Murallas Romana de Cordoba (Roman Walls of Cordoba), Cordoba

The Roman Walls (Murallas Romana de Córdoba) surrounded Cordoba. They were almost 9,000 feet in length and made of cut stone. There was an outer wall nine feet high and a four-foot inner wall. A 20-foot gap between the outer and inner walls was filled with rubble. There were semicircular defensive towers along the external wall.

The southern wall was demolished during the reign of Augustus to extend the city limits to the river Guadalquivir. The ruins of the Roman Walls remain in the Alcazar, by the Roman Bridge and the Roman Temple. The arches next to the Sevilla Gate (Puerta de Sevilla) are part of the Roman aqueduct.

In 711 AD, seven hundred Moorish soldiers led by a Berber commander Tariq Ibn Ziyad scaled the walls at night and drove out the startled Visigoths. Since the Islamic settlements were generally without defensive walls, the Roman structure gradually crumbled. In 1236 King Fernando of Castile conquered the city after a long siege.

In the 14th century, the walls were extended parallel to the river from the Albolafia water mill north and back again, reconnecting with the old walls at the Seville Gate (Puerta de Seville). Napoleon demolished parts of the wall. Today the remaining gates are the Almodovar Gate, Seville Gate, Bridge Gate, and the 1408 Malmuerta Tower.

The Roman Walls now form part of the historic center of Córdoba, a UNESCO World Heritage site, since 1984.