It’s a top-of-the-world feeling at Las Setas, a modern structure right in the heart of Seville’s historic old quarters!
“Here’s a live Facebook video I took, right after I hosted my students on a free virtual cultural tour of Seville. You can get amazing panoramic views of Seville from roof tops (azoteas), from the Cathedral Giralda tower, and here, from Las Setas. Las Setas means ‘mushroom’, but I like to nickname it waffles’. Don’t you think it looks like a waffle? It comprises 6 parasol-looking structures, that were inspired by the arches Seville’s magnificent Cathedral.
In my early years in Seville from 2003, this site remained literally a hole-in-the-ground. Seville is filled with archeological ruins. When they dug this site, of course, they would find ruins. So work halted for the longest time, and each time I passed by this giant hole, I wondered what it was all about.
Then it finally resumed, and lo!, in 2011 they inaugurated this huge modern structure dominating this ‘casco antiguo’ old quarters of Seville. It is a bit touristy, but you do get a great 360 degrees view of Seville, for just about €5. And in the basement, you can visit the Antiquarium Museum to see the ruins.
Here’s more info, this time, along sustainable themes:
“The largest wooden structure in the world is made with 3,500 raw cubic metres of micro-laminated Finnish pine wood (kerto) covered with waterproof, breathable and flexible polyurethane. And as one would expect, our construction was sustainable: for every pine felled three were planted in the same forests from which they were taken. Something that led Jürgen Mayer to win bronze in the “Sustainable Construction” category at the Reddot Award” – official site
