Skip to main content

Articles

Stories, history and food traditions from Córdoba

Long-form editorial pieces written by resident correspondents: cultural deep-dives, the origins of local dishes, and the people and traditions that shape everyday life in Córdoba.

Mihrab ribbed dome of the Mezquita of Córdoba at dusk, gold mosaic crossed-arch vault with ribs meeting off-centre in an eight-pointed star pattern, warm interior lighting, ornate Islamic architecture

Trending

Mihrab Ribbed Dome: Córdoba's Gothic Vault Precursor

Sophie Marchand

Córdoba's mihrab dome used a crossed-arch vault, raised 961–965 CE, predating medieval Europe's rib vaults by a century and read by some as Gothic's precursor.

Read article

Also trending

Aerial view of Córdoba's historic centre at golden hour, the Mezquita-Catedral's striped arches and bell tower dominating a skyline above the Guadalquivir river — Spain travel statistics 2026 reference image

Spain Travel Statistics 2026: Arrivals, Spending & Trends

María Fernanda González Updated

Spain welcomed a record 96.8M tourists in 2025. See full 2026 travel statistics: arrivals, spending, top regions, source markets, and wellness trends.

Read
The remnants of Madīnat al-Zahrā's grand halls where Al-Hakam II's legendary 400,000-manuscript library once stood, destroyed during the Fitna civil war. Al-Hakam II library Córdoba.

Al-Hakam II's Library — 400,000 Books That Vanished

Sophie Marchand Updated

Al-Hakam II's library at Madinat al-Zahra, now a UNESCO World Heritage site, held 400,000 manuscripts in the 960s. Almanzor burned the philosophy books.

Read

Latest articles

FLORA Mezquita Patio de los Naranjos: rows of orange trees in the arcaded courtyard of the Mezquita-Catedral of Córdoba in warm afternoon light, the tower rising behind

The Mezquita Handed Its Orange Courtyard to Flower Artists

María Fernanda González

How the Patio de los Naranjos went from a caliphal court of ablutions to a garden of orange trees, and how the Cabildo lends it to FLORA's living-flower art.

Read
Interior of the Villaviciosa chapel in the Mezquita-Catedral of Córdoba, a pointed Gothic nave in warm light beside the striped Islamic arches, villaviciosa chapel mezquita history 1880

The 1880 Repair That Revealed a Mosque Ceiling and Lost a Mural

Sophie Marchand

How fallen plaster in 1880 led to a Baroque vault's collapse in Córdoba's Villaviciosa chapel, uncovering an Islamic ceiling as a Gothic mural cycle vanished.

Read
Open-air excavation ground at Cueva del Angel Lucena, a collapsed limestone rock shelter on the Sierra de Aras at golden hour, trench walls and scrub hills beyond

Cueva del Ángel, Lucena: A 'Neanderthal' Site With One Tooth

Sophie Marchand

Cueva del Ángel near Lucena: 46 handaxes, burnt bone and one 104,300-year-old tooth. What the Neanderthal headline rests on, and what to check before visiting.

Read
Red stone Puente Mayor with four semicircular arches over the Guadalquivir at Montoro in late afternoon light, cordoba province bridge women jewellery funded

Did Women's Jewels Pay for Montoro's Bridge? What Records Say

Sophie Marchand

Montoro's Puente Mayor is famed as the bridge women paid for with jewels. ABC cites a heritage group dating the name to the 1980s; records name the council.

Read
Spain museum thefts 2026: empty glass display case in a dim archaeological museum gallery, one security light falling on a velvet-lined tray where gold pieces once lay

Spain Museum Thefts 2026: What They Mean for Córdoba

María Fernanda González

Three Spanish museums lost gold in 2026, none in Córdoba. Why thieves want metal that melts, and what looting cases in Córdoba province show about the trade.

Read
cabra cordoba name origin illustration of a white Andalusian town in hills, with Roman stone fragments, a coin and a parchment bearing abstract marks

Cabra Córdoba Name Origin: Older Than the Goat

Sophie Marchand Updated

Cabra's name runs from ancient Igabrum through Egabrum and Arabic Qabra. The records rule out the poet story and make the goat link a later association.

Read
Zuheros castle village cliff at golden hour: ruined castle-palace on a limestone crag above white houses stacked down the slope, Subbética hills behind

Zuheros Castle Village: The Córdoba Town Built on a Cliff

Carmen Ruiz Montoya

Zuheros castle sits on a limestone crag above a white village in Córdoba province. Moorish cistern, Renaissance palace wall, ticket prices and what to check.

Read
AI-generated illustration of an imagined Polyphemus and Galatea mosaic panel mounted on a gallery wall, a visitor beside it for scale, roman mosaics cordoba

Roman Mosaics Córdoba: What the Alcázar Hall Really Shows

Sophie Marchand

The Roman mosaics found under the Plaza de la Corredera are in the Alcázar's Hall of Mosaics. What they show, and what travel blogs claim that sources don't.

Read
AI-generated illustration for Córdoba women scribes history: a woman copies a Qur'an in Kufic script with a reed pen by latticed window light, while other scribes work out of focus beside a horseshoe-arch doorway.

Córdoba's Eastern Suburb Had 170 Women Copying Qur'ans

Sophie Marchand

One chronicler reported 170 women copying Qur'ans in a single Córdoba suburb. Here is what the sources do and don't say about women in the city's book trade.

Read
Flamenco guitar maker Cordoba: a cypress-bodied flamenco guitar resting on a luthier's workbench, hand planes and a shellac pad beside it, warm window light in a small workshop

Waiting 15 Years for a Guitar in Córdoba

Sophie Marchand

Manuel Reyes Sr. built about 20 flamenco guitars a year and left a 15-year order book; what trade sources say about Córdoba's guitar maker and his son.

Read
Ibn Quzman, the Córdoba poet, reciting a zajal to a small circle of listeners in a twelfth-century Andalusi courtyard, lamplight on whitewashed walls, a vine trellis overhead

Ibn Quzman: Córdoba's Satirist Poet and the Poem Where He's Imam

Sophie Marchand

Ibn Quzman, Córdoba's satirist poet, was jailed on heresy charges and died poor. Did he become an imam? One zajal I traced says so; its poet loved tall tales.

Read
Mezquita columns spolia: rows of mismatched marble, granite and jasper shafts with different capitals under red-and-white double arches, soft warm light in the Córdoba prayer hall

The Mezquita's Columns Don't Match — They Were Never Meant To

Sophie Marchand

The Mezquita's forest of roughly 850 columns looks uniform but isn't. Builders reused Roman and Visigothic spolia; new capitals came later. Where to look.

Read