The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba received a total of 477,506 visitors in the first quarter of 2025, slightly lower than the same period in 2024, when there were 479,990 visitors, representing a decrease of 2,484 people and equal to a 0.52% decrease overall.
This was stressed at a press conference by the spokesperson of the Cordoba Cathedral, José Juan Jiménez Güeto, who specified that, of the first three months of the year, January had the best performance, «registering a 5.36% increase compared to January 2024, with a total of 121,674 visits, meaning 6,191 more visitors than in the previous year’s January.»
On the other hand, in February, «there was a slight decrease of 0.81%, with 151,000 visitors, meaning 1,236 fewer visitors than in February 2024,» while March, which «traditionally has one of the highest visitor flows, experienced a more significant drop of 3.50%, with 204,832 visits, a decrease of 7,432 compared to the previous year.
This decrease, as emphasized by the spokesperson of the cathedral institution, «could be attributed to the heavy rains and the unstable weather conditions recorded for a good part of the month, which affected many visitors.»
On the other hand, «it should be mentioned that, although the daytime visits decreased slightly, the night visits increased by 41.3%, from 5,981 to 8,452 people. This increase was evenly distributed throughout the first three months,» with «2,792 visits in January, 2,819 in February, and 2,841 in March.»
The visit to the bell tower, on the other hand, experienced «a notable increase of 6.90% compared to the first quarter of the previous year, reaching a total of 26,821 visits, compared to 25,090 in 2024.»
Finally, the route of the Fernandinas churches «recorded a very significant increase in the first quarter of 2025, reaching a total of 56,805 visitors, compared to 46,487 in the same period of the previous year, representing an increase of 10,318 people, equivalent to 22.19% more.»
Despite the «slight overall decreases,» Jiménez Güeto affirmed that visitors to the monument in the first quarter «maintain a general trend of stability, with specific variations and quality of reception.»
Satisfaction Indicator
In addition, the Cabildo presented the results of the first evaluation of the «program for seeking visitor satisfaction and recognizing the value of visitors to the mosque,» including the night visit, the route of the Fernandinas churches, and the bell tower. This first evaluation, supported by the Concept Institute, corresponds to visitors from July 2024 to January 2025 and will conclude with a second evaluation already activated, covering February to June 2025.
More than 205,000 visitor responses were analyzed, with the main conclusions highlighting that most visitors come from Europe (42.6%) and Spain (41.4%), although visits are also recorded from all corners of the world, including Oceania, Asian and African continents, with a significant number of visitors from North America.
The main reason for the visit is for leisure or tourism (84.8%), with visitors mainly identifying the mosque’s architectural beauty as a historical ensemble (68.4%), particularly appreciating the forest of columns and arches, which pleasantly surprises the majority of visitors (79.0%).
Evaluations regarding visitor services, such as online ticket sales management, conservation, maintenance, and cleanliness, received the highest ratings, with other aspects like ticket office locations, staff attention, reservation program, among others, also exceeding expectations.
The same applies to the evaluation related to guide/performance services, although most visitors typically explore without such services. It is worth noting the high percentage of visitors who state they would recommend the mosque visit to others, reaching 97.4%, as well as the overall satisfaction rating of 8.7 out of ten, an exceptional level in assessments of this type of heritage sites.
Finally, it should be mentioned that the main source of information for visiting the mosque is through the official website, with visitors mainly coming from France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. At the national level, visitors are primarily from the Madrid region, along with Andalusia, Catalonia, and the Valencian community.
Among the opinions and suggestions, those reaffirming their overall satisfaction level, as well as those suggesting the need for internal location elements within the monument, updating to more modern or innovative audio guides, or requesting more restroom facilities or lockers.
Based on the results obtained, the Cabildo can confirm that «the satisfaction and recommendation evaluations, methodologically obtained from visitors, corroborate the assessments conducted by different international platforms that position the satisfaction levels of those who visited an exceptional and unique heritage, such as the Mosque-Cathedral, at very high levels.»