A Nazi swastika has been spray-painted onto the base of the famous Maimonides statue in Cordoba’s historic Jewish Quarter.

The act of vandalism sparked outrage from the city council while police are hunting for the offender or offenders.

The graffiti was discovered on Saturday morning after the monument, one of the city’s best-known landmarks, was targeted the night before.

Acting mayor Cintia Bustos railed against the attack on behalf of the municipal government, describing it as ‘an assault on our heritage’.

She went on to condemn the ‘extreme seriousness of the message of hate’ conveyed by the graffiti.

The Local Police completed an initial report and the investigation has been handed to the Policia Nacional, who are responsible for crimes against cultural heritage.

Bustos said she hoped the offenders would be identified as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, municipal cleaning company Sadeco confirmed it will remove the graffiti on Monday (August 3).

It said it would be using specialists trained in cleaning stone monuments without causing further damage.

Bustos stressed that such acts are rare in Cordoba, praising residents for the respect they usually show towards the city’s historic monuments.

‘It’s a shame that the actions of one or a few people distort the reality of our city,’ she said.

Maimonides, also known as Moses ben Maimon or Rambam, was one of the greatest Jewish philosophers, physicians and legal scholars of the Middle Ages.

He was born in Cordoba, then part of Muslim-ruled Al-Andalus, where Jews, Muslims and Christians lived side by side for much of the period.

Following the rise of the Almohad dynasty and increasing religious persecution, his family fled Spain. After years of travelling, he settled in Egypt, where he became personal physician to Sultan Saladin’s court.

Read more Andalucia news at the Spanish Eye.