Two doors on Calle Judíos 12-14, one combined ticket, and a span of medieval Islamic science that most visitors to the Judería walk straight past. The Casa Andalusí is a restored 12th-century civil house; next door, the Al-Iksir Alchemy Museum opened in 2017 as the only museum in Spain dedicated to Islamic alchemy. They share a courtyard, a ticket desk, and a subject: the intellectual life of Al-Andalus.
Casa Andalusí: the house and the Paper Museum
The building itself is worth time before you read a single panel. Stone floors, a central fountain with orange and lemon trees overhead, whitewashed walls that muffle the street noise from outside. This was how a prosperous family in 12th-century Córdoba actually lived, and the restoration takes that seriously rather than dressing it up.
The museum inside covers Andalusian domestic life, arts, and crafts from the Caliphate period. The most specific section is the Paper Museum, which traces how paper manufacturing reached medieval Europe through Islamic civilization. Arab scholars learned the technique from Chinese prisoners captured at the Battle of Talas in 751 CE; the knowledge traveled west to Baghdad, then to Al-Andalus, then across the Pyrenees. Córdoba's scriptoria and libraries depended on it. Without this transfer of technology, the libraries that made Córdoba the intellectual capital of 10th-century Europe would have been impossible to stock.
The house is 50 meters from the Synagogue and two minutes from Casa de Sefarad, which covers the Jewish dimension of the same neighborhood. The Mezquita-Catedral is a ten-minute walk east.
Al-Iksir: the alchemy laboratory
The Al-Iksir museum is the more unusual of the two. It reconstructs a medieval alchemical laboratory with distillation apparatus, retorts, alembics, and a zodiac observatory, explaining how Islamic alchemists approached the transformation of matter, the preparation of medicines, and the relationship between astronomical observation and chemical practice.
The central figures are Jabir ibn Hayyan (known in the West as Geber, 8th-9th century) and Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (Rhazes, 854-925 CE). Geber's systematic approach to chemical experimentation gave later European alchemists much of their vocabulary and methodology; Al-Razi's medical texts, including a clinical distinction between smallpox and measles, were translated into Latin and used in European universities for centuries. The exhibition treats them as scientists rather than mystics, which is the right call.
The reconstructed lab is hands-on in places, and the zodiac observatory installation is genuinely atmospheric. This is not a large museum, but it covers ground that nowhere else in Córdoba addresses.
Practical information
Both museums are open daily 10:00-20:00. Entry to the Casa Andalusí alone costs €4; Al-Iksir alone is €5; the combined ticket is €7.50. Groups of 15 or more pay €3 per person. The phone is +34 957 290 642.
The address is Calle Judíos 12-14, in the heart of the Judería, about 30 seconds on foot from the Synagogue. Budget 60-75 minutes for both museums together.
