Chapel of Saint Bartholomew
This is one of the most unknown monuments but at the same time one of the
most attractive and in the near future one of the most visited of our city. It is integrated into the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of Córdoba, this building was since the XVIII Century till the XX Century the Cardinal Salazar Hospital and you could entry through the internal court that leads from the Averroes street or from the internal part of this faculty.
In 1391 the Old Alcazar Section became crowder and the abandonment of the Jewish Quarter, and it was necessary to create a new church, the Saint Bartholomew Church, and with this name it appears since 1410. As it was logical a new building was
necessary that was built between 1399 and 1410.
The little space continued being church till the beginning of the XVII century. This building suffered different modifications by adding new parts, but its style is gothic-mudejar. It occupies a square space divided into two sections, one is the chapel and the other one is the hall. It is made with sandstone ashlars.
The chapel has a rectangular shape, 9 x 5 meters on its side.
The head is flat, where the presbytery is spotted by a little step. It has got two entrances, the first it is towards an external porch that is into the court and it leads to the Averroes Street. On the other hand there is a second entrance that leads to a lateral chapel, that curiously is closed from outside, so it is supposed that the entrance was situated in the sacristy.
The entrance leads to a court it has a pointed arch, but it is decorated with a zig zag or saw teeth. On mantelpieces made with leaves and rolls, there are little muslim columns with rolled
medallions, and put on a plain roof. The entrance is protected by a porch of three pointed and sloping arches put on reused columns.
When you enter into the chapel you realize that the entrance is quite different from the others: it has a pointed embroidered arch framed by an alfiz and decorated with gypsum. The ceilings are divided into two vaults, whose key elements are decorated with plants, and joined by gothic backbone decorated with saw teeth. The angles of the
vaults are resolved through cross vaults, solution used in the time, as the Lion Tower of the Christian Kings Alcazar.
Then we are going to explain in an easy and useful way the decoration of this church: it was thought as a mudejar concept in the internal part where the tiles and the gypsum are alterned.
The floor is made with an alternance of tiles and bricks like in the middle age, they are probably original to the completion of the chapel. The wainscot was restored a lot of
times, because he was the one that has suffered more in previous rehabilitation processes.
The gypsum mouldings cover the totality of the walls of the room; they have geometrical shields and epigraphic decoration. In the geometrical decoration we find the ribbon decoration, appearing stars and shields. The shields represented in the walls are related to the Order of the band, constituted by Alphonse IX. In the epigraphic decoration we find the cufic writing and the nasji writing. In one of them it is said: "the eternity for Allah, the glory for Allah".
most attractive and in the near future one of the most visited of our city. It is integrated into the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature of Córdoba, this building was since the XVIII Century till the XX Century the Cardinal Salazar Hospital and you could entry through the internal court that leads from the Averroes street or from the internal part of this faculty.
In 1391 the Old Alcazar Section became crowder and the abandonment of the Jewish Quarter, and it was necessary to create a new church, the Saint Bartholomew Church, and with this name it appears since 1410. As it was logical a new building was
necessary that was built between 1399 and 1410.
The little space continued being church till the beginning of the XVII century. This building suffered different modifications by adding new parts, but its style is gothic-mudejar. It occupies a square space divided into two sections, one is the chapel and the other one is the hall. It is made with sandstone ashlars.
The chapel has a rectangular shape, 9 x 5 meters on its side.
The head is flat, where the presbytery is spotted by a little step. It has got two entrances, the first it is towards an external porch that is into the court and it leads to the Averroes Street. On the other hand there is a second entrance that leads to a lateral chapel, that curiously is closed from outside, so it is supposed that the entrance was situated in the sacristy.
The entrance leads to a court it has a pointed arch, but it is decorated with a zig zag or saw teeth. On mantelpieces made with leaves and rolls, there are little muslim columns with rolled
medallions, and put on a plain roof. The entrance is protected by a porch of three pointed and sloping arches put on reused columns.
When you enter into the chapel you realize that the entrance is quite different from the others: it has a pointed embroidered arch framed by an alfiz and decorated with gypsum. The ceilings are divided into two vaults, whose key elements are decorated with plants, and joined by gothic backbone decorated with saw teeth. The angles of the
vaults are resolved through cross vaults, solution used in the time, as the Lion Tower of the Christian Kings Alcazar.
Then we are going to explain in an easy and useful way the decoration of this church: it was thought as a mudejar concept in the internal part where the tiles and the gypsum are alterned.
The floor is made with an alternance of tiles and bricks like in the middle age, they are probably original to the completion of the chapel. The wainscot was restored a lot of
times, because he was the one that has suffered more in previous rehabilitation processes. The gypsum mouldings cover the totality of the walls of the room; they have geometrical shields and epigraphic decoration. In the geometrical decoration we find the ribbon decoration, appearing stars and shields. The shields represented in the walls are related to the Order of the band, constituted by Alphonse IX. In the epigraphic decoration we find the cufic writing and the nasji writing. In one of them it is said: "the eternity for Allah, the glory for Allah".
Text: J.A.S.C.
Traslated by Sara Moretti
Art, Culture and Tourism in Cordoba