[2][3] The palace is a preeminent example of Mudéjar style in the Iberian Peninsula and also includes sections with Gothic and Renaissance elements.

It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the adjoining Seville Cathedral and the General Archive of the Indies.

In the year 913–914, after a revolt against Cordoba's government, the first caliph of Al-Andalus Abd al-Rahman III built a fortified construction in place of a Visigothic Christian basilica.

[10][11] In the 11th century, during the Taifa period, the Abbadid king Al-Mu'tamid expanded the complex southwards and eastwards,[10] with a new southern enclosure measuring approximately 70 by 80 meters.

[3] It stood on the site of the present-day Patio del Crucero, incorporating and preserving parts of the Almohad-era courtyard that was found here, including the Islamic-style garden divided into quadrants by two intersecting paths.

This new addition was made in a Mudéjar style, with stucco decoration and an overall arrangement of elements directly based on contemporary Islamic Andalusi architecture.

[2] It is likely that Muhammad V, the Nasrid ruler of Granada and Pedro I's ally, sent craftsmen to Seville to help assist in the palace's construction and decoration.

[15] In the 16th century, the Catholic Monarchs commissioned an Italian artist from Pisa, Francisco Niculoso (called Pisano) to make two majolica tile altarpieces for their private chapel in the palace.

[17] The Puerta del León (Gate of the Lion), located in the outer wall of the complex, is the main access to the enclosure.

Between the lintel of this gate and under a machicolation there was a painting of a lion, whose origin is unknown, although it appears in the drawings made by Richard Ford in 1832.

[20][21] In 1892 this painting was replaced by a panel of azulejo designed by Manuel Tortosa y Fernández, with the historical advice of José Gestoso.

The current name "Puerta del León" dates to the 19th century and derives from the heraldic lion in this panel of tilework above the gateway and under a defensive machicolation.

Plays from the Spanish Golden Age were performed in a theatre, the Corral de Montería (Enclosure of the Hunt), that once stood here.

Behind the stretch of wall is the Patio de la Montería, which fronts the Palacio del Rey Don Pedro.

In the centre of the hall is a fountain with a shallow drain down to the Patio del Yeso, and round the walls are brick and tile benches.

[34] From the Sala de Justicia one enters the Patio del Yeso, which was built at the end of the 12th century,[37] by Ali al-Ghumari[37] from the Almohad period, almost square in plan, with a pool in the center[34] and arcaded arches on each side of the courtyard, on which there is rich decoration.

To the right are the rooms of the Casa de Contratación, who built in 1503[42] and there met the merchants who made contracts there when there was a boom in trade from Seville with Spanish America and the Philippines.

[44] The name, meaning "The Courtyard of the Maidens", is a reference to the apocryphal story that the Muslim rulers demanded an annual tribute of 100 virgins from the Christian kingdoms of Iberia.

[2] The ground level of the building still dates to this period and contains Arabic inscriptions that refer to Pedro I as "Sultan Don Bidru".

[47] At ground level, several reception rooms are arranged around a long rectangular reflecting pool that runs the entire length of the patio, creating a water line.

[48] The pool and its promenades are bordered by two flowerbeds located one meter beneath the pavement[49] whose sides are decorated with a frieze of interlaced semi-circular arches.

[50][51] The garden and the pool, built between 1356 and 1366, were buried between 1581 and 1584 when the courtyard was paved by Juan Bautista de Zumárraga with a white and black marble pavement and an alabaster fountain in the center.

It is named after María de Padilla, the mistress of Pedro I, although the structure itself is unrelated to her and dates instead to the Gothic palace of Alfonso X.

[13] The Hall of the Ambassadors (Salon de los Embajadores) dates from the 14th century, when Pedro I of Castile made it a centerpiece of his new royal palace.

[2] During Pedro's construction, the orientation of the hall was changed from facing Mecca (to the east) to the northeast, where it opens to the Patio de las Doncellas through a central doorway.

[53] At the middle of each of the other three sides of the hall is a central doorway consisting of a triple horseshoe arch supported by marble columns.

[2] The hall's decoration was finished in 1366, as recorded by an Arabic inscription on a set of wooden doors that was made by artisans from Toledo.

[55] All the palaces of Al Andalus had garden orchards with fruit trees, horticultural produce and a wide variety of fragrant flowers.

Resta was responsible for the Galeria de Grutesco (Grotto Gallery) transforming the old Muslim wall into a loggia from which to admire the view of the palace gardens.