Cordoba was known as the city of the 700 taverns. It was founded about the year 152 bC and it was the capital of Hispania Baetica, one of the two provinces of Hispania Ulterior (further Hispania). The other province of Hispania Ulterior was Lusitania.
The Romans made a commercial harbor in the Guadalquivir River and next to it they constructed a building where the Governor and the Quaestor lived. Customs (Forum Censorium) was also located in the building. The one and only Julius Caesar lived there when he was the Quaestor in the year 65 bC. The dimensions of this building were even larger than the current Fortress.
When the Arabs arrived they built over the ruins of the Omaya Palace. Next to the Fortress the Emir Al-Hakan I ordered the construction of two big stables to shelter his more than 2000 Arab pure blood horses. After the conquest those horses were used by the Christian Kings.
When the Caliph Abd Al-Rahman III ascended to the throne, the Fortress lost importance in favor of the Medinat Al-Zahra. From this Arab epoch the only remains are the Baths of Caliphate, moldings and some geometric decoration in friezes and skirting boards.
The Christian troops of the King Saint Ferdinand III reconquered the city in 1236 and then the Fortress was used as the royal residence. Alfonso X the Wise was the one who started to use the Fortress as a real fortress and it was Alfonso XI the Avenger in 1328 who fortified the fortress with walls and towers which are still well preserved.
In 1482 the Fortress became the headquarters of the Catholic King’s troops and it was also their residence for eight years during the fight to conquer back the Reign of Granada, which was the last Spanish territory governed by the Muslims. This territory was recovered the 2nd January 1492, when the King Boabdil El Chico surrendered to the King Ferdinand and the Queen Isabel. The capitulations had been previously signed the 25th November 1491.
One of the daughters of the Catholic Kings, María, was born in the Fortress, and the first bullfight that took place in Cordoba was celebrated in the gardens of the Fortress. That bullfight was in the honor of one of the Catholic Kings’ son, Juan.
In the year 1486 the Kings received in the Fortress to Christopher Columbus.
In 1492, when Spain was reunified, the Kings left Cordoba and authorized the Inquisition to use the Fortress as their headquarters. Due to this new use some of the areas of the Fortress were modified, for example, they built dungeons as well as balconies in two of their four towers in order to hang the condemned.
The Inquisition used the Fortress until it was abolished by the Cadiz Cortes in 1812. After that it was used as a civil prison from 1822 to 1932 and then it became a military facility until 1955 when the building and the garden were given to Cordoba City Hall.
The 4th of June of 1931 it was qualified as a Historical Monument and in 1994 it was considered together with an area of Cordoba as World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
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