Discover the Archive of the Indies in Seville
in a unique way.

The Casa de la Contratación de las Indias ("House of Trade with the Indies") was established in Seville in 1503 by Isabel I "the Catholic" to promote and regulate trade and navigation with Spanish overseas territories and gave Seville a monopoly in the New World.

Attracted by ships coming and going in the Port of Seville, traders crowded into the city doing business with products arriving from the New World. Due mainly to a conflict between the Cathedral Chapter and the Municipal Council, Felipe II ordered the construction of the "Casa Lonja de Mercaderes" (Meeting Hall for Merchants) in Seville in 1582. This was a building for the exclusive use of merchants who until then used to conduct their business on the steps of the cathedral.

This makes it a monument of the utmost importance to understand the Golden Age of this city, that was subsequently the venue for a number of institutions from the 16th century to the present day: Casa Lonja de Mercaderes, the Academy of Fine Arts (whose founders included Murillo), "Casa Vecinal".

But nothing lasts forever and when Seville lost its monopoly over trade with the Indies, in 1785 it became the most important centre for documents and archives on Spain and Seville's relationship with the territories in America and the Pacific under the name of the General Archive of the Indies, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.

Are you really going to miss out on such a comprehensive Guided Tour?