In the summer of 2023, Jennifer's sister, Paula, visited with us and we decided to spend a few days in Andalusia, Spain. Andalusia is the name of the country's southernmost autonomous region and features lovely rolling hills and hectare upon hectare of olive farms. (Spain is by far the world's largest producer of olive oil and, in fact, many a bottle of Italian olive oil is actually sourced in Spain.) After briefly stopping in Seville (see separate blog post), we continued northeast to Córdoba.
Córdoba, like Seville, is on the river Guadalquivir. It was once a Roman settlement, and as with the entire region, was later ruled by the Visigoths and then the Moors from the 8th century. It was the capital of the Muslim Caliphate that included Iberia and parts of North Africa, and by the 10th century it had grown to be the second-largest city in Europe. The Christian Spanish finally forced the Moors out during the Reconquista in the 13th century.
Today, Córdoba is the third largest city in Andalusia and is a popular tourist destination. While it has a bustling, modern city center, much of the old town is still very evident, including the ruins of a Roman temple that were only discovered in the 1950's. [Scroll left/right to view gallery]
The main attraction, though, is the Mosque-Cathedral. It was built on the site of a Visigoth church in the 8th century on the orders of Abd al-Rahman I, founder of the Muslim Emirate and later the Córdoba Caliphate. It is unusual in that its purpose changed as a result of the Reconquista from a Muslim place of worship to a Christian one, as it became the cathedral for the Roman Catholic diocese of Córdoba, dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. This resulted in a number of significant architectural changes, including the addition of a transept and the conversion of the minaret to a bell tower. However, its signature feature remains the scores of two-tiered arches throughout the interior. The building's size, architecture, and intricate interior details are very impressive.
[Scroll left/right to view gallery]
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