Spain

Bullring & Rock La Linea, Spain & Gibraltar

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Rock from Linea Bullring, Gibraltar
Published: Benzaquen & Co, Gibraltar

The bull ring in La Línea de la Concepción, a town in the province of Cádiz at the southern edge of Spain, close to the British territory of Gibraltar, was opened in 1883.
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The bull ring is said to be unusual in that it has an odd number of sides. With 49 sides it is however nearly circular and it also has eleven entrances. The building was designed by Adolfo del Castillo and built on the Plaza de Arenal. It is now one of the oldest buildings in the town. The bull ring was built between 1880 and 1883 in a typical Andalusian style just thirteen years after the municipality was established. The bull ring is said to be a centre for meeting people including those from the nearby peninsula of Gibraltar. This may account for its original capacity being 6,000 people despite the town’s population only being 5,000 at the time.
Wikipedia.

Alhambra, Granada, Spain

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Granada. Alhambra Puerta de Justicia.
Gate of Justice

Google Street View.

The Alhambra resembles many medieval Christian strongholds in its threefold arrangement as a castle, a palace and a residential annex for subordinates. The alcazaba or citadel, its oldest part, is built on the isolated and precipitous foreland which terminates the plateau on the northwest. All that remains are its massive outer walls, towers and ramparts. On its watchtower, the 25 m (85 ft) high Torre de la Vela, the flag of Ferdinand and Isabella was first raised as a symbol of the Spanish conquest of Granada on 2 January 1492. A turret containing a large bell was added in the 18th century and restored after being damaged by lightning in 1881. Beyond the Alcazaba is the palace of the Moorish rulers, The Nasrid Palaces or Alhambra proper, and beyond this is the Alhambra Alta (Upper Alhambra), originally occupied by officials and courtiers. Access from the city to the Alhambra Park is afforded by the Puerta de las Granadas (Gate of Pomegranates), a triumphal arch dating from the 15th century. A steep ascent leads past the Pillar of Charles V, a fountain erected in 1554, to the main entrance of the Alhambra. This is the Puerta de la Justicia (Gate of Justice), a massive horseshoe archway surmounted by a square tower and used by the Moors as an informal court of justice.
Wikipedia

The Alhambra is Granada’s – and Europe’s – love letter to Moorish culture. Set against a backdrop of brooding Sierra Nevada peaks, this fortified palace complex started life as a walled citadel before going on to become the opulent seat of Granada’s Nasrid emirs. Their showpiece palaces, the 14th-century Palacios Nazaríes, are among the finest Islamic buildings in Europe and, together with the gorgeous Generalife gardens, form the Alhambra’s great headline act.
Lonely Planet

On looking from the royal villa the spectator beholds the side of the palace of Alhamra, that commands the quarter of the city, called the Albayzin. The massive towers are connected by solid walls, constructed upon the system of fortifications which generally prevailed in the middle ages. These walls and towers follow all the turnings and windings of the mountain; and, previously to the invention of gunpowder and artillery, this fortress must have been almost impregnable.
The Alhambra at Granada

Media Centre for Art History: panoramas
Masterpieces of Islamic Architecture


Granada. Alhambra. Sala de Justicia y Patio de Leones.
Hall of Justice & Court of the Lions
1910s
Publisher: Purger & Co., Munich (1907-1920)

Read moreAlhambra, Granada, Spain

Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, Spain

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Córdoba — La Mezquita. Laberinto de columnas.
The Mosque-Cathedral. Labyrinth of columns.
Published Agustin Fragero, Cordoba


Córdoba — La Mezquita. Una de las naves.
The Mosque-Cathedral. One of the naves.
Published Agustin Fragero, Cordoba

Google Maps (overhead view)
Google Maps, an internal view.

Cordoba’s period of greatest glory began in the 8th century after the Moorish conquest, when some 300 mosques and innumerable palaces and public buildings were built to rival the splendours of Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad. In the 13th century, under Ferdinand III, the Saint, Cordoba’s Great Mosque was turned into a cathedral and new defensive structures, particularly the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos and the Torre Fortaleza de la Calahorra, were erected.
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Founded by the Romans in the 2nd century BC near the pre-existing Tartesic Corduba, capital of Baetica, Cordoba acquired great importance during the period of Augustus. It became the capital of the emirate depending on Damascus in the 8th century. In 929, Abderraman III established it as the headquarters of the independent Caliphate. Cordoba’s period of greatest glory began in the 8th century after the Moorish conquest, when some 300 mosques and innumerable palaces and public buildings were built to rival the splendors of Constantinople, Damascus and Baghdad. In the 13th century, under Ferdinand III, Cordoba’s Great Mosque was turned into a cathedral and new defensive structures, particularly the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos and the Torre Foraleza de la Calahorra, were erected.
From UNESCO Word Heritage Listing.

The building itself was expanded over two hundred years. It is comprised of a large hypostyle prayer hall (hypostyle means, filled with columns), a courtyard with a fountain in the middle, an orange grove, a covered walkway circling the courtyard, and a minaret (a tower used to call the faithful to prayer) that is now encased in a squared, tapered bell tower. The expansive prayer hall seems magnified by its repeated geometry. It is built with recycled ancient Roman columns from which sprout a striking combination of two-tiered, symmetrical arches, formed of stone and red brick.
Khan Academy

Official Website

Sacred Destinations.
Islamic Arts and Architecture
Wikipedia.