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The Congress Turris Fortissima 2015-2025 brought together some of the leading national and international specialists in Islamic art, Almohad architecture, monumental restoration, and urban heritage for three days. The meeting, focused on the Giralda and its historical, urban, and religious context, has provided a comprehensive view of the monument after a decade of studies and restorations.
📅 Wednesday, November 19 – Opening Session
Jonathan M. Bloom (Harvard, Boston College)
“The historical and artistic background of the Giralda”
Bloom opened the congress with a masterful overview of the origin and historical evolution of the Giralda. He described its construction in the late 12th century under Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf, designed by Ahmad b. Baso, highlighting its tubular double-walled structure and refined Almohad decoration inspired by Córdoba and Marrakech. He explained how the Christian transformation of the 16th century, with the Renaissance addition by Hernán Ruiz II, created a hybrid and unique tower. He also emphasized the international influence of the Giralda, a model for later towers in Andalusia, the United States, and Russia.
📅 Thursday, November 20 – Morning Session
María del Valle Gómez de Terreros (UPO)
The Giralda in the 19th century: the intervention of Adolfo Fernández Casanova (1884–1888)
The presentation analyzed the limited interventions of the 19th century, marked by ecclesiastical economic precariousness. The fall of lightning in 1884 allowed Fernández Casanova to undertake a more far-reaching action, surpassing simple repair and configuring the most important intervention of the century in the tower.
Today, thanks to the work of Professor María del Valle Gómez, access has been gained to archives in which unique drawings, plans, and photographs of Fernández Casanova’s 19th-century intervention have been obtained, which can be consulted in the book that the Cabildo has published on the occasion of the Symposium.
José María Cabeza Méndez (RABASIH)
The Giralda in the 20th century
Cabeza recalled that until 1979 there were hardly any conservation actions. From then on, after public complaints, restoration projects followed one another, culminating in a comprehensive intervention in the Almohad area: exterior walls, ramps, and interior chambers, as well as pioneering foundation studies promoted by specialized laboratories.
Eduardo Martínez Moya (Edartec / University of Seville)
The Giralda in the 21st century: bricks and scaffolding
Martínez Moya presented the results of the 2015-2024 restoration, based on four successive scaffoldings that allowed the tower to be documented as never before. He presented two studies:
- the original metric of the Almohad brick
He highlighted the enormous amount of data collected, the full analysis of which will take years. Both unpublished investigations: BRICKS. Astonishing perfection has been accredited in their manufacture, which responds to an extraordinarily exact metric for this historical period (12th century) and, in addition, a control of materials in the work that is also surprising due to the high level of perfection of the builders. It has also been possible to verify the more than probable existence of two manufacturing suppliers of bricks.
2. the hypothesis of the scaffolding system used in the original construction
It has been possible to fully recognize the scaffolding system used by the Almohad builders to construct the tower, taking all the data that remained inside and carrying out the virtual reconstruction of what must have been the auxiliary structure that allowed the construction of the minaret.
📅 Thursday, November 20 – Afternoon Session (Round Table)
Fátima Roldán Castro (University of Seville)
Ibn Sāḥib al-Ṣalāt and the Giralda in the key of literature of wonders (`aŷā’ib)
She analyzed passages from the chronicle Al-Mann bi-l-Imāma that describe the construction of the minaret through a language typical of the literary genre of “wonders”, revealing a symbolic and extraordinary approach to the work.
Francisco Óscar Ramírez Reina (with M. de Alba and A. Durán)
The Almohad walled enclosure: results in the wall and the Macarena (2020-2024)
He presented the progress of the restoration campaigns, which have made it possible to clarify historical debates about the wall through paramental analysis, ceramic studies, and radiocarbon dating.
Antonio Almagro Gorbea (RABASF)
Three sister Almohad cities: Marrakech
He explained the relationship between Marrakech, Seville, and Rabat as capitals of the Almohad empire. The tower of Marrakech stands as the original model for the other two, and as the only minaret that still retains its supremacy in the urban landscape today.
Faissal Cherradi Akbil (Ministry of Culture of Morocco)
Three sister Almohad cities: Rabat
He addressed the transformation of Rabat into an Almohad imperial center and presented the restoration project of the minaret of the Hassan Mosque, underlining its universal heritage value.
📅 Friday, November 21 – Morning Session
Antonio Almagro Gorbea (RABASF)
Documentation of the Giralda (1984–2024)
Almagro reviewed four decades of technical documentation of the tower: from the first photogrammetric survey of 1984 to the recent 3D models obtained after the restoration of the Almohad body. He highlighted the complete digital cataloging of more than 140 capitals and bases reused in the tower.
José Miguel Puerta Vílchez (University of Granada)
Graffiti and calligraphy: the Giralda as an Almohad drawing book
Puerta Vílchez presented the calligraphic and ornamental sketches found during the restoration (2017-2024): geometric, vegetal, figurative, and calligraphic graffiti that would function as a “drawing book” for artisans. He added the reading of Umayyad inscriptions and the existence of a non-decorative inscription on the East face.
Susana Calvo Capilla (UCM)
The Almohad movement: religion and architecture
She closed the congress with a reflection on the unitary doctrine of Ibn Tūmart and its impact on Almohad religious architecture. She explained how the search for doctrinal purity influenced the mosques, rituals, and symbols of power of the empire.
General conclusions of the congress
Turris Fortissima 2015-2025 has offered an unprecedented, multidisciplinary, and profoundly renewed vision of the Giralda and has revealed that the Giralda still holds secrets and remains an inexhaustible source of knowledge. Ten years of research have made it possible to better understand how it was built, how it has withstood the test of time, and what it meant to those who erected it.
Thanks to the recent restoration and the review of historical, archaeological, architectural, and epigraphic sources, the congress has placed the Sevillian minaret in its authentic dimension: a universal icon of Islamic art, a milestone of Almohad and Christian Seville, and a living laboratory of heritage research.
The organizers of the Metropolitan Chapter have announced that the studies will continue in the coming years, with new publications and research projects derived from the congress.
TVRRIS FORTISSIMA 2015-2025.
PRESENTATION ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2025 (AFTERNOON SESSION)
Jonathan M. Bloom
Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences (Boston College), Harvard College, University of Michigan, Harvard University.
the historical and artistic background of the Giralda.
ABSTRACT
The Giralda, originally built in the late 12th century as the minaret of the Seville mosque under the Almohad reign of Abu Yaʿqub Yusuf, was transformed into the bell tower of the Seville Cathedral after the Christian conquest of the city in 1248. Designed by Ahmad b. Baso, the stone and brick tower features a double-walled tubular structure with intricate exterior decoration that has withstood centuries of natural and man-made changes. The tower’s original design and decoration were inspired by earlier Islamic structures, such as the minarets of the Córdoba and Marrakech mosques. Thanks to significant additions made in the 16th century by the architect Hernán Ruiz the Younger, the Giralda today reflects a fusion of Islamic and Christian elements. Its innovative design has inspired numerous towers around the world, including notable examples in Andalusia, the United States, and Russia. Its enduring beauty and historical significance make it a landmark of great artistic and cultural relevance.
TVRRIS FORTISSIMA 2015-2025.
PRESENTATIONS FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2025 (MORNING SESSION)
María del Valle Gómez de Terreros Guardiola.
Pablo de Olavide University, Seville.
The Almohad Giralda in the 19th Century: The Intervention of Adolfo Fernández Casanova, 1884-1888.
ABSTRACT
The situation of the Spanish and Sevillian Church in the 19th century was not the best to undertake large investments in its architectural heritage. Thus, the news known so far of works on the Giralda during this period refer substantially to repairs, although sometimes they were very necessary and interesting. Circumstances changed in 1884, after a lightning strike that, although it did not endanger the stability of the tower, allowed the architect Adolfo Fernández Casanova, who was then carrying out large-scale restoration work on the Seville Cathedral on behalf of the State, to undertake an intervention on it that went far beyond the mere repair of the damage caused by the aforementioned discharge. This work attempts to specify, as far as possible, the real scope of said action.
José María Cabeza Méndez.
Royal Academy of Fine Arts Santa Isabel de Hungría
The Almohad Giralda in the 20th Century
ABSTRACT
During the 20th century, few interventions were carried out on the Tower until 1979, when, as a result of complaints in the media about the state of neglect it offered and the fall of a lily petal, the allocation of several public budget items was promoted, which allowed the complete restoration of the Giralda to be undertaken in different phases.
The last of that series of projects was dedicated exclusively to the Almohad part, beginning with the exterior walls to continue with the interior of the 34 ramps and 7 chambers. Finally, and with the technical and economic contribution of a Sevillian laboratory dedicated exclusively to industrial analysis, the necessary surveys were carried out to investigate and learn about the characteristics of its foundation.
Eduardo Martínez Moya.
Edartec Consultores. University of Seville.
The Almohad Giralda in the 21st Century: Bricks and Scaffolding.
ABSTRACT
Since 2015, the tower of the Almohad minaret of Seville has been studied in depth again. The unique opportunities between 2017 and 2024 have been taken advantage of, in which four scaffolds (one per face) have been installed to attend to the architectural restoration works that they required. There are numerous data ordered in numerous subjects that have been documented with complete rigor. All this immense amount of information is giving rise to different and very interesting studies and research on the Giralda. Analyses that, due to their volume, will last for years until they are well established and adequately cross-referenced.
The present work that is presented in Tvrris Fortissima 2015-2025 is summarized in presenting two of those studies: one on the metric of the format of the brick used in the construction of the Almohad tower and another on the hypothesis of the scaffolding that should have served for the construction of the minaret.
TVRRIS FORTISSIMA 2015-2025.
ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION FOR THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2025 (AFTERNOON SESSION)
Fátima Roldán Castro
University of Seville.
The minaret of the Almohad aljama of Seville in the chronicle of Ibn Sāḥib al-ṣalāt. a reading in terms of `aŷā’ib or mirabilia.
ABSTRACT
The court chronicler Ibn Ṣāḥīb al-Ṣalāt paid special attention to the construction process of the minaret tower of the main Almohad mosque and described it in his work Al-Mann bi-l-Imāma or Don del Imamato through fragmentary news that as a whole provides very useful information. When carefully reading these descriptions, passages are noticed that deviate from the tone and language usually used in a court chronicle, which could be assimilated to certain keys of a literary genre widely cultivated and of great acceptance in the field of the classical Arab and Islamic world, the literature of `aŷā’ ib or of wonders, therefore the main objective of this chapter is to analyze these passages, their content and their literary keys as well as their possible adscription to the mentioned genre.
Francisco Óscar Ramírez Reina, (Margarita de Alba Romero and Ana Durán Jerez co-authors)
Archaeologist-Conservator. Urban Planning and Environment Management of Seville
About the walled enclosure of the Almohad Išbīliya: first results of the interventions in the walls and gate of the Macarena (2020-2024).
ABSTRACT
Seville, capital of the Almohad Empire in al-Andalus, came to have one of the most extensive walled enclosures, along with Marrakech and Rabat. However, the discussion between historians and archaeologists about the affiliation of these walls, remains a constant today. The three restoration campaigns of the Urban Planning and Environment Management of the Seville City Council between 2020 and 2023, offered an unbeatable opportunity to undertake paramental studies, which could clarify this problem. The results presented are the product of the scientific combination of three levels of approach: constructive analysis, ceramic study and radiocarbon dating.
Antonio Almagro Gorbea
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
Three sister Almohad cities: Marrakech
ABSTRACT
The city of Marrakech became, after its conquest by the Almohads in 1147, the capital of their empire, a capital that it shared with the city of Seville, which was the base of the Almohad domain of al-Andalus, and with Rabat, whose foundation was called to become the new capital of the empire, a project that was finally frustrated. The three cities had, as a sign of their preeminence, large aljama mosques that each included a superb minaret. The first of these towers to be built was that of Marrakech, which defined the model for the other two. The three became visual and symbolic landmarks of their respective cities, a character that only that of Marrakech still retains without rivalry.
Faissal Cherradi Akbil
Ministry of Culture Kingdom of Morocco.
Three sister Almohad cities: Rabat
ABSTRACT
The passage of Rabat from an Almoravid ribat to an Almohad imperial center constitutes a significant example of how political and religious power shaped the medieval urban landscape in the Maghreb. Presenting the restoration project of the minaret of the Hassan mosque. The current Almohad heritage is not only a historical testimony, but also a heritage asset of universal value.
TVRRIS FORTISSIMA 2015-2025.
PRESENTATIONS FOR FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2025 (MORNING SESSION)
Antonio Almagro Gorbea .
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
Documentation of the Almohad Giralda (1984-2024)
ABSTRACT
In 1984, the first photogrammetric survey of the Giralda of Seville was carried out, documenting for the first time its four elevations which, due to the tower’s peculiarities, are all different. This work, together with the survey of the floors and the Renaissance top, provided the monument with an instrument that it had lacked until then but that was indispensable for its study and conservation, and that has been serving effectively for these purposes. This work, one of the pioneers in the use of photogrammetry techniques for these purposes in Spain, was the starting point for other works that have covered the entire Cathedral, and that have had continuity in the Giralda itself in successive interventions, the last ones carried out during the recent restoration work on the body of the primitive Almohad minaret. After the restoration, a new global survey has been undertaken with photogrammetric scanning technique that has allowed to create a three-dimensional model from which high quality and precision orthoimages of its elevations have been obtained. Thanks to all this, the monument currently has a rigorous and detailed documentation that includes 3D models of all of the more than 140 capitals and bases with which the Almohad promoters of this work adorned the minaret, all of them pieces brought from other previous buildings and with which they intended to express the legitimacy of their power in their capacity as continuators of those who preceded them.
José Miguel Puerta Vílchez.
University of Granada.
The Giralda as a drawing book of the Almohad artisans: calligraphic and ornamental sketches appeared in the restoration of 2017-2024.
ABSTRACT
This article raises hypotheses about the possible calligraphies that could have decorated and contributed symbolic content to the minaret of the great Almohad aljama of Seville, as did the minarets of the Kutubīya of Marrakech and the al-Tā’ibīn mosque of Granada, and offers the drawing and translation of the calligraphic sketches discovered during the restoration of the Giralda carried out by the team of the architect Eduardo Martínez Moya between 2017 and 2024. He is responsible for the data and drawings of the geometric, vegetal and figurative graffiti that we discuss here in relation to the calligraphic ones, taken as a whole as if it were a drawing book distributed on the four facades of the minaret. These graffiti must have served the Almohad artisans to experiment or exchange ideas about their designs, and some of them to decorate the sebkas of the tower itself. Likewise, I report on the non-decorative inscription found on the East face of the Giralda, illegible to me, and I add the reading and translation of the inscriptions of two of the Umayyad capitals used in the minaret with part of its visible epigraphy.
Susana Calvo Capilla.
Complutense University of Madrid.
The Almohad movement: religious context of the doctrine of Ibn Tumart.
ABSTRACT
The article reviews the impact that the new ‘unitary’ dogma, promoted by the founder of the movement, the mahdī or messiah Ibn Tūmart, had on Almohad religious art and architecture. His doctrine found justification in the need to return Islam to the purity, austerity and virtues of its beginnings, to return to the prophetic model, with the Koran and the Sunna as the only sources of inspiration for the behavior of every Muslim. To exalt this return to the original Islam, they adopted a series of ceremonies and ritual practices around places, objects or people that evoke the holy cities and the Prophet himself, assimilated or emulated with Ibn Tūmart. All this had an impact on the construction of mosques and on the religious ritual developed in them.