Córdoba - Santo Domingo de Silos

Córdoba shares its history with many cities in Southern Spain. It was Carthaginian and Roman (from 260BC on), later it belonged to the Byzantine Empire for two decades, was looted by the Vandals before the Visigoths conquered it in 572. In 711 it was taken by the by the Umayyad army and became a provincial capital.
At that time a Christian church erected by the Visigoths was on the site, it was divided and shared by Muslims and Christians. In 784 the Christian half was purchased by Emir Abd al-Rahman I, who then demolished the church and started to build the grand mosque of Córdoba on its ground. The Mezquita reached its current dimensions in 987 with the completion of the outer naves and courtyard. It covers an area of more than 23.000 m².

But there is much more than the breathtaking Mezquita.


Very few remains of the Church of Santo Domingo de Silos originally founded in the 13th century. The Chapel of the Conception, attached to the church, and the tower are preserved.

Today the church serves as the headquarters of the Provincial Historical Archive of Córdoba.