CORDOBA

1. Mosque of Cordoba

The Mosque of Córdoba is a mixture of overlapping architectural styles, which occurred throughout the nine centuries that construction and renovations lasted.The Mosque of Córdoba, located in the historic center of the city, is one of the most beautiful examples of Muslim art in Spain.

It was the Muslim emir Abderrahman I who ordered the temple to be built in the year 785 on the remains of the ancient Visigothic church of San Vicente. In later centuries, the mosque underwent successive expansions. Abderrahman III ordered the construction of a new minaret, while in 961 Alhaken II widened the floor of the building and decorated the mihrab. The last of the reforms would be carried out by Almanzor in 987. As a result, the interior appearance is that of a labyrinth of columns of great beauty, with double arches and a horseshoe arch. In 1523, after the Christian conquest, the cathedral was built inside, which highlights the main altarpiece, the baroque altarpiece and the mahogany wood choir stalls. The mihrab is one of the most important in the Muslim world, being the most noble piece of the mosque. The decoration is Byzantine mosaic and carved marble. The Patio de los Naranjos is the access to the enclosure.

2.Medina Azahara

Caliph Abd al-Rahman III was a great cultural promoter and a skillful politician who made his domains the most prosperous in the West of his time, comparable only to Baghdad and Byzantium. The floor plan of Medina Azahara is almost rectangular. It was built on stepped terraces that took advantage of the slope of the mountain. Each terrace was separated from the others using walls that divided the city into 3 parts. The royal Alcázar is located in the uppermost and intermediate areas, while the lower area was reserved for homes and the mosque, built outside the walls. Remains of plinths, paintings and columns in the Composite and Corinthian styles are still preserved. It is an unavoidable visit to walk through its 2 restored rooms. It was declared a National Monument in 1923.

To complete the visit, the archaeological complex has an interpretation center that serves as the starting point of the tour. The building is located underground, emulating an archaeological site, and has a museum collection on the most relevant periods of Medina Azahara. The visit to the interpretation center lasts about an hour, includes audiovisual projections and continues with the visit to the archaeological site

3.Castle of the Christian Monarchs

The Alcázar (castle) of Cordoba, with its thick defensive walls, served both as a fortress and a palace, and is a perfect illustration of the development of Cordoban architecture through the ages. Roman and Visigoth ruins lie side by side with Arabic remains in this magnificent building, which was once the favourite residence of the different rulers of the city. However, when Cordoba was taken by Fernando III «the Saint» in 1236, the former Caliphal Palace was in a pitiful, ruinous state. Alfonso X «the Wise» began the restoration work, which was finished off during the reign of Alfonso XI. It has fulfilled many different functions over the years, such as Headquarters of the Inquisition, or a prison (first half of the 20th century).

At first sight, one of the most surprising features of the fortress is its almost rectangular shape with its long walls made of solid blocks of stone (ashlars) and four corner towers (the tower of the Lions, the main keep, the tower of the Inquisition and the tower of the Doves). Inside, the different halls are distributed around courtyards with an exotic array of flowers, aromatic herbs and mature trees. Both rooms and corridors are covered by stone cupolas in Gothic style.

In one of the galleries leading to the halls, there is a Roman sarcophagus on display, a pagan work dating from the early 3rd Century, on the front of which there is a sculpture in relief depicting the journey of the dead to the underworld through a half-opened door.

The most interesting hall is the small Baroque chapel, the Hall of the Mosaics, where a series of Roman mosaics, discovered underneath the Corredera, are displayed around the walls. Below this hall are the baths, built in Arabic style, which are divided into three rooms with vaulted ceilings containing the familiar star-shaped openings. The boiler which provided water for the baths was situated below the Main Keep.

There are two courtyards, but the one in Mudejar style is by far the most attractive. The cool marble floors and the murmur of water, running down the channels and into the ponds, refreshes the hot summer air and soothes the weary visitor’s spirits. The spacious gardens, stretching out to the west, give this Alcázar, or castle, an air of monumental grandeur.

4. Roman bridge of Córdoba

When the Muslims conquered the city of Cordoba and settled there in the year 93 AH/712, they found traces of a stone arch in it, indicating that it had been a great and exalted arch before its collapse. This arch was located above its flowing river, known as the Wadi el-Kébir River, or the Beti River, on several corners of the pillars, of which only traces remained, at the time of the conquest. It linked the city of Cordoba with its tribal region, located on the southern bank of the Guadalquivir, which runs through Andalusia from east to west, slanting towards the south, before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Cordoba Bridge, which is the metaphor used by the Great Railway or the Great Path and the pillar of urban expansion in Cordoba itself ([2]) , was demolished, its arches fell, and its tops were erased, as a result of the storms and the tyranny of the river’s tide, over time, as it had no arches or balconies. And all that was left of it was its “legs and buttocks.” This dilapidated arch was, as the author of Fath al-Andalus said, “one of the foundations of the past, ruined nations ([3]) . Ibn Hayyan said: “It was said that there was a bridge in this place, built by the Persians, about two hundred years before the Muslim conquest ([4]) .”

As for the Spanish and Western references in general, as well as the contemporary Arabic references from which it was taken, it was determined that the Qantara was “of Roman origin ([5]) , meaning that it is one of the remains of the ruins of the Romans, who built it in ancient times, several centuries before the Islamic conquest of Andalusia. . It is said that the Roman Emperor Augustus, known as Caesar the Younger (63 BC - 14 AD), who is considered the actual founder of the Roman Empire, was the one who ordered its establishment, in the first century, BC  , within the framework of the Romans’ interest in the city of Cordoba. During their reign, it was the capital of the state of Lower Spain, known as Betica (My home to the Arabs).

The Qantara de Cordoba remained functioning until the end of the days of the Visigothic state ([7]) . It should be noted that the demolition of this bridge, at the time of the conquest, had delayed, for some time, the process of crossing the Muslim army, consisting of seven hundred knights, which was sent by Tariq bin Ziyad, after his victory over the Goths in the Battle of Wadi Lakka , to conquer Cordoba, led by Mughith Al-Ghassani, nicknamed Error in “Rumi”. However, the blunting of some parts of the western sector of the city wall, on the one hand, and the courage and strength of the Muslim conquerors, on the other hand, compensated for this.

This is because Mugheeth and his companions were able to cross the river on foot, on a rainy autumn night, during which the guards neglected to keep watch at night, fearing for themselves from the rain and cold, and then sneak into Cordoba, through a gap above the door of the southern wall of the city, facing the arch, and then storm. The city and its conquest by force ([8]) . There was also, at the time of the conquest, a huge and high impenetrable wall surrounding the city of Cordoba. However, this wall, which still maintained its grandeur and magnificence, in general, was at that time hacked and vandalized in some of its western parts, and this indicates the decline in the status of Cordoba, in the Gothic era, from what it was in previous eras, especially since it became subordinate to Toledo, the capital. Goths  .

5. Calahorra Tower

At the southern end of the Roman Bridge stands the Calahorra Tower of Cordoba, an ancient defensive fortress which is mentioned in a number of Arab sources on “Al-Andalus” , as well as historical records ever since the Christian conquest of Cordoba. Its architecture reflects the successive renovations made to the tower. The horseshoe archway serves as an additional entrance gate, and its rectangular enclosure flanked by towers was rebuilt in the 12th century.

In the early 20th century, the tower was declared a historic-artistic monument. After different uses over the years, it currently hosts the Living Museum of al-Andalus, which celebrates the period when the Jewish, Christian and Muslim cultures lived in peaceful coexistence in the city.

6. Alley of the Flowers

In the Heart of the Jewish Quarter, not far from the Mosque-Cathedral, we find this charming little street, which everyone who visits Cordoba comes to see. The narrow alleyway leads up a gentle slope to open out onto a small square. Flowers fill the balconies, with their wrought-iron window grilles, filling the air with pleasant scent, to the delight of visitors. A fountain graces one side of the square, and there is a fine view of the bell-tower of the Mosque-Cathedral.

7. AVERROES

It must be clarified that Averroes is the Latinization by which he is known, his real name being Abu I-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Rushd. He was born in Córdoba in 1126 and died in Marrakech in 1198. His studies and work will be related to fields as diverse as philosophy , law , medicine , mathematics or astronomy.

Both he and his father and grandfather held administrative positions in the Almoravid and Almohad periods in cities such as Seville, Córdoba and Morocco. Within his studies within the philosophical field, he would write a book in which he would defend the Aristotelian theory , strongly attacked by those who claimed that this philosophical theory went against the Islamic religion. His writings on this subject would be translated into Hebrew a century after his death and would influence Christian thought in the Middle Ages.

8.The Municipal Souk of Artisans

One of the most significant parts of the urban configuration of Islamic cities is the place where commerce takes place. As we know, Córdoba is one of the cities in Western Europe where Muslims left a clearer mark in the past, and, logically, it had its market. Precisely, the Spanish word zoco originates from the Arabic word suq , which means market . And perhaps to continue maintaining the ancestral use of the place, located next to the mosque , it was decided to create a place in its surroundings to promote traditional Cordoban crafts

As a hidden passageway, access to the Casa de las Bulas is directly through a narrow alley, framed by three half arches. The building, two stories high, is supported by load-bearing walls and arched porticos on pilasters and columns, and has bays around the patios. A kind of plaza-patio is thus constituted, in which the main structuring patio, with a rectangular plan and double height, has four galleries with arches framed by alfiz and supported by columns and capitals. Regarding its double height, the lower one has porticoed galleries on three of its sides, with the access staircase to the second floor being on the fourth side. The upper part only has two galleries, since the third corresponds to one of the rooms of the Bullfighting Museum .

9.Andalusian House

The Casa Andalusí is not just a museum. It is an experience for all the senses, a way of understanding life. Magic surrounds the house, its patios, the flowers, the water; dance through the corners with a harmonious rhythm between history, art and culture with oriental perfumes.

The fusion between East and West, creator of refined beauty, lives inside our walls. It transports us to the times of the Caliphate and invites us to immerse ourselves in our historical memory to find ourselves through all the senses.

Playgrounds

Music, water and aroma

The patio, an oasis of freshness, whose jet of water falls like a palm branch bending to the rhythm of the melody of the columns that surround it, as if the living fountain of water had generated the curve of all the arches making a circle around it. mother.

The walk through this house teaches us how relationships are established between public space, the street, and private space in Hispanic/Muslim society. Once inside we found the hallway, a neutral, transitional space, where visitors could wait for the owner of the house without penetrating his privacy.

Paper Museum

The origin of knowledge

The manufacture of paper in Caliphate Córdoba is one of the most interesting elements that we will find on the tour, the elements of the process of making this material have been compiled and shown, from the preparation of the paper pulp from of rags until the last satin processes of the leaves. In addition, the exhibition of these traditional industry objects is accompanied by a projection of images referring to this entire complex paper manufacturing process.

Collection

of Al-Andalus coins

History can be experienced in very different ways. The collection of gold, silver and bronze coins allows the visitor to travel back to the different moments in which Muslim culture was present in Al-Andalus and delve a little deeper into history with these magnificent objects.

These valuable archaeological treasures are part of one of the most important numismatic series in the History of Spain. Discover the history of money and Al-Andalus from another perspective thanks to our precious collection.

10.Corredera Square

Archaeological excavations have unearthed a series of wonderful mosaics from the Roman period, which are now on show in the Castle of the Christian Monarchs. The present-day square is rectangular with arched porticos running around the ground floor, designed in the style of the old city squares of Castille, of which it is the only one of its kind in Andalusia. It was used in olden days as a bullring, and to this day there is a street named Toril (Bulls’ enclosure). T

he square has seen everything, from autos de fe and public addresses to public executions during the French Invasion, and now contains a number of cafes and restaurants, as well as hosting a Medieval Market in the month of January

11.Jewish Quarter

The Jewish Quarter or Judería, where Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together for centuries, is the oldest and most important neighborhood to visit in Córdoba , which as you can see, is one of the most beautiful cities in Spain .
Of Roman origin, this neighborhood is made up of a labyrinth of narrow streets with an Islamic layout that will take you back several centuries and go from the Almodóvar Gate to the Mosque-Cathedral.
Among its most interesting places are the Synagogue, free entry and one of the only three preserved in Spain from that time; the Municipal Souk, a beautiful Arab-looking market with several craft workshops, and the Casa Andalusí, a 12th century al-Andalus home.
You can start the tour along Calleja de las Flores, then passing through Calleja del Pañuelo, one of the narrowest in the city and visit Calleja del Salmorejo Cordobés, dedicated to its most typical dish, and Calleja de la Hoguera, full of charming corners.

Of course there are a lot of interesting places left. If you have enough time and want to explore the city, don't forget to take ask us. As always, if you have questions, we are here!