Much water has flowed under the sixteen arches of the bridge which spans the Guadalquivir since ‘Cordova was to Andalus what the head is to the body, or what the breast is to the loin’; the Moorish city of the thirty suburbs and three thousand mosques, whose fame once obscured the glory of ancient Damascus, is no longer the centre of European culture. ‘The brightest splendour of the world’ has been lost in centuries of neglect and decay, and the new light of a modern civilisation has not shone upon the remains of its mediæval grandeur. But the Cordova of the great Khalif is still the most African city in Spain; its mosque remains to give us a clearer and fuller idea of the power and magnificence of the Moors than anything else in the Peninsula, not excepting even the Alhambra; and in its narrow, uneven streets and mysterious, silent _patios_, in the gold and crimson of its fragrant gardens, the student and the artist may find unending interest and enchantment. In selecting the illustrations for this book, the authors have endeavoured to provide both for the antiquary and the lover of the beautiful; for those whose acquaintance with Spain must be made through the medium of the printed page, and for those more fortunate readers who will, we hope, find this book a memento of their wanderings in Andalusia. ALBERT F. CALVERT. WALTER M. GALLICHAN. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. THE BRIDE OF ANDALUS 1 II. THE MOORISH CAPTURE 13 III. THE OMEYYAD DYNASTY 23 IV. THE BUILDING OF THE MOSQUE 42 V. IN THE COURT OF ORANGES 57 VI. THE SPLENDOURS OF THE MOSQUE 65 VII. THE CATHEDRAL AND CHURCHES 75 VIII. THE PALACE OF THE KHALIFS AND THE MOORISH BRIDGE 79 IX. ILLUSTRIOUS NATIVES OF CORDOVA 83 APPENDIX I.--THE GREAT MOSQUE OF CORDOVA 96 APPENDIX II.--CORDOVA 100 ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE NO. View of the City and the Bridge south of the Guadalquivir, 1 The Bridge, 2 View of Mosque and Bridge, 3 The Iron Mill on the Guadalquivir, 4 Promenade of ‘Grand Capitaine,’ 5 Market Street, or Calle de la Feria, 6 Plaza del Triunfo and exterior of the Mosque, 7