Element included in the UNESCO List since 2012. Inscription: 7.COM 11.30

 

The Festival of the Patios in Córdoba takes place during two weeks in the month of May, always after the celebration of the Cruces de Mayo (May Crosses) feast. During this time, the entire historical centre of the city is symbolically divided into different routes along the streets and squares. The origin of the Fiesta de los Patios is somewhat uncertain, as we only have the certainty of its annual celebration since its institutionalisation through the Competition of ornamented Patios promoted by the City Council in 1921. It is likely, however, that the celebration of the ritual began spontaneously with a more voluntary character, as the result of social relations of neighbourliness that are established in these unique spaces. 

Although we can speak of a Patios Competition on the one hand and of a Patios Festival on the other, both activities have been merged under the name “Fiesta de los Patios” since the 2013 edition. The festival started in the moment when, voluntarily, the inhabitants of a neighbourhood or single-family houses decided to participate in the ritual of the courtyards. 

This action involves “opening the courtyard” to the public, so that it can be visited during the first days of May for the Patios Festival and the Competition. In the case of the neighbourhood houses, the Council of Neighbours agrees to “open the courtyard”, devising a calendar with the tasks of preparation of the courtyard, as well as the duties to be carried out and their distribution. The residents of the courtyard houses in the historical centre show their whitewashed and flower-decorated courtyards to the residents and visitors of Córdoba.

The visit of the ‘Patios’, as it is known, has been the most identifying, representative and specific ritual of the people of Cordoba for more than a century. They have identified themselves with the festival and they feel it as an identifying symbol of the city, in a way equivalent to their identification with Córdoba Mosque. During the ritual of the visit, inside the patios and in the adjacent public spaces like streets and squares, singing, dancing and collective eating take place. These spaces are looked after with painstaking care throughout the year, with the sole purpose of being exhibited during the celebration of the festival that takes place due to the will of the two parties involved: the owners of the ‘courtyard-houses’, who open their doors, and the people from Córdoba, who come out to visit them, making possible the party and the festival. 

It should be noted that as this festival has become rooted in the cultural identity of Cordoba, its duration has increased, going from three or four days at the beginning, to almost two weeks of celebration nowadays. While at the beginning the ritual was mainly attended by people from Cordoba, today the participation of other visitor groups has increased, attracted by the exceptionality of this festival and its recognition by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage element in 2012.

Casa Patio en calle Isabel II, 1 (II). Photo: Clara Perdices López. © Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico

IAPH image under the conditions established under license cc-by 3.0 de Creative Common. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Casa Patio en calle Juan Palo, 8. Photo: Clara Perdices López. © Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico

IAPH image under the conditions established under license cc-by 3.0 de Creative Common. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

4- Casa Patio en calle Chaparro, 3. Photo: Clara Perdices López. © Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico

IAPH image under the conditions established under license cc-by 3.0 de Creative Common. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

UNESCO en español. (6 December, 2012). La fiesta de los patios en Córdoba

TVM Córdoba (February, 2021). ‘Abriendo Puertas’. La fiesta de los patios de Córdoba 2020.

Reference:
Instituto Andaluz del Patrimonio Histórico. Clara Perdices López, Atlas del Patrimonio Inmaterial de Andalucía. Fase 3. Zona 4. Fiesta de los patios, 2014.