06 June 2019

The Patios of Córdoba
offer a unique insight
into life in Andalucía

The ‘Patios of Córdoba’ are an escape from the hot sun of Andalucía (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

I arrived in Córdoba from Malaga late yesterday afternoon, and I am staying in the Maciá Alfaros Hotel, set in a traditional Andalucían-style building. The Roman Temple, the Archaeological Museum and the Museum of Fine Arts are just 500 metres from the hotel, the Alcázar castle is less than 1 km, and it is 15 minutes’ walk to Córdoba’s mosque and cathedral, and the Jewish Quarter.

As the evening began to cool down yesterday [5 June 2019], I joined a guided walking tour of the ‘Patios of Córdoba’ in courtyards in the traditional neighbourhood of San Basilio.

These patios and courtyards offer shade from the hot sun of Andalucía, and some have features dating back to Roman times.

We heard about the tradition of decorating the patios with an abundance of flowers, mosaics and other garden features. We were just a few weeks too late for annual mid-May contest known as the ‘Battle of the Flowers,’ when the private courtyards are opened to the public as part of the spring celebrations.

Every spring, Córdoba bursts into bloom with special festivities for the month of May. Starting with a parade known as the ‘Battle of the Flowers,’ the city officially launches its spring celebrations with the May Crosses festival, usually in the first week of May, followed by the Patio Contests that can easily continue well past the middle of the month.

This annual patio contest, which is over a century old, is sponsored by Córdoba City Hall and dates back to 1918.

Some of the patios include features that date back to Roman times in Córdoba (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Because of the hot, dry climate, homes in Córdoba were built with a central patio, even back in the days of the Romans. This tradition continued with the Moors and persists in many homes to this day.

Filling the central patio with plants and water features is a way to keep these homes cool. But, thanks to human creativity and ingenuity, patio decoration ended up taking on a life all of its own. At some point, someone realised that these hidden treasures were too good to be kept hidden behind heavy doors and iron grates. So, the doors open once a year, and everyone is invited in to see the wonders of the patios of Córdoba.

These patios not only offer a visual feast of colourful flowers, stone mosaics and ceramic decorations, but they also offer experiences of the classic scents of Córdoba: jasmine and orange blossom, mixed with a myriad of scents from the flowers and plants that bring the city alive.

A range of patios is open to public viewing each year. The patios include private, single-family homes opening their doors to show the courtyards around which their old-style homes centre. There are larger, low-built, apartment-style buildings that have courtyards where often many gardeners work together throughout the year to cultivate their shared meeting areas.

Even the Viana Palace, a 14th century palace, offers an opportunity to see 12 different patios. Convents, religious buildings and university faculties join in the late spring celebration, and with the best names in flamenco adding sound to the sights, smells, textures and tastes, Córdoba becomes a feast for all five senses in the month of May.

Fifty or so patios that are part of the competition are open to the public. These patios are normally open from 11 am to 2 pm and from 6 pm to 10 pm most days at this time of the year, and some stay open later on Fridays and Saturdays.

An invitation to visit a patio in Córdoba is often an invitation into a family home (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

In search of a lost
Sephardic legacy in
the streets of Málaga

The site of the Sephardic heritage centre in Málaga (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Before leaving Málaga for Cordoba earlier today, I went in search of the Jewish legacy of Málaga and the old Jewish quarter or Juderia.

This part of the Iberian peninsula was an important colony in the Roman Empire. From here, and the Jewish community traded freely with other cities along the North African coast. But when the Visigoth hordes arrived, Jews were almost totally enslaved, and by 711 there were no Jews publicly practising in Málaga.

Life under Muslim rule attracted many Jews back and by the mid-11th century the Jewish population had reached 200.

However, the Jews of Málaga were expelled like all Jews in Spain during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, at the height of the Spanish Inquisition. Some of the estimated 100,000 to 200,000 Jews living in Spain at the time converted to Catholicism and stayed, but the majority migrated to North Africa, the Balkans and what was then the Ottoman Empire, bringing their Spanish language and culture with them.

Spain was once home to one of the most populous and productive Jewish civilisations in the world, and all Sephardic Jews who can prove their origins are being invited back to live in Spain, offering dual citizenship. Sephardic organisations estimate that as many as 3.5 million Jews could potentially apply for a Spanish passport.

The statue of Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021-1058), Jewish poet and philosopher, near the Roman Amphitheatre (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Little is left of the old Juderia, the former Jewish quarter near the Picasso Museum, apart from its name. On Calle Alcazabilla, opposite the Roman Amphitheatre and under some trees, is a bronze statue of Ben Gabirol, also known as Solomon ibn Gabirol (1021-1058), the Jewish poet and philosopher.

He was born almost 1,000 years ago and was an important and influential thinker also known as Avicebron. He is known in the history of philosophy for the idea that all things, including soul and intellect, are composed of matter and form (‘Universal Hylomorphism’), and for his emphasis on the divine will.

Now, after five centuries, Sephardic life is returning to Málaga in the form of a new heritage and community centre. Jews started to return to Málaga in significant numbers in the early 1960s, coming mainly from North Africa, and the city now has a thriving Jewish community, with more than 1,200 people and Málaga has a synagogue and a kosher deli.

Plans for a centre in Málaga dedicated to the legacy of Spain’s Sephardic Jews have been stop-and-go in recent years. The new centre is on a plot of land between Calle Granada and Calle Alcazabilla, the Plaza de Judería marks the heart of the former Jewish quarter.

The vision is for a Sephardic Cultural Centre focussing on the legacy of the flowering of Jewish thought in Spain in the 15th century and on the thinkers of the Sephardic diaspora following their expulsion in 1492.

The €2 million project was first proposed almost 20 years ago but has been delayed because of a shortage of funds. A new architect, Leon Benacerraf, took over the project recently, changes were made to the plans, including an interior courtyard, and work was due to begin this year.

The new two-storey centre will house a synagogue and include an exhibition space, a study centre and a location for cultural activities. Different parts of the museum will focus on the great Sephardic intellectuals of Spain, the flowering of Jewish thought in Spain in the 15th century, the Sephardic literary tradition, the community’s architecture and the heritage of the Sephardic diaspora.

The centre will be supported by institutions including the University of Málaga, while the honorary president of the foundation managing the centre will be the former US ambassador to Spain, Alan Solomont.

The centre will highlight the ‘literary and intellectual wealth of a community that has given us great thinkers, but about which we know hardly anything,’ according to the future curator, publisher and journalist Basilio Baltasar.

There are hopes to finish the project by 2021, in time for the programmes to celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the birth in Málaga of the poet and philosopher Solomon ibn Gabirol.

The Plaza de Judería marks the heart of the former Jewish quarter in Málaga (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)