The façade is a good example of the 1600s tradition in Seville of using ashlar-like and other decorative features.
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The quarters of Santa Cruz and San Bartolomé, where this palace is situated, made up the Judería, the old Jewish quarter. Since 1623 the palace became the residence of the Mañara family, from Corsica. They were among the many foreign families which settled in Seville during the 16th century and became wealthy, some of them even entering the circles of the nobility. The most famous member of the Mañara family was Miguel Mañara, who after his wife's death, abandoned his libertine lifestyle and devoted himself to helping the poor. In 1671, he left his palace and went to live in more modest dwellings in the street which today bears his name. Later, in 1677, he moved to the humblest cell in his Hospital de la Caridad. |
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The beautiful marble doorway is flanked by two Tuscan columns with grooved shafts and brackets which support an entablature. The spaces between the brackets are decorated with alternating ox skulls and female figureheads. Over the entablature is a simple central balcony. The long façade is structured with irregularly shaped pilasters whilst the eave line is covered with roof tiles, except in the last two sections where there is a terrace decorated with pinnacles. The façade is a good example of the 1600s tradition in Seville of using ashlar-like and other decorative features as an inexpensive and efficient form of embellishing a plain wall. |