Today a moderately sized modern city, the old town contains many impressive architectural reminders of when Córdoba was the thriving capital of the Caliphate of Cordoba that governed almost all of the Iberian peninsula. It has been estimated that Cordoba, with up to 500,000 inhabitants, was the largest city in the world in the tenth century aside from Byzantium.

Córdoba was the birthplace of four famous philosophers: the Roman stoic Seneca, the Muslim Averroes, and the Jewish Maimonides and possibly Abraham Cohen de Herrera. Córdoba was also the birthplace of the Roman poet, Lucan and (more recently) of several flamenco artists including Paco Peña, Vicente Amigo, and Joaquín Cortés.