The paired windows
Arches on small marble columns, the same solution used in the Mosque-Cathedral.
losmininos — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Jl FilpoC — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Jose Luis Filpo Cabana — CC BY 3.0 · losmininos — CC BY-SA 2.0
A tenth-century minaret standing today against the church of San Juan de los Caballeros, and among the oldest surviving pieces of Umayyad Córdoba outside the Mosque-Cathedral. The tower is a plain square of dressed stone with paired windows on small marble columns, the same solution you see in the Mosque-Cathedral, which ties the two buildings to the same workshop and period. When Córdoba passed to Christian rule the minaret was kept and absorbed into the church built where the mosque had stood. That keeping is what makes it interesting: it is not a fragment preserved in a museum but an element that carried on in use with a new function, a pattern repeated across al-Andalus. You see it only from outside, and the visit is a few minutes. The square is small and quiet and off the crowded tourist route, which is a further advantage.
Arches on small marble columns, the same solution used in the Mosque-Cathedral.
The minaret was absorbed into the church after the change of rule rather than removed, a pattern repeated across al-Andalus.
A very short stop to add to a walk of the old city rather than a trip of its own.
Plaza de San Juan, Córdoba
Arab Baths of Santa MaríaThe remains of an Arab bathhouse in the Judería, found beneath a residential bui3 minutes walk4.2
Calleja de las FloresThe Alley of Flowers is Andalusia's smallest celebrity: a white passage two arm-4 minutes walk4.6
Puerta de AlmodóvarA gate in the western wall of old Córdoba, and the best preserved of the city's 4 minutes walk4.5
Mercado VictoriaAn iron and glass market hall in the Victoria gardens west of Córdoba's old city4 minutes walk4.4
Córdoba SynagogueThe Córdoba Synagogue is one of only three medieval synagogues left in Spain. Bu5 minutes walk4.4No. The minaret cannot be climbed and is seen only from outside in the square. The adjoining church keeps its own, possibly limited, hours, but the tower is the point and seeing it needs no entry.
North of the mosque, about ten minutes' walk through the old city lanes. Combine it with a walk of the quarter rather than making a trip of it, since the visit itself is minutes.