Driving from Granada to Córdoba (201kms) we cross the very fertile Andalusian plain. The intensive use of the land is noticeable, with every possible square metre taken up with olive trees or huge fields of a green crop that could be sunflowers or canola.
Our hotel is right in the centre of the Old Town, directly opposite the wall of the Mosque-Cathedral. We drive through pedestrian streets, but luckily they are wide! Once parked and checked in we go out for a walk. It is about 5pm. The Calle de Fiori and a recipe for Salmorejo.
We decided to go to an exhibition of Andalusian horse riding, with flamenco. No photos allowed of the event, sadly. It is held in the Royal Stables, as the building next door is the Alcazar (palace) of Córdoba, the Royal Palace. It was pretty good too, though I could have done without the flamenco!
We had dinner at a fabulous restaurant, then home for a sleep before our 4-hour tour at 10am!
We started the tour at the Roman Bridge. Although this bridge has been extensively changed, it is called the Roman Bridge because the footings are of Roman workmanship.
We then went to the Alcazar de los Reyes Christianos, which was the palace of Ferdinand and Isabella in Córdoba. It was here that they rejected Columbus' request for funds to look for another way to the East Indies (and it was in the Alhambra in Granada that they finally said OK).
It was originally a Visigoth fortress, then with later comstruction became the home of the Ummayad Emirate, which eventually became the Caliphate of Córdoba. It was established with large gardens, baths, and the largest library in the west. Watermills from the near large river, the Guadalquiver, brought water to the extensive gardens. In 1236 Christian forces took Córdoba during the Reconquista (historically Córdoba represents an earlier part of Moorish Spain, with Seville next and Granada as the last of the Moorish kingdoms to survive). It became the headquarters of the Spanish Inquisition under Isabel and Ferdinand in 1482, which converted much of it into torture and interrogation chambers. Boabdil, the last Moorish ruler of Granada, was held prisoner here until he agreed to make Granada a tributary state. Napoleon garrisoned his troops here in 1810, and in 1821 it became a prison. A lot of history for one building!!! The gardens are amazing!!!
The exterior
The walls of the main hall, now used for weddings, are covered in mosaics which were discovered at the nearby Plaza de la Corredera.
The Courtyard of the Women, named for this courtyard's use as the women's prison during the Inquisition.
Then to the gardens. There are 3 main gardens here, the Higher garden
The pools of the Middle Garden
The pools of the Lower Garden, looking back towards the castle
The Promenade of Kings
Other gardens in the lower garden
Then we left the Alcazar for a tour of the Jewish Quarter. It is pretty well peserved (though small) and is a UNESCO WOrld Heritage Site. Some of the large houses of rich Jews have been turned into hotels, and you can peek through the doorways and see what is inside. The Jews were established in Córdoba in Visigoth and Roman times. Originally this section of the city was separated by a wall from the rest of the city, and all the Jews lived here. But after 1260 they began to move out into the city and lived in various parts of Cordoba. These Jews of Córdoba are known as Sephardic Jews, after the Jewish name for Spain - Sefarad. They were finally expelled from Spain in 1492 after the Reconquista.
The statue above is of the Jewish philosopher and Astronomer Maimonides, born in 1135 or 1138.and it is good luck to rub his shoees, which is why they are so shiny.
Then we visited the Jewish Synagogue, very reminiscent of a Moorish mosque. It is one of only 3 remaining in Spain. It dates from 1315 and was converted into a church in 16thC. The interior includes a gallery for women and plaster work with inscriptions from Hebrew Psalms. In the arch a chest with the Holy Scrolls of Law were kept, and the books of the Torah.
Then we went to the artisans court or souk, the earliest known example of an area given over to a market for artisan products, as the Jews were the great silver and gold smiths of Spain, as well as pottery, and leather, metal and wood work. Each of the archways in the photo, both downstairs and up, contain workshops.
Look at the woven mats used as blinds! You wet these in summer and then the air entering the house is cooled as it enters. Ingenious!! We saw these in so many places!
Then we went to the Mosque-Cathedral. Also known as the Mezquite, The Great Mosque of Córdoba, and as the Cathedral of Our Lade of the Assumption. Begun in 785, and last date of work was 16thC as a cathedral. A UNESCO World Heritage Site. Worth coming to Córdoba to see.
The Great Mosque was constructed in 785 on the orders of Abd ar-Rahman I when Córdoba was the capital of the Arab controlled Al-Andalus. It was expanded multiple times up to the late 10thC. The mosque was converted to a cathedral in 1236 when the Castillians captured Córdoba during the Reconquista. Not much happened until the 16thC when a Renaissance nave and transept were inserted into the centre of the building. The former minaret (958) was converted into a bell tower.
You enter the walls and are in an orange grove. Formerly, this was full of wells and channels of water for performing the ablutions before entering the Mosque. The covered arches on the right wold have been open archways, perhaps covered by a cloth, because the mosque was an open place of worship, and also contained schools and areas for discussing the Koran. The arches were blocked up by Christians as their religion is a private and personal one (so said our guide).
When you go inside, the guide lets you free for 10 minutes to absorb the wonder and take photos. You need it: this is the most amazing place I've ever seen.
This is what I see on my right
and on my left
The remains of the Visigoth church have been located under the current building, with a mosaic floor (this is subject to fierce debate by scholars as to whether it was the original church or just part of a set of ecclesiastical buildings).
Here is a map of the mosque showing the additions by later Emirs:
(By Azahara22(Revised by R Prazeres) - Wiki Commons: Plano de la Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97530555)
So we started off in the oldest part of the mosque. An interesting fact before you read what Wikipedia has to say, is that the mosque does not face towards Mecca, but rather to Damascus.
Wikipedia: "The Great Mosque was built in the context of the new Umayyad Emirate in Al-Andalus which Abd ar-Rahman I founded in 756. Abd ar-Rahman was a fugitive and one of the last remaining members of the Umayyad royal family which had previously ruled the first hereditary caliphate based in Damascus, Syria. This Umayyad Caliphate was overthrown during the Abbasid Revolution in 750 and the ruling family were nearly all killed or executed in the process. Abd ar-Rahman survived by fleeing to North Africa and, after securing political and military support, took control of the Muslim administration in the Iberian Peninsula from its governor, Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri. Cordoba was already the capital of the Muslim province and Abd ar-Rahman continued to use it as the capital of his independent emirate.
Construction of the mosque began in 785 (169 AH) and finished in 786 (170 AH). This relatively short period of construction may have been aided by the reuse of existing Roman and Visigothic materials in the area, especially columns and capitals. Syrian (Umayyad), Visigothic, and Roman influences have been noted in the building's design, but the architect is not known."
Examples of mismatched columns - different capitals, different footongs, different colours:
This is the second and third extensions of the mosque, the extensions under Abd ar-Rahman II and al_Hakam II. Now the columns match in colour and capitals:
More from Wikipedia:
"Abd ar Rahman III's son and successor, Al-Hakam II, was a cultured man who was involved in his father's architectural projects. During his own reign, starting in 961, he further expanded the mosque's prayer hall. The hall was extended 45 meters to the south by adding 12 more bays (arches), again repeating the double-tiered arches of the original design. This expansion is responsible for some of the mosque's most significant architectural flourishes and innovations."
"At the beginning of al-Hakam's extension, the central "nave" of the mosque was highlighted with an elaborate ribbed dome (now part of the Capilla da Villaviciosa). More famously, a rectangular maqsura area around the mosque's new mihrab was distinguished by a set of unique interlacing multifoil arches."
"The rectangular area within this, in front of the mihrab, was covered by three more decorative ribbed domes. The domes and the new mihrab niche were finished in 965, and an inscription records the names of four of its craftsmen. "
"Soon after this date both the middle dome of the maqsura and the wall surfaces around the mihrab were covered in rich Byzantine-influenced gold mosaics. According to traditional accounts like that of Ibn 'Idhari, Al-Hakam II had written to the Byzantine emperor (initially Nikephoros II Phokas) in Constantinople requesting that he send him expert mosaicists for the task. The emperor consented and sent him a master craftsman along with about 1600 kg of mosaic tesserae as a gift. The mosaicist trained some of the caliph's own craftsmen, who eventually became skilled enough to do the work on their own. The work was finished by this team in late 970 or early 971."
Wikipedia: "The mosque's last significant expansion under Muslim rule was ordered by Al-Mansur (Almanzor), the autocratic vizier of Caliph Hisham II, in 987–988. Rather than extending the mosque further south, which would have been impossible due to the proximity of the riverbank, Al-Mansur had the mosque extended laterally towards the east, extending both the courtyard and the prayer hall by 47.76 meters and adding eight naves to the mosque. Once again, the same design of double-tiered arches was replicated in the new construction. The capitals produced for the hundreds of new columns, however, have a simpler and less detailed design that may reflect the hurry in which they were produced." and you can see the shoddiness of the work here in the faded red and white of the arches:
One last good view of the mosque..
Conversion to a Cathedral. For some reason the christian kings decided to build a cathedral INSIDE the mosque.
By Américo Toledano - Wiki Commons: Floor plan of Mosque of Córdoba.svg, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=97251912
Here is a video of the cathedral within the mosque. You can just see the main alter towards the end of the video, the golden thing.
There's a fantastic choir section, carved by a master craftsman over 26 years, in mahogany
Each one of the stalls is unique, with different carvings
and above the seats are carvings of all the saints of Córdoba - I think there are 47 of them - and how they were martyred. This fellow was hanged, see the body on a tree behind him, and the other one was decapitated.
The bell tower exit
We then had an indifferent lunch of local specialties and left beautiful Córdoba for Seville!