HSS

An alcazar, any of a class of fortified structures built in the 14th and 15th centuries in Spain. (The term is derived from the Arabic word al-qaṣr, meaning “castle,” or “fortress.”) As the Spanish efforts to drive out the Moors became more strenuous, the dual need for fortification and an imposing edifice became increasingly apparent. In form, an alcazar is generally rectangular with easily defensible walls and massive corner towers.[Britanica]

The Alcázar de los Reyes Cristianos (Castle of the Christian Monarchs), also known as the Alcázar of Córdoba, is a medieval alcázar located in the historic centre of Córdoba next to the Guadalquivir River and near the Mosque-Cathedral. The fortress served as one of the primary residences of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. It is a building of military character whose construction was ordered by the King Alfonso XI of Castile in the year 1328, on previous constructions (the Islamic-era Umayyad Alcázar, also the previous residence of the Roman Governor and the Customs). The architectural ensemble has a sober character in its exterior and splendid in its interior, with the magnificent gardens and courtyards that maintain a Mudéjar inspiration.

In 1236, Christian forces took Córdoba during the Reconquista. In 1328, Alfonso XI of Castile began building the present day structure on part of the site for the old fortress. Other parts of the Moorish Alcázar had been given as spoils to the bishop, nobles, and the Order of Calatrava. Alfonso's structure retained only part of the Moorish ruins but the structure appears Islamic due to Alfonso's use of the Mudéjar style.

Isabella and her husband, Ferdinand, used the Alcázar for one of the first permanent tribunals of the Spanish Inquisition and as a headquarters for their campaign against the Nasrid dynasty in Granada, the last remaining Moorish kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. The Inquisition began using the Alcázar as one of its headquarters in 1482, converting much of it, including the Arab baths, into torture and interrogation chambers. The Inquisition maintained a tribunal here for three centuries. Christopher Columbus had his first audience here with the Catholic Monarchs (Isabella and Ferdinand) in order solicit support for his expedition to find a western sea route to Asia. The monarchs retained his service by placing him on their payroll, but did not endorse his expedition until after the conquest of Granada in 1492.