CORDOBA, November 25 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Heritage Commission of the Cultural Delegation of the Junta de Andalucía in Córdoba has reported favorably on a project of archaeological excavations through surveys in the Arab baths of San Pedro, in the capital of Córdoba, dating from the 12th century, of the Almoravid period. , with a view to its recovery and subsequent opening to the public.
This was highlighted this Friday by the territorial delegate of Tourism, Culture and Sport of the Council of Cordoba, Eduardo Lucena, who together with the Andalusian government delegate in the province, Adolfo Molina, visited this enclave, located on Carlos Rubio, in the district of San Pedro, which has been declared a Property of Cultural Interest (BIC) with the category of Monument and which has been declared a Historic Monument since June 3, 1931.
Lucena explained that this project responds to the need to “know this space more deeply, with the aim of achieving its recovery and enhancement, the commitment of this government to the restoration of heritage”.
Currently, “the project for the consolidation, enhancement and adaptation of the Arab baths of San Pedro for public visits is being developed”, as specified by the delegate, who added that this preliminary intervention n has no other “purpose than to investigate the planned affected areas beforehand, in order to reduce possible incidents in the execution and development of the works”.
Basically, the actions envisaged include a recess of about 30 centimeters in the facade area, the cleaning of the vegetation from the foundation of the party walls, the study of the pits for the installation of two elevators, as well as the investigation from the access bay and the Ferris wheel shaft area. The material execution budget is 26,096 euros.
However, these works, which will begin next Wednesday, November 30, will only serve as a preamble to the development of the space, for its next opening to the public.
“COMMITMENT” OF 1.6 MILLION
In this sense, the delegate of the Andalusian Executive in Cordoba, Adolfo Molina, reaffirmed “the commitment of the government of Juanma Moreno with this space, which will receive a total amount of 1.6 million euros, including a post of 442,000 euros, envisaged in the budgets of the Junta de Andalucía for 2023”.
This amount will be used to carry out conservation and adaptation works, so that the Arab baths of San Pedro can receive visits by the end of 2024. In addition, Molina argued that it is an example of the implementation of “protection policies, research and dissemination of our heritage”.
A few months ago, the Culture Delegation reported favorably on the preliminary study of the need to declare the Singular Building of the Arab Baths of San Pedro, regarding the “Preliminary conservation, museological and museographic project for consolidation, enhancement and adaptation for public visit”.
Thus, the objective was to ask the town hall of Cordoba to process the file of the singular building for the drafting of the basic project, before the application for the municipal building permit. The presence of important archaeological remains and the special building that is proposed to protect them in a large open space, naturally ventilated and not air-conditioned, with a light roof, partly translucent, in addition to its suitability for public visits, justify the single construction review.
ARAB BATHS
The set of Arab Baths of San Pedro is located in Calle Carlos Rubio de Córdoba, declared a Monument and BIC based on the Spanish Historical Heritage Law and included in the General Catalog of Andalusian Historical Heritage by the Historical Heritage Law from Andalusia. It has a protection environment of 50 meters in urban land and is part of the historical complex of Cordoba, also declared BIC. Currently and since 1992, it belongs to the Junta de Andalucía, attached to the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sports.
The Arab baths of San Pedro are built of masonry and calcarenite ashlar coated with lime mortar. The pavings are in stone of different nature and layout and the small columns are made up of reused marble elements, almost all from the Caliphate period, sometimes having bases as capitals and vice versa. In the hypocaust, which is very deep and partly missing, brick is used for the pillars that support the floor.
The origin of these baths is linked to the construction in the twelfth century of an Almoravid mosque, in the place where the Fernandina de San Pedro church is located today, which in turn was built on the old basilica Martyrdom of the Three Saints, founded in the 4th century, dedicated to Fausto, Genaro and Marcial and which was a cathedral church in Visigothic and Mozarabic times. The building was built in the Axarquía, a suburb where Christians settled in Islamic times, until the Almoravid period.
The location of a bath near a mosque responds to the need to perform ritual ablutions before prayer. In addition, the baths were a place of encounter and relationship with a playful character and a hygienic function, two aspects borrowed from Roman tradition, from which it inherits the functional scheme.
In Caliphal times, Cordoba had hundreds of thermal baths, the number of which increased in the following centuries, some of which currently preserve more or less complete structures, such as those of Santa María, San Pedro or the Pescadería, in addition to those of Medina. Azahara and the Alcazar.