Cordoba

While the rest of Europe was languishing in the Dark Ages, Cordoba in Andalucia thrived.

In the 11th century, Cordoba was one of the most important capitals in Europe

People of the most diverse cultures and religions - Jews, Muslims and Christians - who lived and worked peacefully together.

Important philosophers, scientists and artists emerged from this awe inspiring city. It was a center of medicine, science, language, translation, art and manuscripts. The scholars of Andalusia - Christian, Muslim and Jew - worked together to produce a unique society that became a safeguard of learning for the Greeks and Romans.

The Islamic culture of al-Andalus was adopted by Christians and Jews living in the kingdom. This culture continued even after the Moorish caliphate fell to Catholic rule.

The capital of this enlightened empire, until its fall in 1236, was Cordoba.

As the capital of the most powerful kingdom in Islam, Cordoba contained more than half a million people, thousands of mosques, tens of thousands of shops and libraries boasting hundreds of thousands of volumes. Its luxury goods were coveted all over Europe.

The palaces and baths of Cordoba were renowned for their opulence and the city was the first in Europe to install street lighting. Students and merchants visited from Europe, Africa and Asia and this cosmopolitan city dominated Andalusia for three centuries.

Cordoba's charm, many centuries later, is still largely tied to its Moorish and Arab past. Cordoba has a beauty and a rhythm of its own - part Moorish, part Gypsy and part Spanish.

As you wander down its picturesque and evocative streets in the restored heart of Cordoba - one of the largest medieval quarters in Europe - it is not difficult to imagine the days when Cordoba was one of the most important cities on the European map. Its citizens included Muslim scientist and philosopher Averroes and Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonedes (whose synagogue still stands).

The Great Mosque - (partly destroyed to construct a large cathedral inside) is one of the world's best known pieces of religious architecture. It is a vast forest of hundreds of delicate marble columns and elegant arches. Its mihrab - the niche which denotes the direction of Mecca - is a brilliant and rich composition of mosaics sent as a gift by the Emperor of Byzantium.

Cordoba's large Juderia has been recently restored and is now filled with charming shops and cafes. For those interested in Jewish heritage, the tiny jewel-like medieval synagogue (the one in which Maimonedes prayed) is one of only three remaining synagogues in Spain from before the Expulsion of 1492.

Medinat az-Zahara was a 10th century palace of unimaginable luxury outside Cordoba. Its opulence awed and inspred its visitors.

One chronicler records an ambassador being taken the eight kilometers from Cordoba to Medinat al-Zahara, finding his path covered in carpets from one end to the other and lined with maidens holding parasols and refreshments. Another chronicler wrote of crystal columns and domes and of walls made of falling water. Another fountain was made of flowing mercury - a liquid mirror.

Although only a few ruins remain (its columns were carried as far away as Marrakech), it is worth the short trip (don't expect the carpet and parasols though!).

Cordoba is also very lively town steeped in Andalucian tradition; a town of Flamenco, Bull fighting and undoubtedly one of the most attractive destinations in southern Spain.

Places of interest in Cordoba

La "Mezquita"

British author Gerald Brenan wrote about this impressive Arabian mosque, the third-biggest in the world with a surface area of more than 23,000 m2, calling it one of the most beautiful and original buildings in all of Spain.

The Mezquita brought life to the Califal style, combining Roman, Gothic, Byzantine, Syrian and Persian architecture and was the starting-point for all Arabian-Hispanic architecture for centuries to come, right up to the Mudejar-style of Arabians living in a Spain re-conquered by the Christians.

Caliph Abderraman I built the colossal hall, containing of 11 naves and consisting of 110 columns, the capitals of which were taken from old Roman and Byzantine buildings. Above, there is a second row of arcs (then an architectural novelty) that created a unique ambience of light and shadow.

Abderraman II added 8 more arcs in 833 with columns of white marble taken from the Roman amphitheater of Merida.

In 961 Alhakem II built the minaret Mihrab and the Kliba with its cupola of entangled arcs, both being amongst the major attractions today. The most recent and important enlargement was made in 987 by Caliph Alamanzor, which doubled the original size of the mosque, adding columns of blue and red marble. As the enlargement could be made only towards the West, the river Guadalquivir in the South and the palace of the Caliph in the East being very close, the mosque of Cordoba is the only one that doesn't have the Mihrab as its central point. The other pecuiarity is that it is not orientated towards Mecca, but towards Damascus - perhaps because of nostalgic feelings of Abderraman I, who expressed in his poetry how much he was missing the mosques of his home-town.

The Cathedral of Cordoba

When the Christians reconquered Cordoba in 1236, they consecrated the mosque to become a Christian cathedral.

In the 13th century the first modifications were made and the Royal Chapel, Capilla Real, was added. In 1523 the Catholic Church and King Charles V put through, against the will of the town's administration, the building of a Christian cathedral inside the original mosque. The work took 234 years to complete and the original Gothic style is thus combined with Baroque and Renaissance elements. Remarkable sights are the Cardinal's Chapel and its treasure including the Enrique de Arfe (Enrique de Colonia), an ivory crucifix of Alonso Cano and also important sculptures and paintings.

Around the Mezquita:

Archiepiscopal Palais

In its interior there rests the palace of the epoch of the Goths which later became Alcazar Califal, palace of the Arabian Caliph. This palace was abandoned when the court changed to Medina-Azahara, but served again as a residence for the Kings of Taifas.

Puerta del Puente

This door was originally part of the Arabian walls, but later modified in the Renaissance style.

Puente Romano

A Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir river consisting of 16 arcs and once forming part of the Roman Via Augusta. In the central part of the bridge a monument to San Rafael was added, the town's patron in the 17th century.

Torre de Calahorra

An Arabian fortification at the Southern end of Puente Romano, originally consisting of two towers and connected by an arc to which a third tower was added by the 14th century.

Along the river there are Moorish mills, the most important of which is the Mill of Albolafia, which pumped water up to the gardens of the Alcazar. Vis-a-vis there is a Baroque monument to San Rafael of 1781.

Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos - The palace of the Christian Kings

Built in 1328 by Alfonso XI, this was the main residence until the reconquest of Granada.

The Moorish Caliph Boabdil was held prisoner here. In the interior of the palace there are remarkable Arabian baths, Roman mosaics and a sarcophagus of of marble from the 3rd century. Originally there were four towers at the corners of the Alcazar, three of which can still be seen today: the Torre de Los Leones, the oldest, which forms the entrance to the palace, the octagonal Torre del Homenaje and the round Torre del Rio. The fourth tower, Torre de la Vela, was destroyed in 19th century.

La Juderia

The Jewish quarter, going back to the time of the Romans and Goths, was always an important cultural and intellectual center. Monuments remind to the most important sons of Cordoba: Roman philosopher Seneca , Arabian philosopher Averroes and Jewish philosopher Maimonides.

Here you can find also one of the few synagogues existing today in Spain, this one built in 1315. Close to it there is the Bullfight-Museum. In the Zoco you can find traditional artisany and in summer watch Flamenco performances.

Further attractions are the Chapel of San Bartolome in Gothic-Mudejar style, the Casa del Indiano and the 11th century minarets which today form part of Iglesia de San Juan and Convento de Santa Clara, respectively. In Calle de Comedias there are old Arabian baths.

Museums of Cordoba

The Archaeological Museum

Inside of an Renaissance palace and specially interesting for the old-iberian Lion of Nueva Cartella, the Roman Head of Drusus, the visigothic Treasure of Donjimeno and the Arabian bronze Stag of Medina Azahara.

The Museum of Arts

In the interior of the old Hospital de la Caridad de los Reyes Catolicos, there is an important collection of paintings and sculptures from Zurbaran, Murillo, Goya, Sorolla and Mateo Inurria among others.

The Museum of Julio Romero de Torres

A museum dedicated to this painter, who is known specially for his pictures of the Woman from Cordoba.

The Palace of Viana

Contains an extraordinary collection of furniture, tapestries, porcelains, ceramics and paintings and a cynegetic library of over 7000 volumes. The building itself impresses with its 14 courtyards with beautiful gardens.

The Central Squares

Of particular interest to visitors are the Plaza de las Tendillas (the central square in the town with a clock that sounds like a guitar), the Plaza de la Corredera, where in the 17th century bullfights took place and the Plaza del Potro (widely known from Cervante's Don Quijote)

The Roman Ruins