Malaga, on the south, which has three
important branches--Belmez-Fuente del Arco, Cordova-Utrera, and Puente
Genil-Jaen. After the capital, the principal towns are Aguilar de la
Frontera (13,236), Baena (14,539), Cabra (13,127), Fuente Ovejuna
(11,777), Lucena (21,179), Montilla (13,603), Montoro (14,581),
Pozoblanco (12,792), Priego de Cordoba (16,904) and Puente Genil
(12,956). These are described under separate headings. Other towns of
less importance are Adamuz (6974), Belalcazar (7682), Belmez (8978),
Bujalance (10,756), Castro del Rio (11,821), Hinojosa del Duque
(10,673), Palma del Rio (7914), Rute (10,740) and Villafranca de Cordoba
(9771).

CORDOVA (Span. _Cordoba_; Lat. _Corduba_), the capital of the Spanish
province of Cordova, on the southern slopes of the Sierra de Cordova,
and the right bank of the river Guadalquivir. Pop. (1900) 58,275. At
Cordova the Madrid-Seville railway meets the branch line from Almorchon
to Malaga. The city is an episcopal see. Few fragments remain of its
Moorish walls, which were erected on Roman foundations and enclosed a
very wide area, now largely occupied by garden-ground cleared from the
ruins of ancient buildings. On the outskirts are many modern factories
in striking contrast with the surrounding orange, lemon and olive
plantations, and with the pastures which belong to the celebrated
Cordovan school of bull-fighting. Nearer the centre the streets are for
the most part narrow and crooked. Almost every building, however, is
profusely covered with whitewash, and thus there is little difference on
the surface between the oldest and the most modern houses. The southern
suburb communicates with the town by means of a bridge of sixteen arches
across the river, exhibiting the usual combination of Roman and Moorish
masonry and dominated at the one end by an elevated statue of the patron
saint, St Raphael, whose effigy is to be seen in various other quarters
of the city. The most important of the public buildings are the
cathedral, the old monastic establishments, the churches, the bishop's
palace, the city hall, the hospitals and the schools and colleges,
including the academy for girls founded in 1590 by Bishop Pacheco of
Cordova, which is empowered to grant degrees. The Alcazar, or royal
palace, stands on the south-west amid the gardens laid out by its
builder, the caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III. (912-961). Its older parts are in
ruins, and even the so-called New Alcazar, erected