Historic Spain

 

When we visited Spain last month, what stood out most was its history. Spain’s history predates the Romans, but the tour only took us back as far as the Moors.

The Moors were Muslims from Africa, and they conquered Spain in the 8^th century. They divided the country into states and ruled for 500 years until the Christians started making serious inroads. As part of their conquest, the Christians destroyed most of the mosques and the Islamic sites. There were two major exceptions, however, which were spared when the rulers of those areas decided to surrender rather than to fight to the end. One was the mosque in the city of Córdoba, which subsequently became a Catholic cathedral. Now called the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, it retains many of the architectural features of the original mosque. These photos show the exterior and the interior of the Mosque-Cathedral.

The other exception was The Alhambra, which was built and originally occupied as a Muslim royal complex that was a fully-contained city separate from the city of Grenada. The photo at the top of this post is an exterior shot of The Alhambra, and the one below shows some interior detail.

After The Alhambra was taken over by the Christians in the late 1400s, it housed the royal court of Ferdinand and Isabella and was the place where Christopher Columbus received the royal endorsement for his expedition.

The next photos are from Seville and show the cathedral where Christopher Columbus is buried, his tomb (which is actually in the coffin in the monument rather than in the floor beneath it), and another monument to Christopher Columbus with the three ships represented halfway up.

Spain was Christopher Columbus’ first burial place, but then his son took his bones to Santo Domingo, and from there they traveled to Cuba before returning to Seville. The tomb at Seville was opened on the 500^th anniversary of his voyage and it was discovered that only some of his bones were there, but those bones were validated as his through a DNA comparison with his son’s bones, which are buried in the same cathedral.

As mentioned, Ferdinand and Isabella lived in The Alhambra, but the royal palace at Madrid is actually more imposing from the outside. The royal family does not live there these days, but the next photo shows its majesty.

Moving forward in history, Seville held a world exhibition in 1929. Unfortunately, it coincided with the Wall Street crash. Even so, many countries built elaborate and structurally solid exhibit buildings that are still in use today, many as university buildings. Spain’s own exhibition building houses offices so the interior isn’t open for tourists, but the courtyard is, and it’s impressive. The last two photos show the building that surrounds the courtyard and one of the many beautiful bridges leading to the center of the courtyard.

Next week I’ll take you to the final country on our trip—colorful Morocco.