The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1900-04-26
MODERN coRDovA.
o,-4 the Seat of the Most Powerful Dynasty
iii Europe; now but Skeleton of the
SPLENDID Capital of the Caliphs.

......lI correspondence of The Journal
.poAN. SPAIN, March Is, 1900.
UL about this ancient capital, in
up sound of wheel. or hammer.
uau lite is heard. its narrow. dark
... 1ty streets almost deserted by man
.r1-t you recall what Gautier said
.ri5ya more than half a century
ID Is a city of whose once beauti-
.N nothing remains but a bleach
ialcined skeleton. Lying low
sunny valley of the Guadalqui-
3te very heart of Andalucia. sur
by gray olive-groveS and villas
lig with the weight of centuries,
"ceu appropriately called the
Venerable Tranquility" Though
utc silence and absence of life
eslng, you find it extremely in
1t abounds with antiquities.
NrN step memories are awaken
uld R0man tmperOrS. OF later
Calphs-of Queen ~chehere-
Jrvelous tales. and the adven-
the @amt country gent leman
.rlIa whose home was close by
-djes and sculptures and nail
doors, mosques towers and
the galleritd houses. with
urlos. mullioned windows and
ed patios. the great Roman
and shrlneS i'll the outer walls,
uiN ot times long. long gone by.
nag and shadoWy are the streets.
ending in blank walls, or CON
INTO half a dozen other alleys
-ortuous and obscure. YOU are
get lost in their labyrinthine
-~ if without guide Meeting
If whom to enquire the way
-o Tour hotel, You are finally fore
pound upon closed door, which
he venerable tranquility with
that seem as sacrilegious as
Flag III dim Cathedral. AS visi-
r. never expected in modern Cor
It rakeS more than one pounding
. anybody to the door and when
~ the startled servant appears, his
rInuS are SO complicated. concern
uer0us turnings to be made, that
fetI more hopelessly lost than be
he better way is to engage a ma
"ctrone at the outset. Your hotel
mlSh man who will shuttle
-ntt all day for few cents-and
H more wild yarns than ever the
, the sanguinary Sultan invented
Ardhian Night entertainment.
widest of Cordova's streets it
he impossible to swing the tvpi-
without daShing its brains out:
many of them pedestrians are
IT to tlatten themselves against
"HljS on either side whenever Il
Wllh pliiglng pannlers passes
/ suppose that the idea Of the
builders, i'll thus cramping their
when they might Just as well
Inad the city over the whole val
~ us much to secure safety from
VS. aE to keep their casaS cool 10y
tue 1crvjd sun. Even without
ujel gates which close the
frequent intervals. a raid or
d make small progress. COM
pass three or four abreast
We oyerIangiug balconies. each
NriI-detended fort.
armtipal sight" of CoriQya
-n one of the chitt shoW-places
a. is the splendid mosque. LA
lta. - Arabce for masegad. mean-
Worship prostratei which the
Ahdiu-r- began about 4.
\ hundred years We're consum-
4e buIding, and it was long the
Moslem temple in the world,
in beauty even Mecca. the
-tcrtd shrine of the Koran 1t
close to the muddy banks Of the
.Vlvlr. III the heart of the crowd
wish quarter, where the early He
-. prosecuted by other nations. Ell
'mpltte liberty of worship under
~afacen rulers. Directly opposite
'.'' once gorgeous AlcaZar, blouse
U-Nar' or royal palace. of the
~ which is now a shabby mill
nnson, without trace of its
Ue ~piendor 1t is hard to realize
his Spot-noW so Wiley odorous
tny, the haunt Of vice, disease
floely, was once the abode of
" and art. the seat of the wealth.
ourt of medieval Europe, the
"t the oppressed Of every creed
@Hrotendom, and the home of the
p1llShed society of the age,
Iht most extraordinary feature of
NLzlnita is that to this day it is
i" ID Moslem mosque and half a
~tan cathedral. Long, long ago
6omans had a temple ON the spot,
7i" ljed to Janus. Afterwards it was
irNtlans Basilica and when the
..ae inferred Cordova. in the year Ill,
Inverted half of it into a mosque,
,le the other half umdisturbed
.'r' bristians. This liberal arrange
' 0l the part of the Moslems. which
H raid would not have been imita-