Cordoba Patios Festival

The patios are Cordoba's best-known festival. For about two weeks in May, the keepers of private homes and shared neighbourhood houses in the historic centre open their doors so anyone can see courtyards covered in flowerpots, flowerbeds and climbing plants, tended all year round.

The City Council held a first competition in 1918, linked to the railings and balconies contest, and in 1921 it launched the Patios Contest, which drew little response and was not held again until 1933. After the interruption of the Civil War it was revived in 1944 and has grown ever since. In 1956 the Cordoba Patios Festival was born, with classical music and flamenco in the courtyards of monuments and in the gardens of the Alcázar. Under the first democratic city councils, patios were required to be decorated only with seasonal flowers and bars inside them were banned, to put authenticity first.

The festival has been declared of National Tourist Interest, and on 6 December 2012 UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, highlighting its value as a space for neighbourly life. Since then visitor numbers have grown so much that entry to the patios is managed through an access control system.

The municipal contest has several categories, including old architecture and modern architecture. At the same time the Railings and Balconies Contest is held, filling the façades of the streets in the centre with flowers.

In the historic centre, spread across neighbourhoods such as San Basilio and Alcázar Viejo, San Lorenzo, Santa Marina, San Agustín, the Jewish Quarter, the Ajerquía, Santiago, San Pedro, La Magdalena, El Realejo and San Andrés. The patios in the contest are popular patios, in private homes or shared neighbourhood houses. There are also stately and monumental patios, such as those of the Palacio de Viana.

The patios are in the historic centre, on narrow and largely pedestrian streets, so the visit is made on foot following the neighbourhood routes.

The usual plan is to follow the patio routes by neighbourhood, going into each house during visiting hours and following the keepers' instructions. The flowers are seasonal ones: geraniums, ivy-leaf geraniums, carnations, jasmine, orange blossom. Between patios, the taverns of the old town are an essential stop for a Montilla-Moriles wine and some Cordoban food. At the same time, the window railings and balconies of many streets are decorated for their own contest.