Seated on the left bank of the Guadalquivir River is a strange watchtower, its height accentuating its prominence for quite some distance along the riverside. At its bottom two levels, its sides number ten, the dodecagonal base cutting off into a narrow cylindrical top with a dome. A chain could be extended between the tower and the opposite bank, or so it was said, to create a physical barrier against enemy ships of old.

Reading the name plate, you identify the structure as the Torre del Oro or tower of gold. Each of its three sections was contributed by a different ruler. It began with the Almohade governor, Abu I-Ula, progressing to Pedro I ‘the cruel’. The final extension was made by the military engineer Sebastian Van der Borcht. Regardless of who made the construction though, they only had one aim in mind: to service the tower as a military outpost to the river’s mouth. And so it was that the 13th Century tower was linked to the Torre de la Plata further down through walls that have since crumbled. With time, the tower took on more hats at different junctures, serving as a chapel, a nobleman’s prison, a gunpowder store, an office space for the Port Authority and Naval Command before finally settling as a small naval museum today.