This tower - the Tower of Gold - is one of the great emblematic monuments of Seville and rises alongside the Paseo de Colon. It is a twelve-sided building, an old Almohad stronghold, built at the beginning of the thirteenth century of stone and brick. Originally, it was used to control use of the river by means of a chain connected to the other side. When the troops of Fernando III managed to cut the chain, it meant the city had fallen. Following the discovery of America, the Torre del Oro monitored the arrival and departure of ships to the New World. Indeed there are those who believe that the Tower got its name because of the quantities of gold and silver that passed through its doors. Today the Tower is a naval museum and its two floors offer exhibitions of maps, models and navigation devices from the past five hundred years.