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# The wooden crocodile in Seville Cathedral, a gift from the Egyptian sultan to Alfonso X
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-sevilskom-sobore-samom-vmestitelnom-goticheskom-khrame-evropy-visit-krokodil/
- Published: 2021-09-27T15:43:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:06:45.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Architecture, Faith, The East, Humour

In Seville Cathedral, the largest Gothic church in Europe, there hangs a crocodile. There are, of course, many treasures and relics there, such as paintings by Velázquez, Goya and Murillo and the sarcophagus of Christopher Columbus, but the crocodile is the most memorable of them all. Not a real one, alas, but a wooden effigy, accurate by medieval standards. It hangs by the gate named in its honour, the Gate of the Lizard.

The crocodile was brought in the 13th century as a gift to King Alfonso X from the Egyptian sultan. When the reptile died, it was made into a stuffed specimen, though not altogether successfully: by the 16th century it had rotted, and the croc was replaced.

Incidentally, among the Egyptian gifts were an elephant's tusk, which still hangs nearby, and a live giraffe.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_5102@27-09-2021_18-43-48.jpg)