Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos - Cordoba

The Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, or " Palace of the Christian Monarchs " is a medieval palace in the historic center of Córdoba, on the Guadalquivir.

This Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos palace is a mix of Christian and Islamic styles (the so -called Mujedar style ) and was built in the 14th century by order of King Alfonso XI, the king of Castile and León.

The most notable features of the Alcazar , however , are its four towers , one on each corner of the castle .

The Torre de los Leones (Lion Tower) has a square shape.

The most imposing tower is undoubtedly the Torre del Homenaje with an octagonal shape. The tower was previously known as 'The Clock Tower' (Torre del Reloj), and gets its name from the clock that used to be inside it'.

The third tower is the Torre de la Inquisición (Inquisition), with its round shape. This tower gets its name from the fact that for centuries it housed the archives of the Tribunal of the Holy Inquisition (Tribunal de la Santa Inquisition). This tower was also called the Tower of the Gardens (Torre de los Jardines).

And finally there is tower number four; Tower of the Dove ( La torre de la Paloma ), with a square shape. The original tower was demolished in the mid-19th century, the current tower is a reconstruction dating from the second half of the 20th century. The tower was also known as 'The Watch Tower' (Torre de la Vela).

Royal Baths of Doña Leonor (Baños reales de Doña Leonor) were built in 1328 by King Alfonso the 11th. They were divided into four rooms: the dressing room, the cold room, the temperate room and the warm room.

Henry's successor, Isabella and her husband, Ferdinand, used the Alcázar before one of the first permanent tribunals of the Spanish Inquisition and as headquarters for their campaign against the Nasrid dynasty in Granada, the last remaining Moorish kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula.

The Inquisition began using the Alcázar as one of its headquarters in 1482, turning much of it, including the Arab baths, into martyr and interrogation chambers. The Inquisition maintained a tribunal here for three centuries.

The Alcázar served as a garrison for Napoleon Bonaparte 's troops in 1810 . In 1821 the Alcázar became a prison. Finally, the Spanish government made the Alcázar a tourist attraction and national monument in the 1950s.

It is not a huge palace, but the gardens of the Alcazar are especially worth a visit.

Inside the palace is a museum with, among other things, Roman mosaics.

Willem Vandenameele