{"id":4148,"date":"2019-11-27T11:09:13","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T10:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/el-emperador-el-sultan-y-el-extrano-mapa-de-los-reales-alcazares\/"},"modified":"2019-11-27T11:31:25","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T10:31:25","slug":"the-emperor-the-sultan-and-the-map-at-the-alcazar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.toursevilla.com\/en\/the-emperor-the-sultan-and-the-map-at-the-alcazar\/","title":{"rendered":"The emperor, the sultan and the strange map at the Alcazar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
In a large room of the Alcazar of Seville there are a series of 6 huge tapestries of almost 40 square meters. Five of them represent scenes of a war, but the sixth is different, it shows a strange map of the European continent and North Africa with the peculiarity that everything is upside down, north to south, east to west and vice versa.<\/strong> On one side there is a venerable old man with a white beard who carries a compass in his hand, he is the map designer, the Flemish Jan Vermeyen, with the other hand he is holding a sign written in old Spanish where we read how to understand this strange map since the cartographer knew that it would not be easy at first sight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The map is framed between two large columns with the symbols of Emperor Charles V, the columns of Hercules with the legend Plus Ultra and the two-headed black eagle of the Habsburgs. In the upper part there is an inscription in Spanish, in the lower one more in Latin, the international language of the time. The tapestry collection and its original map tell us about the military expedition to Tunisia in 1535 that Emperor Charles V undertook against his enemy Suleiman, nicknamed the Magnificent.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWho was Suleiman the Magnificent? <\/h2>\n\n\n\n