The Alcázar Viejo district, known popularly as Barrio de San Basilio, dates back to the first years after the city’s conquest by the troops of Fernando III The Saint. After he took control of the city, the king divided Cordoba into two main walled areas, the Medina area in the higher part of town and the Axerquía area beside the river. As part of the city’s expansion, in the late Middle Ages, to the west and southwest, the walled city of Cordoba, which had been built during the Almoravid period reusing some of the early Roman walls, was extended in the 14th century to the west, to form an area which was first called the Castillo de la Judería (Castle of the Jewish Quarter) and later, the new district of the Alcázar Viejo.
In 1399, this large area, as yet undeveloped, was used to settle crossbow archers and their families, who enjoyed special privileges in exchange for helping to defend the nearby Castle of the Christian Monarchs. The new district had an improved urban design and each house had its own courtyard, and its most striking feature was the Tower of Bethlehem, originally part of the defensive wall, which later became a shrine with the same name.
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