Orange grove

Patio de los Naranjos
This classic Islamic ablutions courtyard, with its orange, palm and cypress trees and fountains, forms the entrance to the Mezquita.
Its most impressive entrance is the Puerta del Perdón, a 14th-century Mudé­jar archway in the base of the bell tower.
When the mosque was used for Moslem prayer, all the naves were open to this courtyard allowing the rows of interior columns to appear like an extension of the trees with shafts of brilliant sunlight filtering through. However, it was Bishop Francisco Reinoso who added the orange trees as a continuation of the columns in the hall.

Torre del Alminar
The 54m-high bell tower was originally built by Abd ar-Rahman III in 951–52 as the Mezquita’s minaret. It was strengthened with an outer shell and heightened to contain a belfry by the Christians in the 16th and 17th cen­turies.
The original minaret would have looked something like it's copy, the Giralda in Seville. Córdoba’s minaret influenced all minarets built thereafter throughout the western Islamic world.Read more