Los castillos en el reino de Córdoba: revisión historiográfica y perspectivas actuales

After a historiographical survey of the most relevant authors who have dealt with fortifications in the Late Medieval Kingdom of Cordoba ( Spain ), we have tried to establish an evolution in the different ways of approaching the study of this particular buildings. At the same time, we analyse the various opportunities for ressearching that have come out, both from restoration projects carried out on architectural heritage and from the main methodology advances and new approaches wich have been developed in recent years.A partir de la revisión de los títulos y autores más representativos que han tratado el tema de las fortificaciones medievales cordobesas, nuestra intención es marcar una evolución de los diferentes planteamientos en su estudio, desde sus orígenes hasta llegar al estado actual de la cuestión. Igualmente, esbozaremos las múltiples posibilidades que se abren en esta investigación, ya sea a raíz de las intervenciones arquitectónicas sobre el patrimonio monumental, ya de las principales innovaciones metodológicas y nuevos enfoques aplicados en los últimos años

The Alcázar of Córdoba: the seat of Islamic power in Al-Andalus

The palace of the Umayyad dynasty, built in the south-western corner of the medina of Córdoba after the Islamic conquest of the city, has been a building recurrently mentioned in Arabian chronicle sources. Thanks to these written references, we know of its location, its approximate size, the name of its gates, some of the pavilions that form it, and many of the transcendental events that occurred there or behind its walls. However, the material information of this architectural complex is still relatively unknown, unlike the case of another great Umayyad building, the Congregational Mosque to which it was attached, which underwent successive well-known expansions. While the Islamic oratory has preserved a good part of its architectural integrity, with the exception of the construction of the cathedral in the 16th century, the palace complex was broken down and separated into pieces that were assigned by the Castilian monarchs to the conquest’s collaborators (cfr. Escobar Camacho 1989, pp. 127–28; Escobar Camacho 2020, p. 389 ss.), so that the unity of this extensive area was separated into many properties that have undergone an uneven urban evolution, the result being the loss of the complex’s image. This lack of a more evident materiality explains its scarce prominence in publications on Umayyad art and architecture. Another factor to bear in mind is the fact that the urban nature of the area where the Al-Andalus Alcázar is located has undergone far fewer changes than other areas of the city, in which property speculation and building renewal have together led to the completion of various archaeological interventions (Figure 1). The ownership of the Church of an important part of the space occupied by the Alcázar, with buildings identified as having high heritage value (The Episcopal Palace, Seminary of Saint Pelagius, Hospital of Saint Sebastian, etc.), and the transformation of the centre of the palace complex into a large public square (Plaza Campo Santo de los Mártires) have reduced the possibilities of performing preventive archaeological activities until recently. The only exceptions up to the end of the 20th were the discovery and conversion into a museum of the so-called “caliphal baths” in 1903 and in the 1960s, and the activities in the “Bishop’s Gardens” at the beginning of the 1970s (vid. Infra). In addition to the above, other factors have conditioned research on the Al-Andalus architectural complex: on the one hand, the difficulty in identifying material evidence recovered from this space, and on the other, the approach by studies in the framework of a philological tradition that has defined decades of work on the Al-Andalus Umayyad capital (cfr. León-Muñoz 2022, p. 26). This trend has entailed a certain burden for the research, which has restricted the possibilities of archaeological analysis, subject to the documentary information. Fortunately, in recent years, various archaeological interventions integrated in heritage recovery projects in the south-western sector of the city have provided substantial information regarding the architectural origin and evolution of the Alcázar and have allowed for the approach of a new reading of the space occupied by the seat of Al-Andalus power in Córdoba. It is increasingly evident that the way of looking influences our view of things. Accordingly, the change of paradigm and the observation from the optics of archaeology are transforming the means of conceiving this extensive architectural complex towards a mainly material reading with a diachronic suggestion

La Calahorra, o el puente fortificado de Córdoba en época califal

The Calahorra fortress, which is situated at the head of Cordoba's principal bridge, is a complex building which was subject to successive additions and reforms throughout the medieval ages. Our study will define the elements of the earliest phase. After we present the traditional interpretations, we propose what we believe to be the construction date, in the caliphal period. To confirm our hypothesis, we consider the archaeological analysis of the arch and the caliphal masonry of the walls of the cordoban fortress and we compare it with other similar examples, which although they are no longer in existence, survive in a wide range of written and graphic evidence. The coinciding features of these examples permit us to conclude that there was a general stereotype of fortified bridge in the final years of the caliphate, under the effective rule of Almanzor.La fortaleza de la Calahorra , emplazada en la cabecera del Puente Mayor de Córdoba, es un edificio complejo que ha sido objeto de sucesivos añadidos y reformas a lo largo de la etapa medieval. Nuestro estudio se va a limitar a los elementos de la fase más antigua. Tras exponer las interpretaciones tradicionales, planteamos nuestra hipótesis acerca de la fecha de su construcción en época califal. Para ello abordamos el análisis arqueológico del arco y de los paramentos integrados en la fortaleza cordobesa y los ponemos en relación con otros ejemplares similares, no conservados en la actualidad, pero que cuentan con una variada gama de testimonios documentales y gráficos. La confluencia de estos ejemplos nos permite plantear, en última instancia, la generalización de un modelo de puente fortificado en los últimos años del califato, bajo el gobierno efectivo de Almanzor

Técnicas constructivas mixtas en piedra en la Córdoba omeya

This work compiles a wide repertoire of constructions from Cordova, in which mixed constructive techniques in stone are used from the Late Antiquity to the end of the Umayyad Caliphate of al-Ándalus. The building procedures identified come from, generally, monumental public structures. This study shows the maintenance of these techniques as a resource to reduce costs in the construction of large architectural projects, as well as to maintain the prestigious use of stone as the main building material.En este trabajo recopilamos un amplio repertorio de construcciones cordobesas en las que se emplean técnicas constructivas mixtas en piedra, desde época tardoantigua hasta el final del Califato Omeya de al-Ándalus. Los tipos de aparejos identificados están, por lo general, vinculados con construcciones públicas de carácter monumental. De este estudio se deduce el mantenimiento de estas técnicas como un recurso para reducir costes en la construcción de los grandes proyectos arquitectónicos, pero manteniendo el carácter prestigioso del empleo de la piedra como material edilicio básico

El Alcázar de Sevilla. Primeros estudios sobre estratigrafía y evolución constructiva. (Serie Arqueología Monografías. Memorias, Junta de Andalucía, Consejería de Cultura, Sevilla. 2002 / Miguel Ángel Tobales

-Artículo revisado por pare

Manuel Ocaña's contributions to the archeology of Cordoba

En este texto se hace un sucinto balance del papel que, de forma más o menos directa, tuvo Manuel Ocaña en el desarrollo de la arqueología de la Córdoba andalusí. Para ello se contextualiza la labor de don Manuel en el marco de la investigación arqueológica sobre la capital del estado omeya de al-Andalus, y sus contribuciones sobre otras etapas de la ocupación islámica de la ciudad, para valorar en su justa medida la validez y vigencia de sus conclusiones.The aim of this paper is to make a brief balance of Manuel Ocaña’s role in the development of the archeology about Islamic Cordoba. For this, Ocaña’s work is framed into the archaeological research of al-Andalus’s Umayyad capital; as well as his contributions in other stages of the Islamic occupation of the city. This will allow us to consider the validity and utility of his conclusions