The Giralda by Esther Singleton

ΤΗÉΟΡΗΙLΕ GAUTIER

The Giralda, which serves as a campanila to the cathedral, and rises / above all the spires of the town, is an old Moorish tower, erected by / an Arabian architect, named Geber or Guever, who invented algebra, / which was called after him. The appearance of the tower is charming, / and very original; the rose-coloured bricks and the white stone of / which it is built, give it an air of gaiety and youth, which forms a / strange contrast with the date of its erection, which extends as far / back as the year 1000, a very respectable age, at which a tower may / well be allowed to have a wrinkle or two and be excused for not being / remarkable for a fresh complexion. The Giralda in its present state / is not less than three hundred and fifty feet high, while each side / is fifty feet broad. Up to a certain height the walls are perfectly / even; there are then rows of Moorish windows with balconies, trefoils, / and small white marble columns, surrounded by large lozenge-shaped / brick panels. The tower formerly ended in a roof of variously coloured / varnished tiles, on which was an iron bar, ornamented with four gilt / metal balls of a prodigious size. This roof was removed in 1568 by the / architect Francisco Ruiz, who raised the daughter of the Moor Guever / one hundred feet higher in the pure air of heaven, so that his bronze / statue might overlook the sierras, and speak with the angels who / passed.