.
Since this is the last slide, it's time for some DEEP THOUGHTS (or maybe high ones). This picture was taken standing on a bastion reinforced successively by 3 great civilizations: Phoenicians, Romans and Moors. Christians later came and sprinkled churches and their towers throughout the town. All this is here because the town is the highest point for miles -- making it ideal for all of those ugly communication towers as we see here at distant right. (In fact, that tower is on the highest hill in the area where the Moors built the high Alcazar and King Pedro the Cruel built his palace.) Do these towers represent the old and the new religion? Catholics were once taught to pray in all idle moments -- now we seem to have phones to our ears whenever not much else is going on. Are iPhones the new rosaries and prayer beads? If today you hear His voice, remove not your bluetooth!
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