Real Fabrica de Tabacos
One of Seville's mostt famous citizens was a fictional characters, but she is linked to real people and places. The novella Carmen, the basis of Bizet’s famous opera, was written by the French novelist Prosper Mérimée in 1845 after a visit to Sevilla. He claimed it was a true story. Carmen, a beautiful Gypsy woman who worked in Sevilla’s cigar factory, was killed by her soldier lover Don José after betraying him for another.
The cigar factory, Real Fabrica de Tabacos, Calle San Fernando, is now Sevilla’s University. While there’s no formal tourist visit, you can stroll through its courtyard to relive the drama. In the 19th century, all the workers here were women, whose fingers were considered nimbler for rolling cigars. See Gonzalo Bilbao’s painting La Cigarreras at the Museo de Bellas Artes.
At its peak, the huge factory employed some 6,000 workers, and conditions were far from the romance of Mérimée’s imagination.
One of Seville's mostt famous citizens was a fictional characters, but she is linked to real people and places. The novella Carmen, the basis of Bizet’s famous opera, was written by the French novelist Prosper Mérimée in 1845 after a visit to Sevilla. He claimed it was a true story. Carmen, a beautiful Gypsy woman who worked in Sevilla’s cigar factory, was killed by her soldier lover Don José after betraying him for another.
The cigar factory, Real Fabrica de Tabacos, Calle San Fernando, is now Sevilla’s University. While there’s no formal tourist visit, you can stroll through its courtyard to relive the drama. In the 19th century, all the workers here were women, whose fingers were considered nimbler for rolling cigars. See Gonzalo Bilbao’s painting La Cigarreras at the Museo de Bellas Artes.
At its peak, the huge factory employed some 6,000 workers, and conditions were far from the romance of Mérimée’s imagination.
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