The Mall of Hercules is a large public garden located in the historic center of Seville, and its age (1574) ranks as the oldest public garden of Spain and Europa.Este large garden is the largest public spaces located inside the old city. It is located on the northern edge of the walled city, near the Guadalquivir River on one side and near the neighborhood of the Macarena on the other. This garden was taken as a model for other cities on both sides of the Atlantic. It inspired the malls of San Pablo de Ecija (1578), the Mall of  the Descalzos, Lima (1611) and the Mall Central in Mexico City (1592)

History

Mall  history began when he decided to drain the old bed of a retail arm of the river Guadalquivir, an area which, from the Barqueta, crossed the town walls, as extended in time Almoravid (s. XI) and reached the neighborhood Arenal. The wilderness area of the former course was taken after the Alameda, the Plaza Nueva and numerous roads and buildings. In 1574 the Count of Barajas to canals drained the land where the mall would be built, which were often inundated with water that collects here the frequent overflowing of the river, remnants of public sources and sewage runoff also built a monumental gateway with two Roman columns, adorned it with statues and fountains, and populated with rows of trees. Appointed a bailiff to the monitor, entrusted the cleaning irrigation and water carriers who sold the water quality of sources, from the spring of the Archbishop. At one end were placed in 1574 two columns from a Roman temple, an unquestionable sign of admiration for the Roman archaeological sites, elements of a building still preserved in the Marble Street and there are still three more columns in that street . On them were placed two sculptures by Diego de Pesquera, of Hercules (the mythical founder of the city) and Julius Caesar (Híspalis restorer). The first was a copy of the Farnese Hercules, near the monumental size of the real Roman copy from the Baths of Caracalla. This copy, 1574, is the first large marble made in Europe Theban hero, which was so successful since its discovery (1546), most of the sculpture, which was incomplete due to lack of head ( appeared in a well in Trastevere, ca. 1550) and legs (which appeared in 1560 at the Baths of Caracalla) .
Despite the wall and drainage infrastructure undertaken, the Mall continued to be one of the most flooded areas of the city, because of its proximity to the river and its low altitude. For example in 1649, the fateful year of plague that ravaged Seville, it is reported that the Mall was so flooded that she sailed barcos.
The mall was transformed into the second half of the eighteenth century, when the sculptor Cayetano de Acosta made and erected at the other end of the ride other two pillars topped with lions and shields representing Spain and Seville.
It began holding local celebrations of the evening in San Juan and San Pedro, replacing the local celebrations of Corpus Christi. These new parties at the end of June, were the precedent of the famous local festivals after the April fair.
In 1876 the pedestals of the columns were protected from the public with gates. In 1885 he was placed next to the columns of a source of marble lions, popularly known as "La Pila del Pato, who was in the sixteenth century in the Plaza de San Francisco, behind City Hall. This was then transferred to another place in town and is currently in the plaza of San Leandro. In the late nineteenth century, the mall had its best to be converted into a full tour of small theaters, kiosks and stalls, which would disappear after the war Civil.
As important building is the Casa de las Sirenas, twentieth-century palace, now used as City Hall Civic Center, which hosts exhibitions, courses, workshops and cultural activities and neighborhood. In the vicinity of the mall, the street named after the Conde de Barajas, is also the home where he was born the romantic writer Gustavo Adolfo Becquer.
During the last quarter century, there was a market, and disappeared. Is lively evening drinks and dining area, being almost completely disappeared prostitution for which he was famous for a long time and which came to be counted 35 brothels, according to data from 1989.
In December 2008, formally ended a construction of urban redevelopment in this area. These works have caused a great disturbance of the remains of a historic garden, yet neglected, remained basically unchanged. In recent work has been restricted and vehicular traffic have been eliminated in the ring that covered the ground during the twentieth century and the gates that protected the public to the pedestals of the columns. It has also been built on the work missed Metro Station Project 1977, a reservoir for collecting rain water, popularly known as' Well of Storms "and several sources have been installed at the level of calle.