The first of three special days that formed the pillars of our holiday – Cordoba.
We booked a guided tour of the Mezquita-Catedral for late in the day, and set off to see the other major sights of the city on a self-guided walk.
Córdoba was once the Roman and Moorish capital of Spain with its roots in the banks of the Guadalquivir River in Andalusia, Spain – the same river that flows up to Seville and was a major route of international trade, so Cordoba had an important role over the years. It has a rich cultural and architectural heritage and in medieval times it was one of the few places Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived together peacefully.
At one point Córdoba was one of the largest and most advanced cities in the world, serving as a great cultural, political, financial and economic centre. The entire historic centre – a mix of Roman, Moorish and Spanish influence – is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city’s old Roman Walls date back to 206 BC, and the old Roman stone bridge is said to have been fortified to carry Julius Caesar’s army across the river to fight Pompeii, then rebuilt by the Moors in the 8th century.
Near the city walls are two major sites – the Mezquita-Catedral and the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos.
The Alcazar was on this morning’s list. Arabic for “palace”, the Alcázar began as a fortress in medieval times, expanding over the years to a larger compound with extensive baths, gardens and one of the largest libraries in the West. It also served as the primary residence of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella during the height of Córdoba, and was the site where the monarchs met Christopher Columbus before his first voyage to the Americas, though he weighed anchor in Barcelona.
We visited the Episcopal Palace, the Jewish Quarter with its synagogue built in 1315, the Souk, and the Caliphate (Muslim) baths, modelled on earlier Roman baths and built in the 10th century. They took their bathing seriously with a large cold room, warm room, and hot room.
After all of that, we returned to the apartment for lunch and a rest before venturing out to see the second half.
The Mezquita, a vast Moorish building, is held up by 850 columns, with several large spaces designed for Catholic worship, which is the religion practiced there today. It was originally a 6th century Visigoth Catholic church, then re-built as a mosque in 786 and turned into a cathedral after the Christians finally conquered Córdoba in the 1200s, so it’s style is very unique. It started off modest in size, but successive muslim caliphs all wanted to prove that they had bigger, um, congregations, and so it underwent three large expansions, finally being the largest mosque in the world (at the time).
Architecturally it is really interesting. Basically square and symmetrical with equi-spaced pillars, at first glance it looks very consistent and compatible. However, lots of it is built from re-purposed pillars and materials, so when you look closely the pillars are all different heights, on different sized plinths, with different capitals, made of of different materials. Yet it all seems very harmonious.
Catholic renovations have taken out some muslim archways, and the ceiling sections are all different heights and styles. Some are different coloured bricks, some are painted. There are renaissance, baroque, and gothic windows, yet it all seems to mesh rather well. See if you can pick it out in the pictures.
Andrea, our guide, did well, but accents hidden by masks remain stubbornly hard to understand.
Back to the apartment for a late tea via Aldi.