Crimson & Gold & Beige

Crimson is the azulejo band — the deep vivid cool-red of the azulejo (glazed ceramic tile) bands that form the wainscoting (lower wall covering) of the most celebrated Mudejar interiors. In the Alcázar of Seville's most spectacular rooms — particularly the Salón de los Embajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors, constructed 1427 CE with the most elaborate Mudejar wooden dome in existence) and the Patio de las Doncellas (Courtyard of the Maidens, 1364 CE) — azulejo bands of deep crimson-to-scarlet and geometric star patterns cover the lower 1.5 meters of the wall surface. The specific deep vivid crimson of the Alcázar azulejo tradition is the most formally significant warm element in the Mudejar interior — the crimson representing the Christian rulers' heraldic tradition (red is the primary warm heraldic color of the Castilian and Aragonese royal arms) combined with the Islamic decorative geometry of the Andalusian tilework tradition. Gold is the carved stucco — the vivid warm gold of the yesería (carved stucco decoration) that covers the upper walls and arched niches of the most elaborate Mudejar interiors. The specific technique — carving complex geometric and arabesque patterns into wet plaster, then applying gold leaf to the raised relief surfaces — creates the most visually elaborate surface decoration in any Western architectural tradition. The carved and gilded stucco of the Alcázar's most celebrated rooms (Pedro I's Palace, 1364 CE; the Salón de los Embajadores; the Cuarto del Príncipe) uses the most technically complex yesería in the Iberian Peninsula — comparable to the Nasrid stucco of the Alhambra's most celebrated rooms (the Hall of the Abencerrajes, the Hall of the Two Sisters) but with the addition of gold leaf that transforms the carved surface into a continuous gold ground. Beige is the sandstone-plaster — the warm beige of the sandstone (calcarenite limestone, the specific warm pale stone of the Seville region) used for the architectural fabric, and of the lime plaster (argamasa, a mixture of lime, sand, and crushed ceramic) that forms the ground of the non-decorated surfaces. The specific warm beige of Seville's building stone — lighter and warmer than the gray limestone of northern Spain, warmer and slightly more yellow-tan than the white marble of Almería — creates the architectural ground tone that harmonizes with the gold and contrasts with the crimson in the Mudejar interior.