"Magic" Cordoba ...

These are some of the "jewels" of Cordoba I had the privilege of being "touched" by during my 5 day vacation last week. The city has a distinct "magic" which reflects the various  cultural influences it was subject to.

The Roman bridge and the Great Mosque of Cordoba (whose original construction was undertaken by Abd ar Rahman I in 785; having an extension been added by Abd ar Rahman II in 833 and additions by Abd ar Rahman III in 945; the Maqsura and the new Mihrab were built by al-Hakan II in 961 and the final extensions added by al-Mansur in 987) as seen from inside the Calahorra Tower (originally conceived at the Islamic period)

The doorway of the Holly Ghost on the western façade of the Mosque, which was totally restored at the beginning of the XX century by Professor Velasquez Bosco (Left). The Courtyard of the Orange Trees and theTower (after having had a second storey built onto the minaret in 1593 by Herman Ruiz, to which a third storey was to be later added), on top of which stands the Guardian Angel of the city of Cordoba, the Archangel Raphael, bearing the influence of the Sevillian late Renaissance (Right). 

 

View of the aisles of the Great Mosque belonging to the final extension carried out by al-Mansur (Left). View of the Christian Cathedral within the Great Mosque, whose building followed a permission granted by the Emperor Charles V to the Bishop Alonso Manrique, after the reconquest and subsequent christianisation of the Great Mosque. Works were intitated only in 1523 (Right)

The Mihrab of the Great Mosque, which became the symbolic doorway leading to heaven where the faithful directed their prayers (Left). The maqsurah precinct, reserved to the caliph's private prayer  within the Great Mosque (Left).

Details of the Cordoba Cathedral with the oval cuppola in the late Gothic transept (Left)

Mural paintings  in one of the many Chapels found in the Cathedral

Standing in front of the High Basilican Building of the Madinat  al-Zahra remains (erected as a whole palatial palace by Abd ar-Rahman on the hill of al-Arus just outside the city of Cordoba).

The gardens of the Royal Citadel of the Christian Monarchs, whose construction was ordered in 1328 by Alfonso XI (Left). One of the twelve courtyards within the Gardens of the Palace of Viana, a XVI Century noble Cordoban Mansion (Right).

Courtyard of the Hotel Posada de Vallina, where we stayed and which was built before the Great Mosque, having been occupied by the Alarifes, the Mosque builders and being also known for having lodged Cristobal Colon. It is possibly the oldest inn in Spain. (Left). La Caleja de las Flores (Right).

 

Murals within the XIII century Ferdina church of Saint Lawrence built in the  architectural style of the transition towards the Spanish Gothic.