Carmona

Already existing in the Ibero-Roman period, when it was known as Carmo, this town in the Seville countryside has an 11^th-century mosque, judging by the arches in the orange-tree courtyard of the convent church of Santa María. This work is supposed to be the reconstruction of a previous mosque from the Emirate period, apparent in the characteristics of the partially preserved minaret.

Furthermore, the Seville Gate must have had a new arch, added in the front of the original Roman ones during the Caliphate period. The family of the great writer and historian Ibn Khaldun, came from Carmona.

In the Modern Age, Carmona pursued an existence appropriate to the important provincial towns of Lower Andalusia, as an administrative, agricultural, artisan and commercial centre, becoming full of ecclesiastical buildings and stately homes. Fortunately, the urban reforms of the 19^th and 20^th centuries generally took into account the valuable heritage accumulated in the course of its rich past, so that today we can still appreciate one of the most beautiful and best preserved historic centres in the region.