Mezquita Catedral - La Noria de Albolafia, Córdoba

17 05 2023

Mezquita Catedral – La Noria de Albolafia

This is a short circular walk and one of my favourites in Córdoba.

It starts in the Patio de los Naranjos, the garden within the Mezquita – Catedral, which is free.

From here we take the side exit passing the Palacio de Congresos and Palacio Episcopal, and then turn right at the Triunfo de San Rafael.
Turning left you pass the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos. Then crossing over the road and going down the steps, follow the faint path to this amazing very old watermill (crossing a small stream) Molino de la Albolafia. Make your way to the water’s edge of the river Guadalquivir where you have the roman bridge, Puente Romano in front of you.

Head back to the road, turning right onto the Ronda de Isasa-Ribera walkway, where you will pass the gate – Puerta del Puente (one of the old main entrances to Córdoba). Then turn left passing the remains of a roman wall, and then passing the Mezquita until you get back to the gardens.

A short walk with lots to see.

The Albolafia Mill is a hydraulic mill located on the right bank of the Guadalquivir, between the Roman bridge and the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos in the city of Córdoba, Spain. It is the oldest mill on the banks of the city and is framed in the natural space of the Sotos de la Albolafia.
Its importance in the history of the city is so relevant that its Ferris wheel appears in the local coat of arms since the FOURTEENTH century. In addition, it is located within the limits of the Historic Center of Córdoba, declared a World Heritage Site in 1984 and expanded in 1994. It was also declared an Asset of Cultural Interest on July 21, 2009.

According to the historian Miguel Asín Palacios, Albolafia would mean "of good luck" or "of good health", while Rafael Castejón associates it with a proper name, Abu-l Afia, translated as "father of happiness", which would be linked to the architect of the ferris wheel. It is also relevant that the mill was owned by the Cabrera family during the Late Middle Ages and that they were the lords of the so-called Torre de la Albolafia in the Cordovan countryside, perhaps linked to this monument. Although it is unknown if in Roman times there were hydraulic mills in this area, the first documentary references belong to the EIGHTH century, after the Umayyad conquest of the peninsula. Ambrosio de Morales (1513-1591) affirms that, during the martyrdom of Eulogio, in the year 859 there was already the batán de la Albolafia, a questionable description, since it seems to describe the Christian Córdoba. On the other hand, Leopoldo Torres Balbás declares, based on works by Lévi-Provençal, that it had been built, according to an Arab chronicle, between 1136 and 1137 by the Almoravid governor of Córdoba, Tasufín, son of the emir Ali ibn Yusuf and future emir. Although no author proves the supposed origin, during the demolition of the iron mill for the construction of the Murallón de la Ribera, some coins from this period were found.
The first explicit reference in the sources would be in 1337, a century after the Castilian conquest of the city. The first images of the seal of the city with the Mosque-cathedral, the Roman bridge and the Ferris wheel appear in 1357, during the reign of Pedro I of Castile. The doubts of its Andalusian origin were increased when the architect Félix Hernández identified the wall that holds the wheel and the ogival and horseshoe arches as belonging to the fourteenth century. In the fifteenth century the Granada poet Ibn al-Khatib speaks of Cordoba where "the star of his Albolafia turns measured with a perfect rhythm".
The historians Julio Caro Baroja and Torres Balbás declared that Queen Isabella the Catholic ordered the dismantling of the Ferris wheel in June 1492, when she was sick in the Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos, due to the noise produced by the rotation of its axis. In addition, José de la Torre y del Cerro published a document from 1508, preserved in the Municipal Archive of Córdoba that attests to this. After its clearing, it seems that the ownership of the waters passed to Pedro de Hermosilla in 1499, "broslador and servant of the kings" and neighbour of the neighbourhood of Santa Marina.
Its initial function was to provide irrigation water for the orchards of the Alcázar, although later it became a flour mill and batán. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries it had five grinding wheels, two belonging to the main church and the remaining three to members of the local oligarchy. The external appearance of the mill remained practically unchanged between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, as can be seen in historical engravings. It was confiscated in 1855, becoming owner Rafael Sánchez Castañeda in 1870. Once the owner died, his daughters took over the structure, although it was later seized by the Treasury in 1914, becoming the property of the State.
Later, in 1965, it was ceded to the City Council of Córdoba, whose mayor at that time was Antonio Guzmán Reina. The politician ordered the architect Félix Hernández to reform the complex that same year, due to its state of total abandonment, who returned the big wheel to its original place. The last intervention was carried out in 1992, after suffering a fire, when the Ferris wheel was rebuilt and the works were used to excavate the base of the mill and expose the water channels.
Information courtesy of Wikipedia.