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The Barrio de Santa Cruz is a labyrinth of narrow streets and alleys dating back to the old judería. These narrow streets provide protection from the oppressive sun of the Sevillian summer. Scattered through the neighborhood are several plazas or squares. Among these are the aforementioned Plaza de Santa Cruz, the Plaza de los Venerables, the Plaza de las Cruces, the Plaza de Doña Elvira, and the Plaza de los Refinadores. The Plaza de Santa Cruz, on the site of an old parish church and an older synagogue, has at its center an elaborate 17th century wrought iron cross, the Cruz de la Cerrajería ("Locksmith's Cross"). The Plaza de los Venerables is full of bars and terraces. Its name is believed to come from the onetime Hospital para Venerables Sacerdotes; it may have been the birthplace of Don Juan Tenorio. The tiny Plaza de las Cruces, has three columns, each topped by a cross. The elegant Plaza de Doña Elvira, with its azulejos (tiles), orange trees, fountains, and brick-and-tile benches, once a corral de comedias (a type of open-air theater), is the supposed birthplace of Don Juan Tenorio's impossible love, the mythical Doña Inés de Ulloa, daughter of Don Gonzalo. The Plaza de los Refinadores has a graceful sculpture of Don Juan.
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