Al-Mansur builds the Giralda at Seville

1192

The Almohad caliph commissioned a minaret of red brick for the new great mosque at Seville. Designed by Ahmad ibn Baso, the tower used a ramped interior so the muezzin could ride up on horseback. After the Reconquista it would become the bell tower of Seville Cathedral. The Giralda remains one of the finest examples of Almohad architecture, its geometric brickwork and sebka ornamentation influencing Iberian builders for centuries.