Plaza de las Tendillas - Cordoba

In the center of Cordoba we find the Plaza de las Tendillas.

To know the origins of the Plaza de las Tendillas, we must go back to the beginning of the last century, when Don José Cruz Conde was mayor of the city. It was then decided in 1924 to demolish the old Hotel Suizo , described by Teodomiro Ramírez de Arellano as "one of the best inns in Spain".

However, the distinguishing feature of the Plaza de las Tendillas, its icon , is the beautiful equestrian statue of Don Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, popularly known as El Gran Capitán . Created in 1920 by the Cordovan sculptor Mateo Inurria Lainosa, it first stood in Avenida del Gran Capitán, and was moved to the Tendillas in 1927.

It is a bronze statue except for the head, which is carved in white marble. According to legend, the head belonged to an ancient statue of the bullfighter Rafael Molina El Lagartijo, but this is an unfounded fact, since Inurria himself sculpted a bust of the bullfighter, which is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, and their facial features don't match at all.

The demolition of the Hotel Suizo in 1924 freed up a large area, to which buildings were added little by little, most of which are still preserved. For example, in 1926 the houses of Martín Fernández and Casana Diéguez were built on the western edge of the square and Fénix on the north side.

Willem Vandenameele