Gezicht op de Guadalquivir met boten en de Torre del Oro in Sevilla 1862 - 1876

Jean Andrieu captured this view of Seville's Guadalquivir River and the Torre del Oro with photography in the 19th century. The tower, a sentinel on the river, echoes fortifications from ages past, evoking both protection and the potential for conflict. Towers, as symbols, have a deep resonance in our collective psyche. Think of the Tower of Babel, or a chess piece, these are visual symbols representing barriers, defense, or ambition. They’re also often phallic symbols, representing masculine power. Consider how medieval artists depicted the Virgin Mary sheltered in a tower, a visual metaphor for purity and inaccessibility. The recurrence of such imagery reveals a recurring human impulse: to project our desires and fears onto the architecture around us. These projections influence our emotional and psychological response, tapping into deep-seated notions of security, authority, and the unknown. In each epoch, symbols are reborn, retaining echoes of the past, while adapting to reflect our evolving world.