Bullfighting Museum of Córdoba, in the heart of the Jewish Quarter
Written by official guides
The Bullfighting Museum of Córdoba is in the heart of the Jewish Quarter, at Plaza de Maimónides number 3, a couple of streets from the Synagogue and the Mosque. It occupies a Mudejar-style manor house that belonged to the Góngora family from 1605, and since 1983 it has held the municipal collection devoted to Cordoban bullfighting.
Its two floors display photographs, suits of lights, fair posters and objects tracing the city's relationship with bullfighting, with a room devoted to Manolete. Below are the history of the building, the rooms worth seeing, the opening hours and ticket price, and how to walk there from the Jewish Quarter.
History of the Bullfighting Museum of Córdoba
The building occupied by the museum is a Mudejar-style manor house in the heart of the Jewish Quarter. It belonged to the Góngora family from 1605, and its layout around a central courtyard is typical of Cordoban stately homes of the period.
Córdoba City Council installed the museum here in 1983, devoted to preserving the memory of Cordoban bullfighting. In 2014 the space was completely refurbished and reopened to the public on 1 April with a renewed museography and audiovisual content.
The location is no accident. The museum is barely a couple of minutes' walk from the Synagogue, within the same network of narrow streets that forms the Jewish Quarter, so it is part of our guided route through the Jewish Quarter as one more stop, rather than being isolated from the historic route.
What to see in the Bullfighting Museum: the must-see rooms
The museum is organised on two floors. The ground floor opens with artworks on bullfighting and an audiovisual on the origin of the bull and the bullfighter; the upper floor brings together the most visited objects and rooms. If you have 30 to 40 minutes, these four stops are the ones not to skip.
1. The Jewish Quarter and the origins of Cordoban bullfighting
The visit begins with an audiovisual journey through the origins of bullfighting in Córdoba, from the Middle Ages to the present day. The ground floor places visitors in the context of the city and explains why bullfighting has been part of Cordoban identity for centuries, before going up to the upper floor where the bulk of the collection is.
2. Manolete: the myth of Córdoba
Manuel Rodríguez Sánchez, Manolete, was born in Córdoba on 4 July 1917. He took the alternativa on 2 July 1939 in Seville, from Manuel Jiménez 'Chicuelo', and confirmed it on 12 October 1939 in Madrid, from Marcial Lalanda. He died on 29 August 1947 in the bullring of Linares (Jaén), gored by the bull Islero, from the Miura ranch.
The museum devotes a space of its own to him, with photographs and personal objects recalling why he is still considered one of the most important bullfighters of the 20th century.
3. The "caliphs of bullfighting": Lagartijo, Guerrita, Machaquito and Manolete
The upper floor brings together the so-called caliphs of bullfighting, the Cordobans who marked different eras of the art: Lagartijo, Guerrita, Machaquito and Manolete. The municipal collection completes the quintet with Manuel Benítez, "El Cordobés", although the most photographed pieces are still those of the first four.
Period photographs, press cuttings and personal objects let you follow the evolution of Cordoban bullfighting from one generation to the next, from the 19th century well into the 20th.
4. Posters, suits of lights and objects of the fiesta
The upper floor is completed by suits of lights, old fair posters, engravings, bullfighting implements, sculptures and bullfighting paintings. There is also a space devoted to the horse and to the rejoneador Antonio Cañero, a Cordoban and one of the references of bullfighting on horseback.
Opening hours and ticket price
The museum's hours change with the time of year. In winter hours, from 16 September to 15 June, it opens Tuesday to Friday from 8:15 to 20:15, Saturdays from 9:30 to 17:30 and Sundays and public holidays from 8:15 to 14:15. On 24 and 31 December the hours are reduced to 8:15 to 14:15.
In summer hours, from 16 June to 15 September, it opens Tuesday to Sunday from 8:15 to 14:15. It is closed on Mondays all year round, and also on 1 January and 25 December.
The general ticket costs 4 euros and the student ticket 2 euros. The City Council also offers combined passes with other monuments in the city: the Bono Común, for 8.40 euros, gives access to five monuments, and the Bono Museos, for 7 euros, to three.
How to get to the Bullfighting Museum from the Jewish Quarter
The museum is at Plaza de Maimónides number 3, within the network of narrow streets of the Jewish Quarter. From the Synagogue, on Calle Judíos, it is barely a two- or three-minute walk, crossing a couple of streets of the historic centre.
That is why we include it as a stop on our guided route through the Jewish Quarter: on the same walk from the Synagogue to the Mosque, the Bullfighting Museum is on the way, with no need to detour or plan a separate trip.
If you are going to the Bullfighting Museum, make the most of it to see the monument that crowns Córdoba's historic centre just a few minutes' walk away. Our guided visit to the Mosque of Córdoba lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes, includes the ticket and costs 28 euros per person; if you prefer a smaller group, of a maximum of 12 people, the option costs 36 euros.
Book your place and combine the Mosque with a stop at the Bullfighting Museum, all on the same walk through the historic centre of Córdoba.
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