If you plan to spend a few days in Córdoba, you can not leave the city without visiting the Jewish quarter. This neighborhood was the sector of life of the Jewish community from the thirteenth century, with the Christian conquest of the city by Fernando III el Santo, until the end of the fifteenth century, with the expulsion of the Sephardic population by Isabel de Castilla and Fernando de Aragón. Later, Alfonso X el Sabio authorized this community to move through other neighborhoods, reaching the current area around the Mosque. In 1478, the corregidor Francisco Valdés moved them to what is known as the Alcázar Viejo neighborhood, that is, where the Alcalá Califal used to be in Muslim times.

 

Occupying some of the main streets of the historic center of the city, this neighborhood is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994, and is also registered in the Spanish Jewish Network, along with Seville, Cáceres and Toledo, among others.

 

 

Within it, we can visit several places of interest, located in the main street of the neighborhood, Calle Judíos. In the first place, we find the Casa Andalusí. This building is a house-museum that, through the senses, aims to show the public the Arab past of the city. Very close to this building is the House of Sepharad, house-museum and cultural center, dedicated to the culture, history and Sephardic tradition. Divided into nine rooms, we can find information about daily life, women, music or the biography of Maimonides.

 

 

Next, we can visit the Cordoba Synagogue. Built in 1315 by the architect Isaaq Moheb, after the expulsion of the Jews in 1492 it was destined to be a hospital and, later, a chapel. In the nineteenth century it became a kindergarten, until in 1884 Rafael Romero Barros, father of the painter Julio Romero, discovered the remains of the Hebrew script that decorates the walls of the prayer room. From there, it has been named an Asset of Cultural Interest. It is structured in a hall, in a box where women and children under twelve years old were placed, and the prayer room, richly decorated with plasterwork.

 

A few meters further on, through some small arches, you can access the Municipal Souk. The souks are the traditional markets of the Islamic world. However, this point was never a souk in the Andalusian era, but its origin was found in 1956, when the mayor Cruz Conde decided to reform a manor house in the Jewish Quarter as a market in which to sell the traditional crafts of Cordoba, such as the guadamecíes, the cordobanes or the Cordovan filigree.

 

Another of the most interesting points is the Plaza Tiberiades, where we can visit the sculpture of Maimonides. Philosopher, theologian and doctor of Jewish religion, he was born in Cordoba in 1135. He suffered persecution of Almohad politics, which did not allow other religions except Islam. This led him to exile to Egypt, first to Alexandria and then to Cairo, where he would pass away. He was buried in Tiberias, becoming a place of pilgrimage within the Jewish culture.

 

Attached to this small square, we find the Plaza Maimónides, where the Bullfighting Museum of the city is located, where we can visit, besides heritage linked to the world of the bull, personal objects of the different caliphs of bullfighting.

 

 

Close to all these monuments, there is the Mudejar chapel of San Bartolomé. The term Mudejar refers to both the Muslim who lived in Christian territory and the artistic style within Christian buildings with Muslim elements. Thus, this chapel, despite having Christian worship, has a mainly Arabic decoration.

 

 

Apart from all these monuments, you can visit different streets, such as Calleja de las Flores or Calleja del Pañuelo, as well as various shops, traditional bazaars, tearooms or traditional Cordoba restaurants. With all this, you can see that visiting the Jewish quarter is a good plan to do if you travel to Córdoba. If you want to get to know this neighborhood from the hand of expert guides, do not hesitate to contact the yellow umbrella guys to join their free tours, both the one in Casco Histórico (Puerta de Almodóvar at 11 in Spanish, and at 13:30 in English ) and Legends of the Jewish Quarter (Puerta de Almodóvar at 17:30). Remember that all our tours need a previous reservation, which can be done through the web https://cordobafreetour.es.

 

 

Next, we leave you the schedules and prices of the aforementioned monuments: