final_meeting-english The pupils of Tourism lead the tour of the “Fernandinian Churches” on April 17. The “Fernandinian Churches” are a group of religious buildings built under the rule of king Fernando III “the Saint” after the conquest of Cordoba in 1236. Many of them were built on top of former mosques, with a clear intention of wiping out the Islamic influence so visible in the city.
There are fourteen parishes considered as “Fernandinian” churches in Cordoba. It was impossible to visit all of them that morning, so we decided to organize our tour to include just five of them.
We met the Comenius Group in San Andres´square at 9:30 in the mornig. First, our student Nicole talked about the features Fenandinian churches have in common, then Ángel explained the exterior of this church, pointing out its curious architectural transformation. Over the years it has been a Roman temple, a Visigothic basilica, a Gothic church and finally a Baroque church. Then, we visited the interior where we could see how the temple is organized into a nave and two aisles covered with groin vaults. We also saw its charming altarpiece in Churrigueresque style and the interesting paintings by Antonio del Castillo and Palomino.
Later, we took a break from the fernandinian churches and we visited the “Palace of Viana”. A professional guide showed us the whole house. During the visit, our English teacher, Inma Gañan, translated the guide explanations into English because the guide only spoke Spanish. After that, we visited the gardens on our own. We really enjoyed The Palace of Viana.
At twelve o’clock we continued with our tour. Manuel, one of our pupils, explained the exterior of St. Marina of the Holy Waters. The architecture and decoration of this church are the ones typical of Fernandinian Churches in Cordoba. He pointed out the rose window, the buttresses and the way the walls were constructed following the Hispano- Muslim tradition. Later, he showed the entrance door and the entrance on the Gospel side, both have beautiful pointed arches with archivolts. He also pointed out the bell tower that was built by Hernán Ruiz II on the first section of the late medieval tower. In the interior, Inma López made a description of the church plant and highlighted the Mudejar wood coffered ceiling which is very typical of Fernandinian churches.
Following this visit, the pupils took the group to see the exterior of another three churches. We walked to La Magdalena that is the oldest Fernandinian church in Córdoba. Unfortunately, it suffered a great fire which completely ruined its interior. Nowadays it houses art exibitions and concerts. After that we went to St. Lawrence, once of the most beatiful medieval church in the city. We just visited the exterior because it is being restored. Tamara, pointed out the charming rose window and the portico protecting the doorway.
We ended the tour in St. Agustin where Gracia explained us that its medieval structure has been hidden by Baroque addtions as we could see looking at the main entrance , which results in an interesting series of arches and Corinthian columns.
We think students have learnt quite a lot with this activity and we hope the participants in the visit from the Comenius project have enjoyed the visit.
This is the script we prepared for the visit: fernandinianscript
