🤴 Visit Casa Pilatos

The Casa de Pilatos is an Italian-Mudejar Renaissance-style palace with romantic elements, considered the best Andalusian noble building and a fabulous example of Sevillian architecture of the sixteenth century.

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The palace was built in the 16th century by the Enríquez de Ribera family and is a fine example of Mudéjar architecture, a unique style that combines Islamic and Christian design elements.

An essential visit in Seville for fans of classical architecture and the Roman world.

The Andalusian palace par excellence, a wonderful combination of Italian Renaissance and Spanish Mudejar styles

The palace has two main courtyards, the Courtyard of the Maidens and the Courtyard of the Columns, both of which are adorned with fountains, sculptures, and beautiful tiles.

History and location

It is located in the Plaza de Pilatos, near Calle Águilas and the Jewish Quarter. It occupies, together with the adjacent Convent of San Leandro, a large part of the block that extends between Calles Caballeriza, San Esteban and Imperial. The Church of San Esteban is behind it.

It was the residence of the Dukes of Medinaceli and the headquarters of the Casa Ducal de Medinaceli Foundation, which is dedicated to the management of a historical-artistic heritage dispersed throughout all of Spain.

The palace was built in 1483 on the initiative of Pedro Enríquez de Quiñones and his wife Catalina de Ribera, ‘Adelantado Mayor’ (an important title of nobility) of Andalusia, father of the House of Alcalá de los Gazules, Lord of Tarifa, houses that were incorporated into the Duchy of Medinaceli in 1639.

Origin of the name

The name House of Pilato comes from a Via Crucis that began to be celebrated in the city in the sixteenth century, as the distance between the Palace and the Cross of the Field was the same as the one he measured between the ruins of the praetorium of Jerusalem and Mount Golgotha.

This Via Crucis began at the door of the palace as the first station, ending at the temple of the Cruz del Campo (Nervión neighbourhood), and would be the seed of Holy Week in Seville.

What to see at Casa Pilatos

One enters through a Renaissance-style marble portal topped by a Gothic cresting.

The palace revolves around two courtyards, the entrance and the main one, around which is the main two-storey building. On both sides of this main body, there are two gardens of different dimensions and shapes. The so-called small garden is on the east side and the large garden is to the west.

With its stunning collection of art and antiques, beautiful gardens, and unique blend of Islamic and Christian architecture, Casa Pilatos is a true gem of the city and a testament to its rich cultural heritage.

From the entrance, and through the double gallery on its north side, you can access the main courtyard. It is a large space, quadrangular, skirted by galleries, with a typical Andalusian courtyard, a fountain in the centre and two statues of the goddess Pallas.

In the lower gallery, there are twenty-four busts of Roman and Spanish emperors and other relevant characters (Marius, Marcus Agrippa, Valerius, Trajan, Tiberius, Vitellius, Lucius Verus, Antonius Pius, Marcus Tullius Cicero, Charles V, Turita, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Caligula, Maximus, Titus, Quirinus, Romulus, Philip, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Vespasian, Maximus and Marcus Aurelius; from the ruins of Italica).

The Roman collection and its artistic legacy, together with the wonderful architecture, are the keys to this Sevillian palace

Marcus Aurelius

Surrounding the main courtyard is a series of rooms.

Upper floor

To the southwest, you can access the monumental staircase that connects the ground and upper floors of the palace decorated with admirable baseboards of colourful tiles, with a wooden dome as its roof.

It has several rooms with a collection of paintings and tapestries dating from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, in a series of perfectly furnished rooms.

The frescoes by the 17th-century painter Francisco Pacheco are particularly noteworthy, especially the apotheosis of Hercules.

There is also a painting on copper from the Bullfighting series by Francisco de Goya, a still life by Giuseppe Recco (in the dining room), a panel of the Magdalene painted in the sixteenth century and three works by the painter Lucas Jordán.

See the Capilla de la Flagelación (Chapel of the Flagellation) to the north of the courtyard, fifteenth-century, Gothic style with Mudejar decoration

Enjoy the interior gardens of great beauty and tranquillity, typical of the noble palaces in the centre of the city. They are reached from the main courtyard and pavilion. There are two: the Large Garden, the original courtyard of the palace, very lush; and the Small Garden, both with admirable plinths and gratings of Plateresque style.

Opening hours

Every day of the week: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Free entry on Monday afternoons from 3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m.