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Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos
Just southwest of the Mezquita, the large Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos began as a palace and fort for Alfonso X in the 13th century. From 1490 to 1821 the Inquisition operated from here. Its gardens, full of fish ponds, fountains, orange trees, flowers and topiary, are among the most beautiful in Andalucía. The building houses an old royal bathhouse, the Baños Califales.
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Casa Andalusí
The Casa Andalusí is a 12th-century house decked out with exhibits on Córdoba's medieval Islamic culture, but also including a Roman mosaic in the cellar.
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Concurso de Patios Cordobeses
In the first half of May you'll notice 'patio' signs in the streets and alleyways, which means that you're invited to enter and view what are for the rest of the year closed to the outside world. At this time of year the patios are at their prettiest, and many are entered in an annual competition, the Concurso de Patios Cordobeses.
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Hammam Baños Árabes
Follow the lead of the medieval Cordobans and indulge your senses at the recently renovated Arab baths, where you pass between baths of different temperatures and can even enjoy an aromatherapy massage, tea, hookah and Arabic sweets. Swimming costumes are available to rent if you don't have your own.
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Judería
Jews were among the most dynamic citizens of Islamic Córdoba, holding posts as administrators, doctors, jurists and philosophers. The medieval Judería, extending northwest from the Mezquita almost to Avenida del Gran Capitán, is today a maze of narrow streets and small plazas, whitewashed buildings with flowery window boxes, and wrought-iron doorways giving glimpses of plant-filled patios.
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Medina Azahara
Legend has it that Abd ar-Rahman III built his palace-city, the Medina Azahara, for his favourite wife, Az-Zahra. Dismayed by her homesickness and yearning for the snowy mountains of Syria, ar-Rahman tuned into his poetic side; he surrounded his new city with almond and cherry trees, replacing snowflakes with fluffy white blossom.
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Mezquita
It's hard to exaggerate the beauty of the Córdoba mosque, one of the great creations of Islamic architecture, with its shimmering golden mosaics and rows of red-and-white-striped arches disappearing into infinity. Even the large numbers of tourists passing through the place today cannot destroy the mesmerising effect of the Mezquita's ever-changing perspectives and plays of light.
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Museo Arqueológico
Córdoba's excellent Museo Arqueológico, in a Renaissance mansion, provides a real insight into pre-Islamic Córdoba. A reclining stone lion takes pride of place in the Iberian section, and the Roman period is well represented from large mosaics and gladiatorial tombstones to elegant ceramics and tinted glass bowls. The upstairs is devoted to medieval Córdoba, including a graceful Byzantine bronze stag from Medina Azahara.
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Museo de Bellas Artes
The Museo de Bellas Artes, in the same building as the Museo Julio Romero de Torres, houses a collection mainly of Cordoban artists.
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Museo Diocesano
The Palacio Episcopal also houses the Museo Diocesano, which has a collection of religious art. The best of this art is some outstanding medieval woodcarving, including the 13th-century Virgen de las Huertas .
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Museo Julio Romero de Torres
A former hospital houses what is, surprisingly enough, Córdoba's most visited museum, the Museo Julio Romero de Torres, devoted to revered local painter Julio Romero de Torres. Romero de Torres specialised in sensual portraits of Cordoban women - voyeuristic eroticism to some, the quintessence of all things Andalucian to others.
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Museo Taurino
The Museo Taurino celebrates Córdoba's legendary toreros, with rooms dedicated to El Cordobés and Manolete, and even the forlorn, pegged-out hide of Islero, the bull that fatally gored the revered Manolete in 1947.
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Palacio de Viana
Some 500m north of Plaza de la Corredera is the stunning Renaissance Palacio de Viana, which has 12 beautiful patios and a formal garden that are a real pleasure to visit in the spring. The palace was occupied by the Marqueses de Viana until a couple of decades ago. The charge covers a one-hour guided tour of the rooms (packed with art and antiques) and access to the patios and garden. It takes about half an hour to stroll around the garden and patios.
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Palacio Episcopal
Opposite the Mezquita and next door to the regional tourist office is the Palacio Episcopal, now a conference centre but originally the old Hospital of San Sebastian. A lovely Isabelline-style villa with an internal patio, the palace stages exhibitions, often of regional pottery, to which admission is free if you have a Mezquita ticket. It also houses the Museo Diocesano
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Patios
For centuries, Córdoba's beautiful leafy patios have provided shade during the searing heat of summer, a haven of peace and quiet, and a place to talk and entertain. They probably originated with the Romans, and the tradition was continued by the Arabs, with the happy addition of a central fountain.
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Plaza de la Corredera
North of Plaza del Potro is the grand 17th-century Plaza de la Corredera, a square with an elaborate history of public entertainment and gory showbiz. This was the site of Córdoba's Roman amphitheatre (where, no doubt, gladiator blood was spilled), and the location for horse races, violent bullfights and horrific Inquisition burnings.
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Plaza de las Tendillas
The main square of modern Córdoba is Plaza de las Tendillas, 500m north of the Mezquita.
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Posada del Potro
Córdoba's famous Plaza del Potro (Square of the Colt) has in its centre a lovely 16th-century stone fountain topped by a rearing potro (colt) that gave the plaza its name. The plaza is home to an attractive old charity hospital that houses two of the city's most visited museums, the Museo Julio Romero de Torres and the Museo de Bellas Artes. The square's heyday was in the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was the gathering ground for traders, vagabonds and adventurers.
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Puente Romano
Just south of the Mezquita, the much-restored Puente Romano crosses the Guadalquivir. Just downstream, near the northern bank, is a restored Islamic water wheel.
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Sinagoga
The beautiful little 14th-century Sinagoga is one of Spain's very few surviving medieval synagogues. It retains its upstairs women's gallery, and Hebrew inscriptions and intricate Mudéjar patterns in stucco.
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The Cathedral
For three centuries following the Reconquista (Reconquest) in 1236, the Mezquita remained largely unaltered save for minor modifications such as the Mudejar tiling added in the 1370s to the Mozarabic and Almohad Capilla Real (located nine bays north and one east of the mihrab, and now part of the cathedral).
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The Mihrab & Maksura
Like Abd ar-Rahman II a century earlier, Al-Hakim lengthened the naves of the prayer hall, creating a new mihrab at the south end of the central nave. The bay immediately in front of the mihrab and the bays to each side form the maksura, the area where the caliphs and their retinues would have prayed (now enclosed by railings).
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The Patio de los Naranjos & Minaret
The Patio de los Naranjos & Minaret Outside the mosque, the leafy, walled courtyard and its fountain were the site of ritual ablutions before prayer, while the arcaded walls would have seen much of the ancient city's hustle and bustle. The crowning glory of the whole complex was the minaret, which at its peak towered 48m (only 22m of the minaret still survives) and allowed the call to prayer to echo over the city.
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Torre de la Calahorra
At the southern end of the Puente Romano (Roman Bridge) is the Torre de la Calahorra, a 14th-century tower with a curious museum highlighting the intellectual achievements of Islamic Córdoba and focusing rather rose-tintedly on its reputation for religious tolerance.
Showing 1-24 of 24 results
