Cordoba Patios Festival

The Patios Cordobeses Festival is a patio tournament conducted in Córdoba, Spain, every second and third week in May. The participants decorate and open their patios for free to the public during the hours set aside for that purpose. Patios in contests have been designated with potted bushes flanking the doors in recent years so that they may be easily recognized.

Recently created courtyards are admitted to the competition, establishing two categories: historical architecture and new architecture, in order to stimulate the festival and preserve the city's unique architecture. The competition has attracted up to 50 patios in recent years. In addition, the festival concludes with a Córdoba City Council-sponsored educational program aimed at raising student awareness of architecture and heritage while also encouraging respect for it.

The Patios Cordobeses Festivalis rounded off with a verbena in the San Basilio area, where the neighborhood residents' organization puts up a bar next to the Belén tower and the bars on San Basilio street contribute with music and drink sales to the groups of Cordovans and tourists who gather there.

They were designated as a Festival of National Tourist Interest in 1980, and on December 6, 2012, UNESCO recognized them as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity after a lengthy procedure.

When: 4th – 17th May
Where: Cordoba, Andalusia