A friend helped me to put the school situation into perspective, and ultimately I have to decide what I want to do and just do it. It all drags on but we are not going to let it take over again.
We set off to find the Museo de Julio Romero de Torres, walking past the Mezquita and the Roman Portal and the Roman bridge. One of the lovely things about Córdoba is that it has a very compact old sector and everywhere is interesting. I can imagine that people who live here eventually take their fantastic heritage for granted but for us, every time we went out was a treat.
Julio Romero de Torres was a Córdoban artist whose wife left lots of his paintings, his private items and his house as a museum. It is apparently one of the most visited places in Córdoba, and that may be because he had a fascination with painting nude women in realistic and very sensual poses. Our visit was enhanced by the presence of a year 7 excursion with a very earnest art teacher who had the children looking at various nudes in detail, waving his arms around and asking questions which a few enthusiasts answered. For some, this would be the best excursion that they would ever attend and the intense interest in works of art would have been most gratifying for the teacher.
De Torres used the female form as an allegory for just about everything, with a series of women representing all the cultural influences on Córdoba, such as religion, the Roman colonisation, the Muslim era and war. One of the paintings, representing the Christian religion, depicted a nun fully dressed, so attention from some of the year sevens strayed for this. A highly dramatic artist, other paintings focused on death and passion, on heritage, death and passion, and sometimes just on passion. His women are beautiful and sensual in a refreshingly natural way. Many of his works were used for posters and he also produced graphic art for commissions for such things as fairs and bull fights. He was a member of a family of artists, but was the most well known.
We walked the streets for a little while, enjoying the way that there was no such thing as a straight line and all corners provided an interesting view. We were actually trying to make a bee-line to the ancient baths of the Caliphate but that was not possible. Eventually we arrived and went down to have a look. There was no-one there to receive our money, but just when we were about to let ourselves in for free, a man appeared. He had been assisting the electrician with the lighting problems and while we went through these ruins under the ground, the lights would go off now and then leaving us in the total darkness, somewhere below modern Córdoba.
The baths had been large and very highly decorated in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The star shaped holes in the ceiling were to represent the heavenly spheres, as well as to let in light. It was interesting to see how complex the provision of water and steam for the various rooms was, and to realise that the baths were not just for washing. Going to the bath house was a highly social activity and for the Caliph, a reception room also provided the opportunity for networking and official business in a relaxed atmosphere. I think that they probably were all dressed in the first stages and then moved on to sitting around in towels sweating out impurities if everything was going well. I wished that I spoke Spanish because in one of the steam rooms there was a little role play between a Caliph and one of his sons which, even though I didn’t understand it, brought the place more to life. A video in English explained how essential the bath house was and showed what this one would have originally looked like. It must have been stunning and a real worry security wise. No wonder the ordinary people carried out their ablutions and socialising elsewhere.
We had lunch in the odd square with the sculpture of the archangel Michael so high up that it is invisible from the ground around it. Goodness knows what was going through the sculptor’s mind for the sections below – I think a few words about not throwing everything into the one piece would have been of benefit. If there had been a sign explaining the multitude of references to grottos, classical times, myths, religion, nature and death and destruction, we might have had some intellectual appreciation if not an aesthetic one.
The Roman gateway is now below the road level and we went down to look at it more closely. It is a masterpiece of reserve and strength in form, and makes a startling contrast to the sculpture in the nearby square. We climbed up again and crossed the road to the Roman bridge that the gateway once served. The river looked fairly shallow but was running fast. On each side of the bridge there were enormous buttresses which, on the downstream side were rounded, and on the upstream side were shaped like the bow of a ship, allowing water to be channelled past rather than crashing into them.
The tower at the other end of the bridge has a museum in it but it was very expensive and about to be full of year seven students so we gave it a miss.
The Fine Arts Gallery was cheap and excellent. There were paintings from the many members of the de Torres family, with a beautiful one of Julio’s mother as a child by her father, Rafael Romero Barras. He was a wonderful painter with an eye for detail and the unusual aspect, as well as incredible ability to use light in his paintings. One of our favourites was ‘Still Life of Oranges’ and another was ‘Children Playing with Cards’. ‘Women on a Manton’ was one of Julio’s that caught the essence of many of his paintings of women.
The gallery’s collection was based on artworks from the disentailed monasteries and convents, and grew with subsequent donations and purchases. It is not big and we found it to be a perfect size for a visit with time to really look at every thing. Much of the art is local, and includes pieces from the 20th Century. We have become very interested in religious art and saw some beautiful examples here, such as the ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’ which used light and shade in an amazing way. The collection has a ‘Spanish’ feel to it, which we liked since here we were in Spain.
Our time in Córdoba was a bit like running a marathon since there was too much to do in two days and that was all that we had allowed. It is hard to realise where the year has gone and how we came to have only two days in such a wonderful place, but to make the most of it, we now raced off to the archaeological museum.
This was in a fantastic old palace where excavations have shown a Roman theatre used to be. It is an interesting archaeological museum because it is also an ethnographic museum and, for each piece or collection of pieces, there is interesting information on the culture and daily practices of the people who used them. The exhibits covered pre-history and the development of tools with finds from this area, but the most interesting sections to me were the ones for the Romans. Córdoba was the capital of Roman Baetica and it was a major cultural and political centre. It was called Colonia Patricia and had a high level of intellectual and artistic achievement. With all that went wealth, so it was not surprising that many monuments and statues have been found that would have reinforced the power and prestige of the area. Unfortunately we were not permitted to take photos, but the statues and architectural carvings were exceptionally fine. Aphrodite crouching down included the tummy rolls that most of us do our best to hide and drapery on other statues looked as if it was real fabric. The Romans of the Imperial period produced many texts in stone and bronze for public notices to inform people about all spheres of their life. These must have had more lasting power than our newspapers, and yet they often related to a single event in time. Such a lot of work was put into engraving one announcement, however it is these texts that have been incredibly informative about the daily, political and religious life of the Romans for our times.
We had a laugh at the poor old Visigoths, whose remains looked like a dog’s dinner as usual. At least we know the name of one at last – Don Rodrigo, the last Visigoth King of Spain.
The streets of any town are as informative as the museums, and we spent quite a while just lapping up the atmosphere of Córdoba and watching its modern inhabitants. Groups of university students wandered the ancient streets chatting on mobile phones, listening to music and talking loudly. Tights or very tight pants and a long top to just below the bottom was fairly usual for girls. The denim shorts over tights which we had seen from Bilbao to Selville did not seem to have made it here.
We went to the supermarket where we mastered the idea of a locker to put our bag in while we went shopping. A beggar outside was becoming a regular sight for us at supermarkets. In this case people were walking around her since she pretty much blocked the footpath.
After eating, I was fully into my book and read much too late for someone planning to get up early for a bus trip to Granada. I think that the chocolate that we scoffed may have had stimulant qualities since I read on and on, intrigued with the story and the interesting use of language. ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ was translated into English so it would be interesting to be able to read the original Spanish to compare.
The Fine Arts Gallery was cheap and excellent. There were paintings from the many members of the de Torres family, with a beautiful one of Julio’s mother as a child by her father, Rafael Romero Barras. He was a wonderful painter with an eye for detail and the unusual aspect, as well as incredible ability to use light in his paintings. One of our favourites was ‘Still Life of Oranges’ and another was ‘Children Playing with Cards’. ‘Women on a Manton’ was one of Julio’s that caught the essence of many of his paintings of women.
The gallery’s collection was based on artworks from the disentailed monasteries and convents, and grew with subsequent donations and purchases. It is not big and we found it to be a perfect size for a visit with time to really look at every thing. Much of the art is local, and includes pieces from the 20th Century. We have become very interested in religious art and saw some beautiful examples here, such as the ‘Adoration of the Shepherds’ which used light and shade in an amazing way. The collection has a ‘Spanish’ feel to it, which we liked since here we were in Spain.Our time in Córdoba was a bit like running a marathon since there was too much to do in two days and that was all that we had allowed. It is hard to realise where the year has gone and how we came to have only two days in such a wonderful place, but to make the most of it, we now raced off to the archaeological museum.
This was in a fantastic old palace where excavations have shown a Roman theatre used to be. It is an interesting archaeological museum because it is also an ethnographic museum and, for each piece or collection of pieces, there is interesting information on the culture and daily practices of the people who used them. The exhibits covered pre-history and the development of tools with finds from this area, but the most interesting sections to me were the ones for the Romans. Córdoba was the capital of Roman Baetica and it was a major cultural and political centre. It was called Colonia Patricia and had a high level of intellectual and artistic achievement. With all that went wealth, so it was not surprising that many monuments and statues have been found that would have reinforced the power and prestige of the area. Unfortunately we were not permitted to take photos, but the statues and architectural carvings were exceptionally fine. Aphrodite crouching down included the tummy rolls that most of us do our best to hide and drapery on other statues looked as if it was real fabric. The Romans of the Imperial period produced many texts in stone and bronze for public notices to inform people about all spheres of their life. These must have had more lasting power than our newspapers, and yet they often related to a single event in time. Such a lot of work was put into engraving one announcement, however it is these texts that have been incredibly informative about the daily, political and religious life of the Romans for our times.
We had a laugh at the poor old Visigoths, whose remains looked like a dog’s dinner as usual. At least we know the name of one at last – Don Rodrigo, the last Visigoth King of Spain.
The streets of any town are as informative as the museums, and we spent quite a while just lapping up the atmosphere of Córdoba and watching its modern inhabitants. Groups of university students wandered the ancient streets chatting on mobile phones, listening to music and talking loudly. Tights or very tight pants and a long top to just below the bottom was fairly usual for girls. The denim shorts over tights which we had seen from Bilbao to Selville did not seem to have made it here.
We went to the supermarket where we mastered the idea of a locker to put our bag in while we went shopping. A beggar outside was becoming a regular sight for us at supermarkets. In this case people were walking around her since she pretty much blocked the footpath.
After eating, I was fully into my book and read much too late for someone planning to get up early for a bus trip to Granada. I think that the chocolate that we scoffed may have had stimulant qualities since I read on and on, intrigued with the story and the interesting use of language. ‘The Shadow of the Wind’ was translated into English so it would be interesting to be able to read the original Spanish to compare.
The wireless signal was weak in the bedroom so Christine 'rings' Australia on the computer to discuss her work situation for 2009.
Like many old towns, the streets of Córdoba are very narrow. Some cities ban motor vehicles from the old towns, but not here.
A typical square in southern Spain; there are always orange trees and usually a pool with a very slow flowing fountain.
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