Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos

Córdoba, Spain, Spain

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Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos in Córdoba is a medieval fortress-palace built by King Alfonso XI of Castile around 1328–1329 on top of earlier Roman, Visigothic, and Islamic (Umayyad and Almohad) fortifications beside the Guadalquivir River. From its almost-square walled enclosure with four corner towers—Lions, Homage, Inquisition, and Doves—it served as royal residence, later headquarters of the Catholic Monarchs during the final campaigns of the Reconquista, and then a tribunal and prison of the Spanish Inquisition before becoming a civil prison into the 20th century. Today it is best known for its gardens and Mudéjar-style courtyards with pools, fountains, and geometric flowerbeds behind austere Gothic walls, recognized as a Cultural Interest Site since 1931 and included within Córdoba’s UNESCO World Heritage historic center.