In search of basilica of Saint Vincent? When we speak of the basement of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, we always think of a temple of late antiquity, of mythical category, of which Muslim sources speak, but for which there is not yet definitive archaeological evidence .
The excavations in the Orange Tree Court They will continue, but what we know now is that before the construction of the Abd al-Rahman I Mosque began, there was already a series of buildings of great importance. importance and of a Christian character which have aroused the interest of the international scientific community.
The intervention that began in 2020 aimed to investigate what the architect had already excavated Felix Hernández between 1931 and 1942. We then made “very superficial approximations and with a very partial reading”, of which period photographs remained, as well as sketches and annotations and especially plans.
The aim was to excavate it again and study it with a current methodological basis, with an interpretation of all phases, which would also complete the elements that remained unresolved. The idea was to interpret the place from Roman times until the construction of the Aljama Mosque from the year 785.
Archaeologists have discovered six or seven different construction phases, since Roman era until the Islamic occupation before the mosque. And from there they had a discarded idea: the prayer hall that Abd al-Rahman I had built was not on a Roman street.
The archaeologists then defended that the research should not be limited to the identification or location of the church of San Vicente, “but that it was necessary to broaden the field of action to analyze a urban sector much larger occupied by an episcopal complex, which existed in all the episcopal cities of the Mediterranean world. Almost a sort of Christian neighborhood.
Church and baptistery
It would be a group of buildings everywhere composed of an episcopal basilica, a baptistrywhich is a room for receiving baptism separated from the church with worship, as still occurs in many ancient Italian temples, and a bishop’s palace.
This went well beyond the place where the bishop resided and carried out his functions, because there were also warehouses, chapels and everything related to his activity. The remains that today lie beneath the ground of the Patio de los Naranjos are known, but it is likely that it extended to where the Bridge door.
The centerpiece is in the apse, because buildings from late Antiquity, particularly from the 6th century, which had a apse “It can only be a church or a representation space”, which in this case would be linked to the bishop.
Another building also appeared, which archaeologists believe is between the 3rd and 4th centuries, the identity of which has not yet been revealed with certainty.
The Patio de los Naranjos, where excavations are to continue, also houses the remains of two flags entirely Romanbetween the 1st and 3rd centuries AD. The first corresponds to a wall oriented east-west, and there are remains of stucco and coatings painted in different colors, as well as fragments of mosaic.
A 23 meter high wall gave access to the complex from the west, towards what would today be Torrijos Street.
There are other floors from the 4th century and a large wall dating between the 5th and 6th centuries, which would already correspond to the episcopal complex. In the Patio de los Naranjos, a wall of approximately 23 meters long flanked by exedra with ends opening onto the street, which would be the western access to all the buildings. That is to say towards what is today Torrijos Street.
There would also be intermediate rooms between the access and the other building, which would be between the 6th and 7th centuries. The new excavations, if they focus on places where Félix Hernández did not work, could offer new information on the episcopal complex that stood where the mosque-cathedral is today.
