Part 14

_Cordŏva_, Span. _Córdoba_ (391 ft.), a provincial capital and the seat of a bishop, with 60,000 inhab., lies at the foot of the _Sierra de Córdoba_, a spur of the Sierra Morena, in a plain sloping gently down to the _Guadalquivir_. The town, whose ancient glory has long departed, now contains little or nothing to interest the expectant traveller except the mosque, now the Cathedral, which in spite of many later additions and disfigurements, is still the grandest monument in Spain of the Moorish period. Other memorials of this Mecca of the Occident, once famous as a patroness of science also, now survive only in several portals and inscriptions.

[Illustration: CÓRDOBA]

[Illustration: Guadalquivir]

_Corduba_, the most important of the ancient Iberian towns on the upper course of the Bætis, became a Roman colony in 152 B.C., and was noted for its commerce and its wealth. The Visigothic king _Leovigild_ wrested it in 571 from the Byzantines and made it an episcopal see. After the decisive battle of 711 (p. 51) Cordova was captured by the Moors, aided by the Jews who were alienated by the arrogance of the Visigoths. With the Moorish sway begins the world-wide fame of the city, especially from the time when the emir _Abderrahmân I._, of the house of the _Omaiyades_ (p. 485), on his escape from the massacre of his family at Damascus, settled at Cordova in 756 and declared his independence of the Oriental caliphate. As the capital of the Spanish or western caliphate, Cordova soon became the wealthiest city in Spain, and even for a short time the richest in Europe, notably under _Abderrahmân II._ (822–52) and _Abderrahmân III._ (912–61), the greatest of the Omaiyades, and also under the governor (hâjib) _Al-Mansûr_ (d. 1002). It even rivalled Bagdad and Fez as a brilliant centre of Mohammedan culture, to which students flocked from every part of the Occident. At length, after the _Almoravides_ and _Almohades_ (p. 95), who had been summoned to aid the citizens against the Christians, had vainly attempted to arrest the decay of the city, Cordova fell, in 1236, into the hands of _Ferdinand III. of Castile_, who expelled the Moorish inhabitants and in 1248 made Seville his residence. The city afterwards fell into decay and poverty, and the once highly extolled Campiña became a desolate wilderness.

See ‘Cordova’, by _A. F. Calvert_ and _W. M. Gallichan_ (London, 1907).

From the Carrera de la Estación, or ‘station street’, bearing a little to the left, we enter the _Paseo del Gran Capitán_ (Pl. C, 1, 2), the favourite promenade of the townsfolk on summer evenings.

At the S. end of the Paseo, near the church of _San Nicolás de la Villa_ (Pl. C, 2), with its octagonal tower, once a minaret, we take the Calle del Conde de Gondomar to the left, and then, just short of the Hotel Suizo, follow the Calle de Jesús María (Pl. C, 2, 3) to the right. This street, continued by the Calle de Angel de Saavedra, the Calle Pedregosa, and the Calle Céspedes, leads to the S. to the cathedral.

The **=Cathedral= (Pl. C, 3, 4; adm., see p. 68), once the _Mesjid al-Jâmia_, or ‘chief mosque’ of the city, one of the greatest in the world, and still called _La Mezquita_, is the grandest and noblest creation of Moorish architecture in Spain. The mosque was founded by Abderrahmân I. in 785, on the site of a Christian church, and was intended to form a great religious centre for all believers in Spain, and to induce the great stream of western pilgrims to repair to Cordova instead of to Mecca. A model for the edifice was found in the arcaded courts and colonnaded halls of the Egyptian mosques (such as the Amru Mosque, p. 460). The original edifice contained only ten rows of columns, which formed eleven longitudinal and twelve transverse aisles. The central aisle was a little wider than the others and ended in a Mihrâb, or prayer-recess, designed to mark the direction of Mecca (Kibla). As the building soon proved inadequate for the population, which was rapidly increased by accessions from the East, Abderrahmân II., in 833–48, added seven transepts on the S. side and erected a new mihrâb. A further prolongation by fourteen transepts was effected by AlHâkim II. (961–76), after which the magnificent third mihrâb (mihrâb nuevo) formed the termination of the building. Though the mosque was now considered the finest in the Occident, rivalling the Kairuin mosque at Fez, it failed to satisfy the ambition of Al-Mansûr (p. 69). As the sloping ground on the S. side precluded extension in that direction, this governor, in 987–90, caused seven new rows of columns to be raised on the E. side, thus increasing the number of aisles to nineteen, but destroying the symmetrical plan of the building, which required the mihrâb, or holy of holies, to be in line with the main axis of the building.

After the conquest of Cordova by the Christians in 1236 (p. 69) the mosque was dedicated to the Virgin (Virgen de la Asunción). The Spaniards at first confined their operations to walling up most of the doors and then fitting up side-chapels along the walls. As the needs of the Christian ritual, however, soon demanded the construction of a choir (primitivo coro), part of the second mihrâb and the adjoining aisles had in 1260 to be demolished. Still greater damage was done by the insertion of the Renaissance choir in the centre of the building, and of the Sala Capitular, or sacristy, in the middle of the S. wall.

The GROUND PLAN forms an immense rectangle of about 575 by 427 ft., of which fully a third is occupied by the court. Court and church are surrounded by a fortress-like battlemented wall which, on three sides, rests on massive substructions. Nothing indicates the object of the building except the rich portals, flanked with niches and windows, and, on the N. side, adjoining the Calle del Obispo Herrero, the _Campanario_ or bell-tower (305 ft. high), which was substituted for the Moorish minaret in 1593. Ascent of the tower interesting (adm. 25 c.; 255 steps).

The *_Puerta del Perdón_, the main gateway, restored in 1377 on the model of the gate of that name at Seville (p. 63), adjoins the clock-tower and leads into the—

*_Patio de los Naranjos_ (‘orange-court’), once the court of the mosque, where the faithful performed their ablutions. Light and spacious, yet well-shaded by orange and palm-trees, watered by five fountains, and always enlivened with groups of quiet visitors, it presents a typical scene of Oriental repose. The avenues were originally laid out in line with the colonnades in the interior of the mosque. The old arcades of the court (claustro) are now walled up on the N. side. Of the nineteen gates on the S. side, two only, the _Puerta de las Palmas_, the chief entrance to the cathedral, and the small doorway of the eastmost colonnade are now open.

The *INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL, in spite of its moderate height (37 ft.), and in spite of much disfigurement, is singularly impressive. In the subdued light the forest of columns seems endless. They average 13 ft. only in height, and are of the most diverse materials, many of them having been brought from late-Roman buildings or from Christian churches. The capitals show a marvellous wealth of design; their bases are buried in the pavement, the level of which has been raised by 11–14 inches in the course of centuries. The vast number of horseshoe arches which connect the columns, in the direction of the length of the church, and the upper semicircular arches resting on projecting pillars impart peculiar life to the building. The painted timber-ceilings of the different roofs have been restored in their original style. The sumptuous mosaic pavement has disappeared, and so too have the countless chandeliers and lamps which burned perpetually during the Moorish period.

The wealth of artistic decoration was lavished chiefly on the mihrâbs, the first of which has been entirely destroyed. The second and third were each provided with a vestibule and two side-rooms, part of which was formerly shut off to form the Caliph’s maksûra (or court-platform). The vestibule of the *Second Mihrâb, with its superb shell-vaulting, still exists.

The **THIRD MIHRÂB is considered a marvel of art. The front is adorned with two rows of columns, one above the other, and with double toothed arches. The vestibule, now Capilla de San Pedro, and the prayer-niche itself, a kind of heptagonal chapel of barely 13 ft. in diameter, exhibit the most elaborate efforts of early-Moorish art, especially in the rich marble plinth and in the coloured glass mosaics executed by Byzantine artists. The toothed arches of the windows and the boldly interlacing arches of the superb dome point to a later high development of Moorish art.

Of the CHRISTIAN ADDITIONS to the church one of the most noteworthy is the sumptuous _Capilla Mudéjar de San Fernando_, to the left of the second mihrâb, erected over the old royal vault. The *_Renaissance Choir_ (Coro and Capilla Mayor), designed by _Hernán Ruiz the Elder_ in 1523, was completed, with many alterations, in 1627. Though only 256 by 79 ft. in size, it is crowded with no less than 63 columns, and it rises high above the roof of the mosque. It is considered a masterpiece of the plateresque style, but has ruined the original symmetry of the mosque.

The =Alcázar= (Pl. C, 4; now a prison), erected in 1328, contains but scanty relics of the ancient Moorish castle.

The Calle Torrijos, on the W. side of the cathedral, descends to the _Puerta del Puente_, a triumphal arch of the time of Philip II., on the site of the Moorish bridge gateway. The Moorish *=Bridge= (Pl. C, D, 4) of sixteen arches, resting on Roman foundations, here unites Cordova with the S. suburb of _Campo de la Verdad_. Halfway across we have a fine view of the cathedral, and of a dam, up the river, with Moorish mills. The massive tête-de-pont, _Calahorra_ (Iberian _Calagurris_), also is of Moorish origin.

Returning into the town from the bridge, we may next visit the _Puerta Almodóvar_ (Pl. B, 3), a relic of the Moorish city-wall, and then walk through the _Jardines de la Victoria_ to the station.

9. From Cordova viâ Bobadilla to Granada.

153 M. RAILWAY in 6¼–8½ hrs. (fares 36 p. 30, 28 p. 20, 19 p. 30 c.); express on Mon. & Frid. only; change at Bobadilla (Railway Restaurant). Beyond Bobadilla views to the right.

_Cordova_, see p. 68.—The train crosses the _Guadalquivir_ and runs through a dreary hill-country (_Campiña_). Looking back, we see Cordova, the Sierra of Cordova, and Almodóvar (p. 68).

We cross the _Guadajoz_ several times. Beyond (21 M.) _Fernán Núñez_ the vine and olive culture begins. 31 M. _Montilla_ (1165 ft.), once famed for its _Amontillado_, resembling the wine of Xeres (p. 59). Farther on, to the left, we have a view of the distant Sierra Nevada (p. 49).

47 M. _Puente Genil_ (Rail. Restaur.). The town lies 2 M. to the N.W., and is seen to the right as we cross a lofty bridge over the _Genil_ (see below). The train ascends to the plateau of the _Sierra de Yeguas_, in view, farther on, of abrupt Jurassic mountains.

62 M. =La Roda=, junction for Utrera. (Lines to Cadiz and Seville, see R. 6.)

Running to the S.W. the train soon reaches the watershed (1477 ft.) between the Guadalquivir and the Guadalhorce. Beyond (69½ M.) _Fuente Piedra_ we observe on the right the _Laguna Salada_, a salt-lake resembling the shotts of N. Africa (p. 169).

77 M. =Bobadilla=, see p. 57.

The Granada train diverges to the N.E. from the Málaga line (R. 11), and ascends the broad valley of the _Guadalhorce_. On the right soon appears the _Sierra de Abdalajis_.

87 M. _Antequera_ (1346 ft.; Fonda de la Castaña and others), the Roman _Anticaria_, lies picturesquely at the N. base of the hills, with a ruined Moorish castle. The _Cueva de Menga_, 10 min. to the E. of the town, is one of the largest dolmens in Spain.

99½ M. _Archidona_; the town lies on a hill, 3¾ M. to the S.—We next cross the watershed between the Guadalhorce and the _Genil_ and descend through several tunnels. After the third the snow-covered _Sierra Nevada_ suddenly appears towards the E.

121 M. _Loga_, the _Lôsha_ of the Moors, together with _Alhama_, a little town on the hill 12½ M. to the S.E., once ‘the keys of Granada’, were captured by the Catholic kings (p. 75) in 1488.

[Illustration: GRANADA]

The country is now hilly and at places sandy; the Genil with its Vega (p. 73) remains on the right. 132 M. _Tocón_, at the foot of the _Sierra de Prugo_, On the left rises the bare _Sierra de Parapanda_, which the natives of Granada regard as a barometer. 144 M. _Pinos Puente_, at the foot of the barren _Sierra de Elvira_.

We next enter the fertile _Vega_, enclosed by olive-clad hills. 148 M. _Atarfe_, station for _Santa Fe_, 3 M. to the S.W., on the left bank of the Genil, built in the form of a Roman camp by Isabella the Catholic during the siege of Granada. The capitulation was signed here in 1491 (p. 75), and so too, in 1492, was the contract with Columbus regarding his voyage of discovery (p. 5).

In the foreground appears the lofty _Albaicín_ (p. 74); then, overtopped by the Sierra Nevada, (153 M.) _Granada_ (see below).

10. Granada.

The STATION (_Estación de los Ferrocarriles Andaluces_; Pl. B, 6; no buffet) is 1¾ M. from the hotels in the Puerta Real and nearly 2 M. from those near the Alhambra. Hotel-omnibus to the former 1, to the latter 2 p.; an ‘omnibus general’ (50 c. each pers. or each trunk) plies to the _Despacho Central_ (p. 51), opposite the Hot. Victoria.

=Hotels= (comp. p. 51). _Near the Alhambra_, in the Alhambra Park, a beautiful, but in winter a cold situation, ¾ M. above the town (2–3 min. from the hill-tramway station; see below): HOT. WASHINGTON IRVING (Pl. b; F, 2), with the dépendance SIETE SUELOS (Pl. c; F, 2), patronized by English and Americans; ALHAMBRA PALACE HOTEL (Pl. a; F, 3), new, R. 6–12½, pens. 20–35 p.; *PENS. MISS LAIRD, Carmen de Bella Vista, with garden, 8½–12 p. per day; HOT. DEL BOSQUE DE LA ALHAMBRA, at the N. base of the Alhambra Hill, below the Torre de Comares (Pl. E, 2), pens. 8–15 p., well spoken of.—_In the Town_ (ca. 1¾ M. from the Alhambra): *HOT. ALAMEDA (Pl. d; F, 5), adjoining the shady Carrera del Genil, with view of the Sierra Nevada, pens. 8–20 p.; HOT. DE PARIS (Pl. e; E, 4), Gran Via de Colón 5, with terrace, restaurant, etc., pens. 9–20 p.; HOT. VICTORIA, on the W. side of the Puerta Real, with fine view, pens. from 8 p., Spanish, quite good; HOT. NUEVO ORIENTE (Pl. g; E, 5), Plaza de Cánovas del Castillo 8, pens. 7 p., quite Spanish, very fair; FONDA NAVÍO, Calle Martínez Campos (Pl. E, 5), with a favourite restaurant.—Drinking-water not good.

=Cafés.= _Café Colón_, Calle de los Reyes Católicos (Pl. E, 4); _Imperial_, Carrera del Genil (Pl. F, 5).

=Tramways.= 1. _Plaza Nueva_ (Pl. E, 4)-_Cocheras_ (red disc): through the Calle de los Reyes Católicos (Pl. E, 4, 5) to the Puerta Real, the University (Pl. D, 5), and the Rail. Station (Pl. B, A, 6).—2. _Plaza Nueva-Cervantes_ (yellow): viâ the Puerta Real and the Carrera del Genil to the Paseo de la Bomba (Pl. G, H, 4).—3. _Puerta Real_ (Pl. E, 5)-_Vistillas-Alhambra_ (green): viâ the Plaza Nueva to the Puerta de los Molinos (Pl. G, 3; change), then by the hill-tramway (rack-and-pinion) to the Alhambra Park (Cuesta de las Cruces; Pl. F, 2, 3), in ¼ hr.; fare 30 c.

=Cabs= (stationed in the Carrera del Genil). Drive in the town, with one horse 1, with two horses 2½ p.; per hour 2 or 3 p.—To the Alhambra, Albaicín (p. 79), and Sacro Monte (p. 78) 5 p. extra (but bargain advisable). Carr. and pair may be had also from the Despacho Central or the Alhambra hotels (3 p. per hour).

=Post & Telegraph Office= (_Correo_; Pl. E, 4), Calle de los Reyes Católicos. Post-office open 10–12 and after 2; poste restante letters delivered 1 hr. after arrival of trains.

=British Vice-Consul=, _Chas. E. S. Davenhill_.

=Sights.= _Alhambra_ (p. 79), daily, 9–12 and 1–6, adm. 50 c.–1 p., on Sun. free; some rooms specially shown by the custodian.—_Generalife_ (p. 87), best by morning light; tickets (papeletas) at the Casa de los Tiros (p. 77), on week-days, 9–11, free.—The _Cathedral_ (p. 76), daily, closed between 11 and 2.30; the _Capilla Real_ (p. 76), either in the morning before high-mass (in winter at 10, in summer at 9), or 2.30 to 4, in summer 3–5 p.m.—The smaller churches are usually open from an early hour till 8.30 or 9 only, but are shown later by the sacristan (fee).—The usual hours for other sights are 8–12 and 2–6; between 12 and 2 a substantial fee is exacted.

=Promenades.= In winter, Carrera del Genil (p. 77), 3–5; in summer, Paseo del Salón (p. 77) and Paseo de la Bomba, 5–7. Band on Sun. and Thurs.

=Guides= at the hotels, needless except when time presses. Those who pester strangers in the streets and at the entrance to the Alhambra, as well as gipsy beggars, should be disregarded.

CHIEF ATTRACTIONS (two days). 1st. Forenoon: the _Cathedral_ (p. 76); _Placeta de la Lonja_ (p. 77); _Casa de los Tiros_ (p. 77); _Carrera del Genil_; *_Paseo del Salón_; afternoon: _Alameda del Darro_ (p. 78); *View from _San Nicolás_ (p. 79) or from _San Miguel el Alto_ (p. 79).—2nd. *_Alhambra_ (p. 79) and _Generalife_ (p. 87).

_Granáda_ (2195 ft.; pop. 69,000), once the capital of the Moorish kingdom, and now that of the province of Granada, the residence of an archbishop and seat of a university, lies most picturesquely at the foot of two hills (about 490 ft. high), which gradually slope to the E. up to the _Cerro del Sol_, and descend abruptly to the fertile, well-watered river-plain of the _Vega_. The _Albaicín_, the northmost of the two hills, the oldest quarter of Granada, once the residence of the Moorish aristocracy, but now inhabited chiefly by gipsies, forms a town by itself. The deep ravine of the _Darro_, which is generally dry as its water is much diverted for irrigation purposes, separates the Albaicín from the _Monte de la Assabica_, or Alhambra Hill to the S. (comp. p. 79). The Darro, descending from the N.E., turns to the S. near the Alhambra Hill and falls into the more important _Genil_.

The two hills were once occupied by Iberian and then by Roman settlements, the one on the Albaicín having perhaps already borne the name of _Garnata_. Soon after 711 the Moors built the ‘Old Castle’ (Al-Kasaba al-Kadîma) on the site of Garnata. After the decline of the caliphate of Cordova (p. 69) _Zâwi ibn Zîri_, the governor of Granada, declared himself independent in 1031, and founded here the dynasty of the _Zirites_, which, however, was overthrown by the Almoravides (p. 95) in 1090. As the power of the Almohades (p. 95) declined the native governors revolted anew. At length in 1246 Granada became the seat of the _Nasride Dynasty_ founded by _Al-Ahmar_ (‘_Mohammed I._‘), which, after the fall of Seville, succeeded, in alliance alternately with the Castilians and the Merinides (p. 95), in retaining possession of Granada, Málaga, and Almería for nearly 250 years. Mohammed I. offered an asylum in Granada to the Moors who were expelled from Cordova, Valencia, and Seville, and began the building of the ‘New Castle’ (Al-Kasaba al-Jedîda) on the hill of the Alhambra. His successors afterwards created the Alhambra Palace, the most sumptuous of royal residences. Thanks to their fostering care for agriculture and industry, for science, art and architecture, Granada attained such brilliant prosperity as even to eclipse the fame of the old caliphate of Cordova.

The downfall of the kingdom of Granada was at length brought about by party struggles between the _Zegri_, the _Beni Serrâj_ (the _Abencerrages_ of legend; comp. p. 84), and other noble families, and by quarrels between king _Mulei Abu’l-Hasan_ (d. 1485) and his son _Boabdil_; a welcome opportunity was thus afforded to Ferdinand and Isabella, the so-called ‘Catholic Kings’, of intervening and thus gaining their life-long object of destroying the last Moorish kingdom in Spain. After the death of his father Boabdil remained inactive when Ferdinand proceeded to besiege Málaga (p. 90); he made one despairing attempt at resistance when the Spaniards demanded the evacuation of Granada, but in 1491 had to conclude a humiliating peace. He soon afterwards crossed the Sierra Nevada and retired to Tlemcen in N. Africa (p. 187), where he ended his inglorious career. With the Spanish domination began the decay of the city; it was depopulated by the decrees of the Catholic Kings, the Inquisition held fearful sway here, and ere long Granada became a ‘living ruin’. Within the last few years, however, the busy tourist traffic, the establishment of sugar-factories, and the prosperous mining industry of the Sierra Nevada have somewhat repaired the fortunes of the city, and several of the old quarters have been entirely modernized. But its picturesque history, its memorials of the most glorious period of Moorish culture and art, and the striking view of the snow-mountains it affords will ever render it the most fascinating goal of travellers in Andalusia.

See ‘Granada: Memories, Adventures, Studies, and Impressions’, by _Leonard Williams_ (London, 1906); and ‘Granada and the Alhambra’, by _A. F. Calvert_ (London, 1907).

a. The Lower Town.

Leaving the railway-station (Pl. B, 6; tramway No. 1, see p. 73), we follow the Calle Real de San Lázaro to the S.E. to the _Paseo del Triunfo_ (Pl. C, 4), so named from the column in honour of the Virgin (triunfo). Here, by the half-ruined _Puerta de Elvira_ (Pl. C, 4), begin the old Calle de Elvira and the new GRAN VIA DE COLÓN (Pl. C-E, 4), both leading to the chief artery of traffic, the narrow—

CALLE DE LOS REYES CATÓLICOS (Pl. E, 4, 5), which is built above the Darro, and connects the busy Puerta Real (Pl. E, 5), to the S.W., with the Plaza Nueva (Pl. E, 4; officially, Plaza Rodriguez Bolivar), to the N.E., at the foot of the Alhambra Hill (p. 79).

In the Calle de Lopez Rubio, a side-street, is the so-called _Casa del Carbón_, once a Moorish granary, with picturesque horseshoe arches and stalactite vaulting. To the S.W. of it is the modern town-hall (_Ayuntamiento_).

The short streets on the opposite side lead to the _Alcaicería_, (Pl. E, 4, 5), with its numerous columns, which was burned down in 1843, once a Moorish market-hall (Al-Kaisariya), resembling the Oriental sûks (p. 335), and to the modernized _Plaza de Bibarrambla_ (Pl. E, 5), named after a Moorish city-gate which once stood here. A few paces from these lies the PLACETA DE LAS PASIEGAS. Here, surrounded by buildings which mar its effect, rises the—

*=Cathedral= (Pl. D, E, 4, 5), an imposing memorial of the conquest of Spain, and the finest Renaissance church in the kingdom. It was begun in 1523 by _Enrique de Egas_ in the Gothic style, continued in 1525 by _Diego de Siloe_ (d. 1533) in the plateresque style (p. 51), and consecrated, while still unfinished, in 1561. The N. tower only, which is now 187 ft. high, has been erected; the huge façade was begun in 1667 by _Alonso Cano_, who was also the chief author of the sculpture and painting in the church; the interior was not completed till 1703.