Baptism and Birth (known as Saint Michael) Façades. Lorenzo Mercadante from Bretain, XIV century.
Unusually, its construction was started from feet to head as there were some other buildings at that side waiting for the Royal License to be removed. Begining a church from the cancel zone, where the altar is located, permit its consecration sooner, hile it is still under construction.
Buildt over the old mosque which already used as a Christian temple and got seriusly damage after the 1356 earthquake. Some of its remains can still be seen at the Oranges Courtyard (ablutions courtyard) and the Giralda (tower minaret). It has a rectangular floor with a nave and four ailes, twenty-five little chapels and other additional constructions subsequently added like as vestries, archives, libraries, courtyards ... all of wich make it the third biggest cathedral in the world after Saint Peter in Rome and Saint Paul in London. Seville Cathedral ha a wide range of valuable historic-artistic and religious pieces, therefore it is very difficult to choose just a few among them.