Archnet > Site > Huerta Dabenahofar or Huerta del Rey, Seville (MEGT)

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<p>View of the Buhaira water basin, with the restored remains of the foundations of the former eastern Almohad pavilion, partly occupied by a more recent Mudéjar building</p>

The name of al-Buhayra garden (Huerta Dabenahofar or Huerta del Rey) is taken from the Arabic for “lake” (buhayra), although its once-nearby namesake has long dried up. The enclosure covered an area of 18 ha, and it was built at the initiative of Abu Ya‘qub al-Mansur, with work beginning in 1171. According to Ibn Sahib al-Sala, it was located in front of the Meat Gate. The Muslim chronicles mention the construction of a pavilion and the planting of the orchard in the time of the taifas in the eleventh century. Probably starting around 1171, the Almohads built at the foot of the pavilion a large pool, which was filled by a Roman acequia coming from the environs of Alcalá de Guadaira. It was surrounded by a clay wall which Abu l-Khayr refers to as al-Ha’it al-Sultan (King’s Wall). Ten thousand olive, fig, and other fruit trees, as well as vines, were planted there up until 1195. Andrea Navagero (Viaje, 38) saw the pool, whose sides measured 45 m, as well as a palace and orange trees.

The garden was excavated in the 1970s and 1990s. A kind of pavilion was discovered on the south side of the pool and a larger building from Christian times on the east side. The estate remained an agricultural domain until the 1970s, when about half the property was set apart and urbanized. The rest was finally acquired by the city and transformed into a park, although a heavily trafficked modern road runs through it.

Jacinto Bosch Vilá, Historia de Sevilla, vol. 2, La Sevilla islámica, 712–1248, 281.

Ibn Ṣāḥib al-Ṣalāh, Al-Mann bil-Imāma, 188–191.

-Antonio Almagro, Luis Ramón-Laca

Sources:

Viaje por España y Portugal, 1494-1495 (Open in Zotero)

Al-Buhayra/Huerta del Rey (Open in Zotero)

Notas sobre Sevilla en la época musulmana (Open in Zotero)

Al-Mann bil-Imāma (Open in Zotero)

Historia de Sevilla (Open in Zotero)

Originally published at: Almagro, Antonio, and Luis Ramón-Laca. “ Huerta Dabenahofar or Huerta del Rey, Seville.” Middle East Garden Traditions. Dumbarton Oaks, November 18, 2014. https://www.doaks.org/resources/middle-east-garden-traditions/catalogue#b_start=0&c6=Andalusian++Gardens. Archived at: https://perma.cc/J8KF-DV5P

Seville, Spain

1130-1269

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Dumbarton Oaks MEGT Record

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The name of al-Buhayra garden (Huerta Dabenahofar or Huerta del Rey) is taken from the Arabic for “lake” (buhayra), although its once-nearby namesake has long dried up. The enclosure covered an area of 18 ha, and it was built at the initiative of Abu Ya‘qub al-Mansur, with work beginning in 1171. According to Ibn Sahib al-Sala, it was located in front of the Meat Gate. The Muslim chronicles mention the construction of a pavilion and the planting of the orchard in the time of the taifas in the eleventh century. Probably starting around 1171, the Almohads built at the foot of the pavilion a large pool, which was filled by a Roman acequia coming from the environs of Alcalá de Guadaira. It was surrounded by a clay wall which Abu l-Khayr refers to as al-Ha’it al-Sultan (King’s Wall). Ten thousand olive, fig, and other fruit trees, as well as vines, were planted there up until 1195. Andrea Navagero (Viaje, 38) saw the pool, whose sides measured 45 m, as well as a palace and orange trees.

The garden was excavated in the 1970s and 1990s. A kind of pavilion was discovered on the south side of the pool and a larger building from Christian times on the east side. The estate remained an agricultural domain until the 1970s, when about half the property was set apart and urbanized. The rest was finally acquired by the city and transformed into a park, although a heavily trafficked modern road runs through it.