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Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos

 

The Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos ( "Castle of the Christian Monarchs"), also known as the Alcázar of Córdoba, is a medieval alcázar or palace) located in the historic centre of Córdoba, next to the Guadalquivir River and close to the Mosque-Cathedral. The fortress served as one of the primary residences of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

It is a building of military character whose construction was ordered by the King Alfonso XI of Castile in the year 1328, on previous constructions (the Islamic-era Umayyad Alcázar, also the previous residence of the Roman Governor and the Customs). The architectural ensemble has a sober character in its exterior and splendid in its interior, with the magnificent gardens and courtyards that maintain a Mudéjar inspiration.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roman mosaic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pomegranate tree

 

 

These statues of Ferdinand, Isabel and Columbus in the Alcazar gardens by Pablo Yusti commemorate the commission given to the ambitious navigator by the Catholic Monarchs (Reyes Católicos). Columbus would have wished that his negotiations with the Castilian and Aragonese monarchs were as short and straightforward as Yusti portrayed them to be. His first audience was in Cordoba in 1485, but he didn't convince them fully until 1491.