The myth of Don Juan and Doña Inés, immortalized by Don José Zorrilla in his play Don Juan Tenorio in 1844, dances through the minds of our visitors on every corner of Seville, and particularly in the Barrio Santa Cruz. In Zorrilla’s play, the love of Doña Inés, a convent novitiate, saves Don Juan from being dragged down to hell after seducing her and killing her father.

Don Juan Tenorio unfolds in Seville around 1545, and is the most popular and most often performed theater play in Spain.  It is traditionally performed on November 2, for the Fiesta de los Fieles Difuntos (Day of the Faithful Dead).

Some say Doña Inés de Ulloa might have been born in the Barrio de Santa Cruz, in the characteristic Plaza de Doña Elvira, and specifically in the house marked nº 6, today occupied by a well-known restaurant.

Zorrilla says of Doña Inés:

“she was the light whereof the Sun took his

most beautiful dove

deprived of freedom”

The story of Don Juan Tenorio was first recounted by Tirso de Molina in his famous play El Burlador de Sevilla in 1630, and in it the figure of Doña Inés is named Doña Ana de Ulloa.

There was a real family named Ulloa in Seville in the sixteenth century and it is possible there might have been a lady named Doña Inés de Ulloa who inspired the author.

“Yo mi alma he dado por ti,
y Dios te otorga por mí
tu dudosa salvación.
Misterio es que en comprensión
no cabe de criatura:

y sólo en vida más pura
los justos comprenderán
que el amor salvó a don Juan
al pie de la sepultura.”