Introduction 

This project on Sevillian Gold without a ‘Golden Age’ supports Professor Alison Wright's research on the history of gold and the golden in Seville during the late pre-colonial and early post-colonial period (approximately 1470–1530). This period spans Seville’s transition from the Islamic era (as part of al-Andalus) through the Christian reconquest and into the early decades of Spanish colonization in the Americas. This project examines the broader cultural concept and its significance of "the golden" in art during a time of profound religious and social change.

Seville is the centre of our research because it became the main point of commerce in 16th-century Spain largely because of its strategic location and royal policies. Situated inland on the Guadalquivir River, Seville provided a secure and navigable route to the Atlantic Ocean, making it ideal for controlling trade with Spain’s growing overseas empire, especially in the Americas. In 1503, the Spanish Crown established the Casa de Contratación (House of Trade) there, giving Seville an exclusive monopoly over all transatlantic trade. This institution regulated ships, collected taxes, and enforced strict controls to protect Spain’s colonial wealth, particularly gold and silver flowing from the New World.

Our research addresses a topic that remains surprisingly understudied: while scholars have explored the economic history of transatlantic trade and the administrative functions of the Casa de la Contratación (central trading house and procurement agency), there has been far less attention paid to the material, visual, and cultural dimensions of gold within Seville itself. Studies of gilding techniques in art or of the wealth of the Sevillian elite exist, but there is little work that connects these fragments into a broader understanding of how gold was used and perceived in the city – its cultural impact. By developing new research tools such as bibliographies of primary and secondary sources, and visual archives of where gold was worked, displayed, and experienced, this project aims to fill these historiographical gaps, as well as consider how these legacies continue to inform the city’s appearance and the experiences of visitors today.

Research conducted

The completed research draws significantly on written resources for medieval and early modern Spain, as well as works and elements of art present in the city of Seville. The written resources largely included chronicles and historical archives, and the majority of our research was centered around scanning through these documents for useful information at the Institute of Historical Research, the Warburg Institute, as well as available online resources or documents that were digitalised, such as newspapers and articles focusing on our period of interest. 

The focus of the project was to take these key research resources, such as bibliographies and collections of historical images, and provide a foundation for further study of how Seville’s “golden” past was constructed and interpreted. A critical aim is to consider how the legacy of this period continues to shape the way visitors experience and perceive Seville today.

Visiting Seville was central in contextualizing the research begun in London libraries. Experiencing the city firsthand allowed for the collection of visual and material evidence—through photography, site visits, and archival exploration—that could not be fully captured through textual sources alone. By studying key locations, artworks, and architectural features in situ, we gained a richer understanding of how gold was brought into the city, displayed, and continues to influence the city’s cultural memory. 

One of the most striking moments of my fieldwork came when I unexpectedly encountered the Corpus Christi procession as I was walking near the Seville Cathedral. I noticed clergy and members of brotherhoods wearing richly ornamented garments—gold or metallic threads, intricate embroidery—and the monstrance (Custodia de Arfe, made in 1587) itself carried out in silver and gold, emphasizing the ritual’s material splendor. The procession is deeply symbolic in Seville: it celebrates the Eucharist, manifesting the belief that the Body and Blood of Christ are physically present in the streets, not just inside the Cathedral. Families and elder parishioners in formal dress lined the route, altars were erected on balconies and street-corners, and the entire city seemed to pause. The procession’s historical roots reach back to the late Middle Ages, and the elaborate ceremonial garments and objects—vestments, monstrances, decorated floats—serve not only for beauty but as visual assertions of sacred power, tradition, and social hierarchy. My chance encounter allowed me to see gold not just as static decoration, but in action—carried, displayed, lived.

Through the course of this research, we found that gold—owing to its exceptional cost and rarity (especially in the pre-conquest period) —was consistently used to signal that the gilded object or depiction held profound significance and to give it the highest levels of importance.  The overwhelming majority of gold we encountered was employed in religious contexts, reflecting its association with the divine and eternal. In particular, gold was used extensively in depictions of Jesus and saints, emphasizing their spiritual authority and sacred status. It was therefore unsurprising that much of the city’s gold was concentrated within its cathedrals and churches, with the Seville Cathedral (Catedral de Santa María de la Sede) standing out as the most striking example. Here, vast quantities of gold are integrated into altarpieces, chapels, and sacred objects, culminating in the breathtaking Retablo Mayor, one of the largest and most elaborate altarpieces in the world. This abundance of gold reflects both the immense wealth flowing into Seville during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries and the city’s desire to visually manifest its devotion and power through dazzling religious art.

Methodology

The research began by answering two questions: what to look for, and where to look for it. Professor Alison Wright compiled a bibliographical source list that served as the base for our research. This list included sources such as chronicles, archive catalogues and online newspapers and my role was to methodically scan through each of the articles on this list, and extract any information that is deemed relevant to our research topic. The total number of pages that needed reviewing was in the thousands, so in order to complete this talk in a timely manner, it was important to approach it with a high degree of organisation and systemisation. This was partly achieved by creating a separate list of keywords that would guide us to the relevant information that we are looking for. These keywords included different terms for precious metals, objects that were commonly gilded (majority are used in religious procedures), contemporary artists renowned for using gold in their works, and specific sites which we know have gilded elements. Furthermore, due to the fact that many of the sources on the list were written in Spanish, all the keywords were produced in two languages: English and Spanish.

When approaching a new source, the first step was to search for the keywords in the index. If relevant topics would be identified in the index, their respective chapters would be read fully and scanned for useful information. This information would then be added to a separate centralised file that contains all the extracted abstracts and is categorised by subtabs of specific articles to which these abstracts belong. The goal was to make the extracted information as easily digestible as possible, so a brief summary of each extract and a translation (if originally written in Spanish) were written too. 

Visiting Seville in person was an essential part of this research because it provided insights that could not be gained through written sources alone. Experiencing the city directly allowed us to see how gold is physically integrated into Seville’s religious and cultural spaces. Walking through the city and its key sites, such as the The Church of the Divine Savior (La iglesia colegial del Divino Salvador), revealed how gold interacts with natural light and how the modern viewer interacts with the golden. Moreover, the visit enabled us to document our findings through photographs and notes, creating a detailed record of where and how gold appears in the modern city. This firsthand engagement also allowed us to reflect on the legacy of Seville’s past: how historical wealth and power are still visible today, how they shape the city’s identity, and how they influence the way both locals and visitors experience these spaces. 

Overall, the field trip to Seville was very successful and we managed to visit almost all of the sites that we had planned to look at. However, we did face an obstacle when visiting a few of the churches, because the opening times for some of them were last updated a very long time ago, and we often found ourselves arriving at a site that was actually closed when it was supposed to be open. In the case of the Church of Saint Ildephonse, it took us four attempts to catch it when its gates were open, but right opposite this church there is a 13th-century convent renowned for traditional pastries and candies made by its resident nuns, so it never felt like a trip wasted. Nonetheless, we managed to take a large amount of high-resolution photos using a professional camera, and aggregate them into an image archive of the most significant examples of gold use. 

Conclusions

While our project primarily focused on the uses of gold rather than its circulation, our visit to the Torre del Oro (military watchtower) and the exhibition inside provided important context. We learned that Seville was not only a center of artistic and religious production but also the primary hub through which gold arriving from the Americas was funneled and traded, making it one of the most significant cities for gold in early modern Europe. Historically, gold served as a powerful symbol of status and prestige, which is supported by the multiple accounts from the period describing the nobility wearing garments heavily embroidered with gold or silver thread, as well as hosting extravagant feasts where gold and silver tableware and serving dishes were prominently displayed to indicate the immense wealth of their owners. Similarly, the lavish use of gold in Sevillian churches and cathedrals could be linked to demonstrating the power and wealth of the Catholic Church, creating awe-inspiring sacred spaces that elevated worshippers' spiritual experience through employing the luminous effect of gold.

Today, gold in Seville is primarily encountered in religious settings, where it adorns altarpieces, liturgical objects such as chalices, and artworks depicting holy figures and scenes. The most striking example of this is the Retablo Mayor in the Seville Cathedral—aptly nicknamed the “wall of gold.” Measuring over 20 meters high and 18 meters wide, its immense scale and the sheer quantity of gold leaf required to cover it continue to awe visitors who gather to marvel at this display. Interestingly, throughout the tours that we attended at sites such as the Seville Cathedral and the Alcázar, guides rarely highlighted the gold itself. Instead, their focus was on the historical narratives and architectural details of the buildings, with gold only discussed when we asked directly. Furthermore, with the exception of the Retablo Mayor, tourists also did not seem to focus on the golden, judging by where we encountered the highest concentrations of people. This suggests that, unlike the sixteenth century when gold was rare and potent, serving as a sacred material in temples and churches -  a symbol of divine light and immortality, its significance or mystery today has diminished. Perhaps, this is because now gold primarily represents material success rather than spiritual transcendence, or perhaps the prevalence of media and visual digital resources has desensitised the modern viewer’s eye towards gold, marking a profound transformation in its cultural significance. 

Reflections

Through this project, I developed a range of new skills that were both practical and analytical. The most valuable skill that I learned is being able to conduct systematic archival research and working with large volumes of material in a highly organized way. Faced with hundreds of pages of sources, it very quickly became clear that in order to complete the work a systematic workflow was absolutely necessary. Furthermore, by compiling extracted information into a centralized, clearly categorized file with summaries and translations, I learned how to transform complex historical material into accessible and useful research tools for both myself and future scholars. Additionally, this project allowed me to significantly challenge my linguistic skills and improve fluency, particularly in academic Spanish.

An unexpected outcome of this project was a significant shift in my perspective on the reliability of historical data, particularly when working with primary sources. At the beginning of my research, I approached the chronicles and archival texts with a default assumption that they were entirely factual and objective. However, as I read more closely, I began to recognize the limitations and biases inherent in these sources. For instance, when encountering vivid descriptions of the wealth and splendor displayed by the nobility—such as gold-threaded garments or lavish banquets—it became clear that these accounts may have been exaggerated, idealized, or even intentionally manipulated to serve a particular agenda. This realization highlighted that, as researchers, we are ultimately dependent on the credibility and truthfulness of the writer, and that the historical “facts” we encounter are often filtered through layers of interpretation, personal bias, and political or social motivations. As a result, I learned to approach primary sources with a more critical and questioning mindset, evaluating not only what is written but also why it might have been recorded in that way. This shift has made me far more aware of the complexities involved in reconstructing the past and the importance of reading sources not just for the information they contain, but also for the perspectives and intentions they reveal.

An unexpected highlight of my fieldwork came from a chance encounter while having dinner in Seville. I struck up a conversation in Spanish with two women seated at a neighboring table, one of whom mentioned that her husband was a professor at the University of Seville with close connections to the staff working at the Casa de la Contratación. Through this conversation, I was offered a rare opportunity to gain access to archival materials that are normally closed to the public. Unfortunately, the offer came just a day before my departure, so I was unable to visit the archives this time. However, this experience was incredibly valuable in its own right, as it demonstrated the importance of engaging with locals and using language skills to create unexpected research opportunities. It reinforced how informal, personal interactions can open doors to resources and perspectives that might otherwise remain inaccessible.