Casa de Pilatos

The Casa de Pilatos is a Sevillian palace in the east of Seville’s historic centre, and it is one of the best examples of how Gothic, Mudéjar and Renaissance styles were blended in Andalusian architecture during the Spanish Golden Age. It was begun in the late fifteenth century by Pedro Enríquez and Catalina de Ribera, and it was completed by their son Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, who inherited the title of Marquis of Tarifa. Fadrique travelled to Italy and the Holy Land in 1518 and 1519 and came back with ideas and objects that changed the house. A popular tradition says that it was modelled on the house of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem, which explains the name, though this is an old story and not a documented fact.

The main patio is the centre of the visit, a courtyard with delicate stucco, arched galleries and tiled walls. The tilework, in geometric patterns, is among the finest of its kind in the city. In the patio stand Italian marble statues and busts of Roman emperors, brought by the Marquis, and the effect is a dialogue between the Islamic craft tradition and the Renaissance taste for classical forms. A grand staircase leads to the upper floor, covered by a ribbed dome of Mudéjar design, and its steps and walls are decorated with glazed tile.

The ground floor includes several notable spaces. The Hall of Columns, the Praetorian Room and the Flagellation Chapel, with its Gothic vault, each show a different layer of the palace’s history, and the gardens, with fountains, orange trees and loggias, are a quiet retreat. The upper floors can only be visited on a guided tour, which shows the private rooms of the family, furnished with paintings, tapestries and antiques. The palace is still owned by a noble family, the descendants of the original owners, who use part of it, and it is one of the few palaces in Seville still held in this way. It was declared a National Monument in the early twentieth century.

The house has been used as a film location, and its courtyard and rooms have appeared in several productions. The Casa de Pilatos is close to the Barrio Santa Cruz and the Plaza de Pilatos, and it is easy to combine with the Real Alcázar, the Cathedral and the Flamenco museum in a day of sightseeing.

The palace opens daily, with longer hours in the warmer months, and admission is divided between the ground floor and the upper floors with a guided tour. It is accessible to visitors with mobility needs on the ground floor, but the upper floors have stairs. A visit takes about an hour, and the courtyard is calmer in the morning.