Analysis of the Old and New Christian Kings Alcazar, Cordoba (Spain)

Old Alcazar - New Alcazar

        To begin the analysis of both historical and artistic building, I would like to clarify The Alcazar in the 14th Centurya concept that already point historian cordovan Don Miguel Salcedo Hierro in their studies on this great monument, and currently is the subject of doubt amongst the cordoban, we have to make a clear distinction between the "Old Alcazar" and the "New Alcazar".
        The Old Alcazar was carried out during the Roman Period and it included the: Forum Censorum, the Palace of the Pretor, the Residence of the Cuestor’s, the stores for the army and the port by the Guadalquivir River. All these buildings were protected by a big wall that started in the Roman Bridge andTribute Tower continued till the Episcopal Palace, from there till the occidental walls of the city, nowadays known as La Muralla Street (Wall Street). Since there the wall continued till the south east corner of the city and till the Door of the Roman Bridge.
        The Alcazar was elected by Emir Abd al-Rahman I as Tower of Bethlehem in the Old Alcazar neighborhoodhis residence, he divided it into two parts, one for the Royal Palace and another, the older, was for the Army. From this moment you can make a clear difference between the old Alcazar and the new one. The wall that divided them starting at the edge of the Royal Stables and continues until the Wall Street.
        The New Alcazar occupied what is nowadays the Episcopal Palace, the Campo Santo of the Martyrs, the current Alcazar and its vegetable garden. This Alcazar communicated with the waterwheel of the Albolafia through a horseshoe arch, waterwheel of great importance to the city and we explain later.
        The part that remains of the Old or Ancient Alcazar in the Reconquest Period was rebuilt as Muslim Alcazaba, conserving the Tower of Bethlehem and the wall.

Text: J.A.S.C.

Traslated by Sara Moretti