We left Seville and took a train to Cordoba. At one time Cordoba was the Capital of Andalusia. It started as a Roman city then Visigoth then Christian then Muslim and finally as Christian again. It had a substantial Jewish population although there are very few left. We were told about 20 Jews still live in Cordoba. There are 3 great reasons to visit Cordoba.
The Jewish heritage is very strong, with a Synagogue that has been dated back to the 14th Century and has been rediscovered and turned into a museum. There is a an excellent museum of Sephardic Judaism across the street (think alley) that we really enjoyed. Its exhibition was amazingly well documented. Everything was translated into English with the exception of the room devoted to the Inquisition. I guess that is still a little too delicate to discuss. A non-Jewish citizen of Cordoba who had an excellent collection of artifacts created the museum.
The Mosque and the Cathedral can only be described as mind-blowing. The Mosque took 200 years to build beginning in 785. I had in mind an image of a building in Spain with lots of columns. I just didn’t know where it was. This was it! The Mosque is an extremely large mosque, which originally had over 1000 columns. The archways between the columns are like an awning in color, a reddish and lighter color. It is amazingly joyful. When the Christians finally conquered the city, they had the good sense not to destroy the mosque and build a church. What they did is beyond believe. In the exact center of this giant pillared mosque they constructed a Cathedral. On all sides of the Cathedral the Mosque extends out. So you have an incredibly beautiful Mosque with a Cathedral contained within it.
Behind the Mosque / Cathedral is a Roman Bridge that is still used that dates from the 1st century BC. This town has history!
This is without a doubt my favorite building I have seen (so far) in Spain. I love it!
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