Giralda

Sevilla, Spain

The minaret and sections of the courtyard are the most significant remains of the of the Great Mosque of Sevilla. Completed in 1198 and attributed to the architects Ahmad ibn Baso and 'Alī de Gomara, the minaret sits at the east side of the main structure. The square shape of the minaret is typical of Maghrebi minarets to this day, but while the square structure predates La Giralda, the interior design exhibits an Almohad innovation. One climbs to the top of the minaret by a rectilinear-section ramp like that in the Kutubīyah Mosque in Marrakech and the unfinished Hassān Tower in Rabat.

The minaret became a bell tower after the mosque was converted into a cathedral in the 13th c. Like the rest of the structure, it was damaged subsequently rebuilt by in the 1355 earthquake by the architect Hernán Ruiz II.

It is one of the most distinctive architectural elements of Seville, and it continues to figure prominently in the city's iconography.