Alameda de Hércules

À propos de ce lieu Alameda de Hércules

The Alameda de Hércules is one of the oldest public promenades in Europe — a long, tree-lined boulevard in Seville's San Lorenzo neighbourhood, laid out in 1574 on what was then a marshy flood plain of the Guadalquivir river. The columns at the southern end, salvaged from a Roman temple and topped in the 17th century with statues of Hercules and Julius Caesar — the mythological and historical founders of Seville — give the space a monumental character that belies its informal, neighbourhood function. The Alameda has been Seville's bohemian quarter for as long as the city has had a bohemian quarter: artists, writers, flamenco performers, prostitutes, dissidents, and the socially marginal have all found their way here, attracted by the space's combination of urban visibility and social tolerance. The gay community has been part of that tradition for at least a century and is now one of the most visible elements of the Alameda's social character. In the evenings — especially from Thursday through Sunday — the promenade and its surrounding bars fill with a crowd that is predominantly gay, lesbian, and alternative: outdoor tables occupied by groups of friends, the promenade used for walking and cruising, and the specific social energy of a space that has been claimed by successive generations of the socially marginal and made into something genuinely communal. The Alameda is the most historically resonant gay social space in Seville and one of the most atmospheric in Spain.