cordoba

While the rest of Europe was languishing during the Dark Ages, Andalusia (southern Spain) thrived. It was a center of medicine and science, language and translation, art and manuscripts. The scholars of Andalusia - Christian, Muslim and Jew - worked together to produce a unique society that became the safeguard of the learning of the Greeks and the 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 was a city of half a million people. It contained thousands of mosques, tens of thousands of shops and libraries which boasted hundreds of thousands of volumes. Its luxury goods were coveted all over Europe.

Its palaces and baths were renowned for their opulence and it had the first street lighting in Europe. Students and merchants came from all over Europe, Africa and even Asia to this cosmopolitan city which 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 Moor, 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 in Europe. Its citizens included Muslim scientist and philosopher Averroes and Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonedes (whose synagogue still stands).

Its 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 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 end 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!).

As impressive and surprising Cordoba presents itself to today's visitor, as impressive and surprising was its past. Not many know that in 11th century it was one of the most important capitals in Europe. People of the most different cultures and religions - Jews, Muslims and Christians - were living peacefully together, and important philosophers, scientists and artists emerged from here.

Knowing about Cordoba's cultural background you will certainly find interesting additional aspects when visiting its great monuments - first of all of course the world-famous Mezquita, the Moorish mosque - and museums.

On the other hand Cordoba is as well a very lively town in the best Andalusian tradition, a town of Flamenco and bullfighting, and certainly one of the most attractive destinations in southern Spain.

Places Of Interest in Cordoba

La "Mezquita"

British author Gerald Brenan called this impressive Arabian mosque, the third-biggest in the world with an extension of 23,000 square meters, the most beautiful and original building of all Spain.

This Mezquita initiated the so-called Califal style, which combined Roman, Gothic, Byzantine, Syrian and Persian elements and was the starting-point of all Arabian-Hispanic architecture of the centuries to come, up to the Mudejar-style of Arabians living in the Spain reconquered by Christians.

Caliph Abderraman I built the colossal hall, consisting of 11 naves with 110 columns, the capitals of which were taken from old Roman and Byzantine buildings. Above there is a second row of arcs, then an architectonic novelty, creating 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. Alhakem II built in 961 the minaret, Mihrab, and the Kliba with its cupola of entangled arcs in 961, both being among the major attractions today. The last an most important enlargement was made in 987 by caliph Alamanzor, doubling the original size of the mosque and adding columns of blue and red marble. As the enlargement could be made only towards 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 particularity 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 be the Christian cathedral. In 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 to build a Christian cathedral inside of the original mosque. Works took 234 years, so the original Gothic style is combined with Baroque and Renaissance elements. Remarkable are the Cardinal's Chapel and its treasure, including a monstrance of Enrique de Arfe, an ivory crucifix of Alonso Cano and important sculptures and paintings.

Around the "Mezquita":

Archiepiscopal Palais

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

Puerta del Puente

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

Puente Romano

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

Torre de Calahorra

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

Along the river there are rests of Moorish mills, most important being the mill of Albolafia, which was pumping 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, was residence until the reconquest of Granada. Here was kept prisoner the Moorish caliph Boabdil. In the interior of the palace there are remarkable Arabian baths, Roman mosaics and a sarcophagus of of marble from 3rd century. Originally there were four towers at the corners of the Alcazar, three of which can be seen still 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. More 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

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 Bronce-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, of Zurbaran, Murillo, Goya, Sorolla and Mateo Inurria among others.

The Museum of Julio Romero de Torres

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

The Palace of Viana

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

The Central Squares

Of interest for the visitor are certainly Plaza de las Tendillas, in fact the central square in town with its clock that sounds like a guitar, Plaza de la Corredera where in 17th century took place the bullfights and Plaza del Potro, known from Cervante's Don Quijote.

Roman Ruins

In Calle Claudio Marcelo there are rests of a Roman Temple, and, in the North-East of the town, there are more ruins close to the Tower of Malmuerte.

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