Pabellon de la Navegacion

The Pabellon de la Navegacion (or Navigation Pavilion in English) was reopened in January 2012. It used to be one of the main attractions of Seville's 1992 Universal Exposition. Unfortunately, the premises -including this building, were left unused once the fair ended.

However, politicians sometimes do things right. After 12 years being closed and with a budget of more than 11 million euros, it was finally decided to restore it. Today it is a museum devoted to Seville's relationship with water.

Why is water so important to the city? First of all because Seville is one of the few cities in Spain where the river is navigable. Also, because in the times of the Spanish Empire (15th and 16th centuries), all wealth and treasures from the American colonies were held here.

General information

The Pabellon de la Navegacion is located in the southern part of the Isla de la Cartuja, right at the river bank. Actually, it's 10 minutes walking from the CAAC's main entrance, and only 5 minutes walking from the back one.

As you can see from the general information box above, the ticket is relatively expensive. With it, you get to see the pavillion and go to the top of the Schindler Tower.

The main building is divided into four rooms for exhibits which hold the permanent exhibition "Seville and the Atlantic Navigation". Apart from these, the premises have other areas to hold different events such as temporary exhibitions, conferences and lectures. There is also a cafeteria and a restaurant should be inaugurated soon.

Should you go?

I was at the Pabellon de la Navegacion a couple of week after its opening, and I have to admit that I was disappointed at the end of the visit...

In fact, I have many reasons not to include it in my list of Seville's highlights.

First, the entrance fee is too expensive for what you get to see. To give you an idea, you only pay a fraction of this price to visit the Museo de Bellas Artes, and a bit less to enter the ground floor of the Palace of Lebrija. Moreover, you won't see paintings, sculptures or any other old masterpieces.

Then, the pavilion's content is scarce and sometimes even unexistant. There are only a few exhibits and scale models of ships scattered here and there.

Finally, the target audience of this museum is mainly children. Hence, a large part of the exhibits is very basic and doesn't offer a historical context. In my opinion, a balanced combination of both adult and child multimedia exhibits would have been much nicer and interesting.

The only elements that caught my attention were the building itself and the views of the city from the Schindler Tower. The Pabellon de la Navegacion is absolutely gorgeous and I really liked it but only from an architectural perspective. Actually, if you are into modern architecture, you may want to have a closer look at it. The good news is that you don't need to pay for that, go to the opposite river bank and enjoy the view!

Regarding the tower, I have to admit that the views are excellent and offer an impressive panorama of the Guadalquivir river. Moreover, the perspective of the city center is also very nice. To reach the top you need to take the elevator whereas to return you have to walk down the ramps.

To sum up, paying almost 5 euros to visit a beautiful building and enjoy 5 minutes of fine views is too much. You shouldn't go to the Pabellon de la Navegacion unless you have been to Seville many times before or there is a not to miss temporary exhibition going on.

Anyway, if you are still curious on the subject, I have gathered a bunch of photos I took and created a gallery with them.

And if you like art in general, you should have a look at other Seville museums.

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