Naval Museum Torre del Oro

About Naval Museum Torre del Oro

The Torre del Oro is the twelve-sided Almohad watchtower on the left bank of the Guadalquivir in Seville, on the Paseo de Cristóbal Colón a few minutes' walk from the cathedral. It was built around 1220, while Abu l-Ula governed the city, as part of the walls linking the Alcázar to the river, and a heavy chain stretched from it across the water could close the port.

The tower is 36.75 metres high. Its upper cylindrical body and dome were added in 1760 to a design by Ignacio Moreno, and over the centuries it served as a chapel, gunpowder store and prison. It was declared a historic-artistic monument in 1931.

Since 1944 the Spanish Navy has run a naval museum inside, opened with some 400 pieces sent from the Museo Naval in Madrid. Displays on two floors cover the tower and Seville's river port, with navigation instruments, old charts, a 16th-century cannon, a 19th-century figurehead and ship models such as Alfonso XIII's royal yacht Giralda. A spiral stair climbs to a terrace looking along the river.

Opening hours change through the year, so check before going. Visit from October to May, and come first thing in the morning, before the terrace heats up and the tour groups arrive.

Naval Museum Torre del Oro in pictures

What you’ll find

• Museum exhibitionExhibition visitTicket
• Museum galleriesMuseum visitTicket
• Museum voice guideInteractive EngagementBuy

Nearby places to visit

The tower is within walking distance of Seville's main museums. The Museum of Seville Cathedral (400 m) shows the cathedral's treasury and paintings in its sacristies and chapter house, while the Painter Amalio Museum (600 m), the Santa Cruz studio of a painter who devoted hundreds of works to the Giralda, is closed for maintenance. The Flamenco Dance Museum (900 m) was founded by the dancer Cristina Hoyos, and the Military Historical Museum of Seville (900 m) fills part of the Plaza de España. The Seville Museum of Fine Arts (1.2 km), in a former convent, holds major works by Murillo and Zurbarán.