s city in Spain in the 16th century, with some 150,000 inhabitants in 1588. This brilliance was fleeting, however, since Seville's prosperity was based almost entirely on the exploitation of the colonies rather than on local industry and trade. As a result, Seville's economy declined in the 17th century, though its cultural life underwent a great flowering at this time. The painters Diego Velzquez, Francisco de Zurbarn, and Bartolom Esteban Murillo, the sculptor Juan Martnez Montas, and the poet Fernando de Herrera are the glories of Seville and of Spain. Miguel de Cervantes conceived of his novel Don Quixote while he was confined in Seville's jail.In the 18th century Spain's Bourbon rulers managed to stimulate a limited economic revival in the city, but in the 19th century the French invasion, revolutions, and civil war halted such development. In 1847 the April Fair, an annual gala following Easter, was established. The Iberoamerican Exposition of 1929 initiated a new renaissance in Seville. During the 20th century the port was enlarged, and the city revived as an industrial and commercial centre. The Universal Exposition world's fair opened in Seville in 1992.Seville's many architectural monuments survived the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) intact because the city was held by the Nationalists throughout the entire conflict, and was thus never fought over. The oldest part of Seville lies on the left bank of the Guadalquivir and is irregularly planned, with a maze of narrow and twisting streets, small enclosed squares, and houses built and decorated in the Moorish style. There is a somewhat more spacious layout in the central district near the Cathedral of Santa Maria and the Alczar Palace. Seville's cathedral is one of the largest in area of all Gothic churches. Most of it was constructed from 1402 to 1506 on the site of the city's principal mosque, which had been built by the Almohads in 1180-1200 on the site of an earlier Visigothic ch...
