Travel Tuesday: A Medieval Synagogue in Córdoba, Spain

The entrance to the synagogue. The gallery above the entrance was reserved for women, who were kept out of sight of the men praying downstairs.

I just got back from Córdoba, a fascinating medieval town in southern Spain that was the capital of Islamic Spain for many years and remained important in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A hallmark of the city during its Islamic rule was the large Jewish community, which got kicked out in 1492 when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all the Jews and Muslims after completing the Reconquista.

Luckily a synagogue built in 1315, at the high point of Andalusian Jewish culture, has been remarkably preserved. Its decoration was common for Spanish synagogues of the time, incorporating complex plaster work in the Islamic style. After 1492, the building was used as a hospital and later a shoemaker's guild. At some point the plaster work was covered over, hiding it but also preserving it. In 1884, as the building fell into decay, some of this later mortar work fell away and the earlier decoration revealed. The synagogue was declared a national monument a year later.

The decoration is similar to a synagogue in Tangier I visited a couple of years ago. Click the link for more about that.

 

A closeup of the arch. Note the cross that was added later.

Travel Tuesday: El Castillo de Aulencia, Spain

My wife works about 15 miles outside of Madrid and this castle is right next to her research institute. Spring has finally sprung here in Spain and she took this amazing photo. It the winter this castle looks completely different, dark and brooding on its bare hill.

This is the Castillo de Aulencia, which guarded the confluence of the Aulencia and Guadarrama rivers. It started as an Arab castle until it was captured by the advancing Christian armies in the 14th century. They rebuilt the castle and most of what you see today dates to the 15th century. After the Reconquista pushed the Moors further and further south, this castle became less useful, especially after the Moors were kicked out of Spain entirely in 1492. Then it was allowed to slowly decay.

It took a few hits during the Spanish Civil War when the Battle of Brunete raged around it in 1937. It had a good view of the surrounding countryside so a unit of Russian volunteers on the Republican side held it for a time. The fascists pummeled the walls with artillery fire, forcing the Russians to withdraw.

Unfortunately this castle is not open to the public. This is the closest I've ever been!

Photo courtesy Almudena Alonso-Herrero.