The Plaza del Cabildo is a small semicircular square hidden behind the buildings of Avenida de la Constitución, right opposite Seville Cathedral. Its curved arcade of marble columns and painted arches dates from the 20th century, but the straight side of the square is a crenellated stretch of the old city wall built by the Almohads, the Berber dynasty that ruled Islamic Seville. On Sunday mornings it hosts one of the city's oldest stamp and coin markets.
The Plaza del Cabildo at a glance
- Where: in the Arenal district, reached through a covered passage from Avenida de la Constitución opposite the cathedral, or from calle Almirantazgo and calle Arfe.
- Built: in the 20th century, on the site of the demolished Colegio de San Miguel; the section of wall dates from the Almohad period.
- By: the architect Joaquín Barquín y Barón; the frescoes in the arcade are by the Seville painter José Palomar.
- What it is today: a private square with public access, lined with small shops and homes, and the venue of a Sunday collectors' market.
- Time needed: 10–15 minutes, or an hour on a Sunday morning if you browse the market.
From cathedral college to collectors' square
The square takes its name from the cabildo, the chapter of canons that runs Seville Cathedral. The chapter owned the Colegio de San Miguel, a college that stood on this plot a few steps from the cathedral until it was pulled down in the 20th century. Some of the columns in today's arcade are said to come from the college's old patio, so a little of it lives on in the new square.
The new square was built as a half-circle of arches on marble columns with three floors of flats above, and José Palomar painted the arcade with frescoes. Its straight side was left to an older neighbour: a section of the wall that the Almohads raised around Islamic Seville in the 12th century. The wall outlasted the Christian conquest of the city by Ferdinand III of Castile in 1248 and centuries of building around it, and here it still closes off the square, with palm trees in front.
What to look for
- The frescoes: stand under the arcade and look up into the arches to see José Palomar's painted decoration.
- The marble columns that carry the half-circle of arches, some of them reputedly reused from the old college patio.
- The Almohad wall: the crenellated stretch of medieval wall that forms the straight side of the square.
- The fountain in the middle of the square, surrounded by palm trees.
- The three ways in: the covered passage from Avenida de la Constitución, calle Almirantazgo and calle Arfe. Walk in through one and out through another to see how well the square hides from the street.
The Sunday stamp and coin market
Every Sunday morning the arcade fills with the stalls of one of Seville's longest-running collectors' markets. It started in the early 1920s as a gathering of stamp sellers organised by the Sociedad Filatélica Sevillana in the nearby little square of Santa Marta; coin collectors joined later, and the market has met in the Plaza del Cabildo since 1980. Alongside stamps and coins you will find banknotes, postcards, collector cards, pins, minerals, old maps, records and posters, and many regulars come to swap rather than to buy.
Tips for your visit
- Come on a Sunday morning for the market, or on a weekday for a quiet look at the frescoes and the wall.
- The covered passage from Avenida de la Constitución is easy to miss: look for it opposite the west front of the cathedral.
- People live in the flats above the arcade, so keep your voice down, especially in the evening.
Nearby
- Seville Cathedral: one of the largest Gothic churches in the world, right across the avenue. Its bell tower, the Giralda, began as the minaret of the Almohad mosque.
- Archivo de Indias: the former merchants' exchange beside the cathedral, built in the late 16th century, which has kept the archives of Spain's empire in the Americas since 1785.
- Puerta del León: the entrance to the Real Alcázar palace, named after the lion on its tiled panel, a few minutes' walk past the cathedral.
- Torre del Oro: the early 13th-century Almohad watchtower on the Guadalquivir river, a short walk down calle Almirantazgo.
See Seville with World City Trail
Our Seville scavenger hunt turns the old town into a game you play on your phone. The route links 10 stops and takes around 3 hours, with about 49 minutes of walking. It includes the Puerta del León of the Alcázar, a few minutes from the Plaza del Cabildo, and the Plaza de España.
If you prefer a different format, there is also a self-guided walking tour and an outdoor escape game in Seville.
Play the Seville scavenger hunt →
Take the self-guided walking tour of Seville →
Play the outdoor escape game in Seville →
Facts checked in October 2026.