While the rest of Europe was languishing during the Dark Ages, Andalusia (southern Spain) thrived. It was a center of medicine and science, language and translation, art and manuscripts. The scholars of Andalusia - Christian, Muslim and Jew - worked together to produce a unique society that became the safeguard of the learning of the Greeks and the Romans.
The Islamic culture of al-Andalus was adopted by Christians and Jews living in the kingdom. This culture continued even after the Moorish caliphate fell to Catholic rule.
The capital of this enlightened empire, until its fall in 1236, was Córdoba.
As the capital of the most powerful kingdom in Islam , Córdoba was a city of half a million people. It contained thousands of mosques, tens of thousands of shops and libraries which boasted hundreds of thousands of volumes. Its luxury goods were coveted all over Europe.
Its palaces and baths were renowned for their opulence and it had the first street lighting in Europe. Students and merchants came from all over Europe, Africa and even Asia to this cosmopolitan city which dominated Andalusia for three centuries.
Córdoba’s charm, many centuries later, is still largely tied to its Moorish and Arab past. Córdoba has a beauty and a rhythm of its own - part Moor, part Gypsy and part Spanish.
Its Great Mosque - (partly destroyed to construct a large cathedral inside) is one of the world’s best known pieces of religious architecture. It is a vast forest of hundreds of delicate marble columns and elegant arches. Its mihrab - the niche which denotes the direction of Mecca - is a brilliant and rich composition of mosaics sent as a gift by the Emperor of Byzantium.
As impressive and surprising Córdoba presents itself to today's visitor, as impressive and surprising was its past. Not many know that in 11th century it was one of the most important capitals in Europe. People of the most different cultures and religions - Jews, Muslims and Christians - were living peacefully together, and important philosophers, scientists and artists emerged from here.
Knowing about Córdoba's cultural background you will certainly find interesting additional aspects when visiting its great monuments - first of all of course the world-famous Mezquita, the Moorish mosque - and museums.
On the other hand Córdoba is as well a very lively town in the best Andalusian tradition, a town of Flamenco and bullfighting, and certainly one of the most attractive destinations in southern Spain. |
