Gallery: Seville’s mushrooms, art or architecture?
In the Plaza de la Encarnación of Seville a strange structure reaches skywards. This is the Metropol Parasol, often referred to by locals as the Mushrooms, Las Setas de la Encarnación. The dramatic forms arch overhead, framing views of the surrounding streets and buildings.
Formed from wood and supported by concrete columns, the parasols are the creation of Berlin architect Jürgen Mayer. There are five levels in total. At the top is a viewing platform; below that within the parasols are spaces for events and a restaurant. Sheltered by them is an elevated square, the Plaza Mayor, from which all but one of my photos were taken. At ground level there is space for a local market and in the basement the Antiquarium, which displays Roman and Moorish archaeological remains discovered when the work was undertaken.
We decided not to pay the five euros per person needed to access the viewing platform, as the weather wasn’t great and we didn’t feel the views would be worth it. However, having since found this Creative Commons image on Wikipedia I am somewhat regretting that decision, as the structure itself looks fascinating from above.
Nevertheless, we enjoyed simply strolling around the Plaza Mayor, photographing the ‘mushrooms’ from various angles. Here are my favourite images from that shoot, shared for the Photographing Public Art challenge.
I visited Seville in November 2021
26 Comments
Julie
I see so many photos of Spain in the blogosphere. I admire the art from afar. I look forward to travelling there one day.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Julie 🙂 We haven’t been there much (we tend to prefer Italy) but we really enjoyed this weekend so we’re determined to see more of Spain in the future!
Marsha
Sarah, I think I’m going to go with gigantic, crazy expensive art rather than architecture even though it is architecture. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m not sure I get where rooms could be. It is so cool!
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks Marsha, glad you enjoyed this! The ‘rooms’, such as they are, are in the base of the raised plaza on which I was standing when I took most of these photos. The bottom pair of images shows the steps leading up to that plaza, and to the left of those is an entrance 🙂
Marsha
It’s quite a place! Thanks for sharing it, Sarah!
SandyL
It is a spectacular building. Next time you go to Seville, the inside view is something to look forward to!
Sarah Wilkie
Yes, we must do that – I regret not doing so this time but we were a bit pressed as we wanted to fit in the Palacio de la Condesa de Lebrija AND the Iglesia del Salvador that afternoon!
wetanddustyroads
Wow Sarah, you have some magical photo’s here! I think that’s art in its best form … I’m amazed at how crazy creative some people are!
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you 😊 Yes, it must take some imagination to come up with something like this! I’m glad you like it.
lgopinath
Beautiful picture Sarah!
I am not sure if ts art or architecture…..but your eye for photography is outstanding.
Really like the angles from where the shots were taken….
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you – I had lots of fun composing these!
Manja Maksimovič
As I was about to write my comment, I set my wine glass left from lunch wrong and it fell from the desk, and it was full, but it fell on a cushion left under my desk in case there is a storm and bestia comes to hide as he does. So the glass didn’t break and the cushion’s cover is washable… All good for something!
Your post made me curious and I had to google a photo from above to put it into perspective. That’s one crazy mushroom! I like your second photo especially, with a less crazy building opposite. I can just imagine the dirt that gathers on this structure and what a pain it is to clean it.
Sarah Wilkie
Oh dear, I’m sorry to be the indirect cause of a wine-stained cushion! I must also have a look for photos from above – good idea 🙂 I have no idea how they clean it but it didn’t look dirty!
SandyL
Now that you mention it, there are a lot of nooks & crannies to collect dirt! I don’t imagine anyone takes a feather duster to clean it, but can you imagine the painting costs?!!
You always have a different point of view Manja 🙂
Sarah Wilkie
Oh gosh yes, painting it must be a real challenge!
Manja Maksimovič
Ahh, I’m glad you say this last, Sandy. Can’t let points of view go to waste. 🙂
margaret21
I’m never sure what I make of the Mushrooms, but you have chosen, as ever, great places to shoot!
Sarah Wilkie
I loved them from a photographic point of view and I think they work in that location – I would have hated to see them right by the cathedral or Alcazar however!
margaret21
Indeed. And not sure I’d have wanted to live on that square.
Sarah Wilkie
From what I read the original plan was for a car park, until they discovered the archaeological remains. I think I prefer this to that!
Natalie
Beautiful shots, Sarah. I love Seville. I was there a few years ago. I had booked another trip to Spain but it was canceled when the pandemic started.
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Natalie 🙂 This was our first time there and we really liked it. We hope to go back in the future and include Cordoba that time around! I hope you manage to get back to Spain some time soon.
maristravels
Wonderful photography – as usual. I’m no longer surprised by your vision! You see things other people miss.
Sarah Wilkie
Thanks so much Mari 😊 I’m not sure that’s true but I’ll take the compliment!
Cee Neuner
This is a crazy cool building. I like all your photos of it. 😀 😀
Sarah Wilkie
Thank you Cee 🙂 As soon as I saw a photo of Las Setas while researching our trip I knew it would be cool to photograph!