Giraldillo

The Giraldillo crowns the Giralda, the bell tower of Seville Cathedral in Seville, Spain. The 3.47-metre bronze figure turns with the wind, serving as a weathervane above the city. She holds a shield and palm branch, while a spear carries a Christian cross beside her helmet.

Bartolomé Morel cast the sculpture in 1568, making it one of Spain’s earliest large Renaissance bronzes. Its helmet carries a crown of twelve fleur-de-lis, while the leg jewellery abstracts late-sixteenth-century Spanish ornament. Roman Mannerism and Greco-Roman models shape the design, with possible links to Pallas Athena, Minerva, and Juno. The figure stands on a bronze sphere made in 1566, and the assembly reached the tower in August 1568.

Strong wind twisted its fixing screw in 1592, requiring removal and repair. Later work gilded and varnished the surface in 1684, then reinforced the interior with iron bars in 1770. A bronze replica replaced the original during late-twentieth-century restoration, before the original returned in 2005. The replica now stands before the cathedral’s Prince’s Gate, offering a second encounter with Seville’s wind-turning figure.