Córdoba (English Cordova), city in southern Spain, capital of Córdoba Province, in Andalucía, and one of Spain's most famous cities. Located on the Guadalquivir River, it retains in its older sections the whitewashed walls, narrow streets, and colorful patios of a Moorish city. Córdoba is a trade center for the olives and citrus fruit produced nearby and also has many manufacturing industries. Products include processed food, beer, textiles, machinery, and refined copper. A variety of handcrafted items, especially silver and leather goods, are also produced, chiefly to be sold to the many tourists who visit the city.
The city's most noteworthy building is its great cathedral, which originally was constructed (8th-10th century) as a Moorish mosque on the site of a Roman temple and later of a Visigothic church. Córdoba's mosque was noted as Europe's largest and most beautiful Muslim holy building before its conversion into a Christian church in 1236. Another notable structure is the Alcázar, a former Moorish palace erected on the site of Roman buildings and used in later centuries as the seat of the Inquisition; it is now largely in ruins. A bridge of 16 arches, built by the Romans and reconstructed by the Moors, connects the central city with Campo de la Verdad, a section across the Guadalquivir; near the bridge is Calahorra Castle. The city is the seat of the University of Córdoba (1972).
