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Articles · People & legends

Córdoba's people: philosophers, poets and legendary figures (Page 4)

This is where Córdoba's people come first: the philosophers, physicians, poets and rebels who made the city a center of thought, and the legends that grew up around them. For readers curious about who actually lived behind the monuments' facades.

La Chiquita Piconera by Julio Romero de Torres (1930), oil painting of a young Cordoban woman seated by a brazier with Córdoba's Roman Bridge and river visible through a half-open door behind her, photorealistic scene with honey-toned light

Julio Romero de Torres: The Painter Who Made Córdoba Sensual

Sophie Marchand Updated

Julio Romero de Torres (1874–1930) turned Córdoba's women, light, and flamenco into Andalusian symbolism. His last painting remains in his Córdoba museum.

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Dramatic photorealistic portrait scene of a Spanish Renaissance general in 16th-century armor surveying a battlefield, gran capitan Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba, Andalusian landscape at dusk, oil-painting mood

Gran Capitán: Córdoba's General Who Helped Shape Modern War

María Fernanda González Updated

El Gran Capitán, born in Montilla in 1453, helped take Granada and won Cerignola. Córdoba keeps his equestrian statue by Mateo Inurria in the Tendillas.

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Manolete's gold and magenta bullfighting suit of lights displayed behind glass at the Museo Taurino in Córdoba, with a mounted bull's head visible on the wall behind, red velvet lining the display cases

Manolete: Córdoba's Last Sad God of the Ring

Sophie Marchand Updated

Gored by the bull Islero in Linares on 28 August 1947, Manolete died aged 30 and Franco declared three days of mourning. See his statue and tomb in Córdoba.

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Ibn Hazm writing the Ring of the Dove in medieval Al-Andalus Córdoba, scholar at a candlelit desk with Arabic manuscript and quill, warm ochre tones, photorealistic

Ibn Hazm's Ring of the Dove: Córdoba's Love Treatise

Sophie Marchand Updated

Ibn Hazm's Ring of the Dove (1022 CE) is the medieval Arab world's most searching analysis of love and one of the most readable books to survive Al-Andalus.

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Bronze statue of Maimonides seated in scholarly robes in Plaza de Tiberiades, Córdoba's Judería, warm afternoon light on ochre stone walls, photorealistic composition

Maimonides: Córdoba's Philosopher Who Changed Judaism

Sophie Marchand Updated

Born in Córdoba in 1138, Maimonides codified Jewish law, reconciled Aristotle with the Torah, and influenced Aquinas. His statue stands in the Judería today.

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Bronze statue of Seneca the philosopher in Córdoba, standing in toga holding a scroll on a tall pedestal beside the Puerta de Almodóvar medieval gate, photorealistic, warm afternoon light on Roman stone walls

Seneca: Born in Córdoba, Philosopher to an Empire

María Fernanda González Updated

Born in Roman Córdoba around 4 BCE, Seneca became Nero's tutor, wrote 124 Moral Letters that shaped the essay form, and died in 65 CE by opening his veins.

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