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The Cathedral of Seville facilitates the spiritual encounter with the divine through art, using beauty as a direct path to God, a practice known as the via pulchritudinis. But how does art fulfill this function in the Cathedral?
Art as a Reflection of Divine Beauty
The beauty of art within the walls of the Cathedral is seen as a “expression of the beauty of the greatness that brings us closer to God”. It is also the
Its Evocative and Theological Function
The Cathedral of Seville is the depository of faith and has a long tradition of using images in the service of the transmission of the gospel, which causes a great Spiritual Impact: These works of art are designed to “speak to the heart of humanity”, touch sensitivity and “arouse dreams and hopes in an authentic encounter with God”.
Regarding its Theological Reading, from the first Gothic artists, a “theological reading of Christian art” was established. These artists were inspired by sources such as scenes from the Gospel, the life of Jesus, the life of Mary, the life of the saints, and passages from the Old and New Testaments. Thus, all the arts present are considered “missionaries” and the tradition of their theological reading is fundamental since all the artistic heritage of the Cathedral serves as “plastic preaching” to make the message of Christ accessible and keep faith and our love for God alive.
The Specific Role of Music
Music is highlighted as the “most evocative means of engraving the truth of God’s beauty in the mind and heart”. In addition, it facilitates the expression of prayer and dialogue “to speak of God and with God”.
Therefore, faith allows us to “understand, know and interpret its artistic heritage”, where beauty and art act as bridges for the human being to experience the exaltation of faith.
Before the completion of the Cathedral of Seville (1401-1517) solemn worship was already being held there, as recorded in the chapter minutes of 1478, and Gregorian chant was part of its daily solemn liturgy. Polyphony was also joined in the most important celebrations of the year, which was entrusted to the music chapel; a choir that rehearsed at the time in the Chapel of the Granada, located in the Patio de los Naranjos and would say the chapel master.
The Great Choir Organs of the Cathedral of Seville, placed under the toral arches flanking the choir stalls, have constituted since the beginning of the 20th century the largest organ in the Cathedral — a single instrument which, sounding in both cases (Antigua side and San Francisco side), consists of a hundred stops distributed across four manuals and a pedalboard, operated from a single console. This was made possible thanks to the electrical connection between both sections, applied for the first time in Spain (1901) by the Basque organ builder D. Aquilino Amezua, who constructed this instrument.
In the Cathedral of Seville, as in the rest of the cathedrals, it is natural that where that cult has distinguished itself by its solemnity and splendor, music has reached artistic levels of true privilege.
