Casa de Pilatos

Welcome to the Casa de Pilatos, one of Sevilla's best-kept secrets. It was built in the late 15th and early 16th centuries by the Marquesses of Tarifa, who returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with an idea: to bring an echo of Jerusalem to Sevilla. Hence the popular name: the house recalled Pontius Pilate's Praetorium. What you are about to walk through is a palace at once Mudéjar, Renaissance and Romantic. Start in the Main Courtyard: a double gallery of arches, a Genoese fountain at the centre, 16th-century tiles wrapping the walls, lacework plaster and Roman statues that the family collected with devotion. Notice the emperors' busts, many brought from Italy and still watching the passers-by. Climb the great staircase: its golden dome is one of the loveliest Mudéjar ceilings in the city. Upstairs you will find salons with paintings, tapestries and carved wooden coffers. Don't miss the two gardens: peaceful spaces of cypresses, orange trees, fountains and archaeological fragments, perfect to rest your eyes. The Casa de Pilatos is still the residence of the Dukes of Medinaceli, so it feels more like a home than a museum. Visitor tip: come early or late in the afternoon to enjoy it almost alone. If you want to see how Sevilla blends Christian, Andalusi and Roman memory at a single glance, this courtyard tells it all without a word.