The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba
( es, Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba), officially known by its
ecclesiastical name, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption ( es, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción), is the
cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Córdoba
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Córdoba ( la, Corduben(sis)) is a diocese located in the city of Córdoba in the Ecclesiastical province of Sevilla in Spain.[Assumption of Mary
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it in 1950 in his apostolic constitution '' Munificentissimus Deus'' as follows:
We proclaim and define it to be a dogma revealed by ...]
and located in the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
region of
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The t ...
.
Due to its status as a former
Islamic
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
, it is also known as the Mezquita ('mosque' in Spanish)
and as the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
According to traditional accounts, a
Visigoth
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...
ic church, the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
Christian
Basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
of
Saint Vincent of Saragossa
Vincent of Saragossa (also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon), the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon and Valencia. His feast day is 22 January in the C ...
, originally stood on the site of the current Mosque-Cathedral, although the historicity of this narrative has been questioned by scholars.
[ The Great Mosque was constructed on the orders of Abd ar-Rahman I in 785, when Córdoba was the capital of the Muslim-controlled region of ]Al-Andalus
Al-Andalus translit. ; an, al-Andalus; ast, al-Ándalus; eu, al-Andalus; ber, ⴰⵏⴷⴰⵍⵓⵙ, label= Berber, translit=Andalus; ca, al-Àndalus; gl, al-Andalus; oc, Al Andalús; pt, al-Ândalus; es, al-Ándalus () was the M ...
. It was expanded multiple times afterwards under Abd ar-Rahman's successors up to the late 10th century. Among the most notable additions, Abd ar-Rahman III added a minaret (finished in 958) and his son Al-Hakam II
Al-Hakam II, also known as Abū al-ʿĀṣ al-Mustanṣir bi-Llāh al-Hakam b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (; January 13, 915 – October 16, 976), was the Caliph of Córdoba. He was the second ''Umayyad'' Caliph of Córdoba in Al-Andalus, and son of Ab ...
added a richly-decorated new '' mihrab'' and '' maqsura'' section (finished in 971). The mosque was converted to a cathedral in 1236 when Córdoba was captured by the Christian forces of Castile during the ''Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
''. The structure itself underwent only minor modifications until a major building project in the 16th century inserted a new Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
cathedral nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
and transept
A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...
into the center of the building. The former minaret, which had been converted to a bell tower, was also significantly remodelled around this time. Starting in the 19th century, modern restorations have in turn led to the recovery and study of some of the building's Islamic-era elements. Today, the building continues to serve as the city's cathedral and Mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
is celebrated therein daily.
The mosque structure is an important monument in the history of Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...
and was highly influential on the subsequent "Moorish" architecture of the western Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
regions of the Muslim world
The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. I ...
. It is also one of Spain's major historic monuments and tourist attractions, as well as a UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
since 1984.
History
Claims of earlier Roman Temple
A claim that the site of the mosque-cathedral was once a Roman temple
Ancient Roman temples were among the most important buildings in Roman culture, and some of the richest buildings in Roman architecture, though only a few survive in any sort of complete state. Today they remain "the most obvious symbol of ...
dedicated to Janus dates as far back as Pablo de Céspedes
Pablo de Céspedes (1538 – July 26, 1608) was a Spanish painter, poet, and architect.
Biography
His father, Alonso Céspedes, was descended of a noble Castilian family, once settled at Ocaña, and the name of his mother, who was a native ...
and is sometimes still repeated today. However, Robert Knapp, in his overview of Roman-era Córdoba, has dismissed this claim as speculation based on a misunderstanding of Roman milestone
A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...
s found in the area.
Visigothic church
According to traditional accounts, the present-day site of the Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba was originally a Visigoth
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...
ic Christian church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
dedicated to Saint Vincent of Saragossa
Vincent of Saragossa (also known as Vincent Martyr, Vincent of Huesca or Vincent the Deacon), the Protomartyr of Spain, was a deacon of the Church of Saragossa. He is the patron saint of Lisbon and Valencia. His feast day is 22 January in the C ...
, which was divided and shared by Christians and Muslims after the Umayyad conquest of Hispania
The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...
. As the Muslim community grew and this existing space became too small for prayer, the basilica was expanded little by little through piecemeal additions to the building. This sharing arrangement of the site lasted until 785, when the Christian half was purchased by Abd al-Rahman I, who then proceeded to demolish the church structure and build the grand mosque of Córdoba on its site. In return, Abd al-Rahman also allowed the Christians to rebuild other ruined churches – including churches dedicated to the Christian martyrs Saints Faustus, Januarius, and Marcellus whom they deeply revered – as agreed upon in the sale terms.[Josef W. Meri and Jere L. Bacharach, ''Medieval Islamic Civilization'', Routledge, (2005), p. 176 ff.]
The historicity of this narrative has been challenged as archaeological evidence is scant and the narrative is not corroborated by contemporary accounts of the events following Abd al-Rahman I's initial arrival in al-Andalus. The narrative of the church being transformed into a mosque, which goes back to the tenth-century historian Al-Razi, echoed similar narratives of the Islamic conquest of Syria, in particular the story of building the Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأموي, al-Jāmiʿ al-Umawī), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus ( ar, الجامع الدمشق, al-Jāmiʿ al-Damishq), located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the ...
in Damascus. For medieval Muslim historians, these parallels served to highlight a dynastic Umayyad conquest of Spain and appropriation of Visigothic Córdoba. Another tenth-century source mentions a church that stood at the site of the mosque without giving further details. An archaeological exhibit in the mosque–cathedral of Cordoba today displays fragments of a Late Roman or Visigothic building, emphasizing an originally Christian nature of the complex. According to Susana Calvo Capilla, a specialist on the history of the mosque–cathedral, although remains of multiple church-like buildings have been located on the territory of the mosque–cathedral complex, no clear archaeological evidence has been found of where either the church of St. Vincent or the first mosque were located on the site, and the latter may have been a newly constructed building. The evidence suggests that it may have been the grounds of an episcopal complex rather than a particular church which were initially divided between Muslims and Christians. Pedro Marfil, an archeologist at the University of Cordoba, has argued for the existence of such a complex – including a Christian basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
– on this site by interpreting the existing archeological remains. This theory has in turn been opposed by Fernando Arce-Sainz, another archeologist, who states that none of the numerous archeological investigations in modern times have turned up remains of Christian iconography, a cemetery, or other evidence that would support the existence of a church. Art historian Rose Walker, in an overview of late antique
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English has ...
and early medieval art in Spain, has likewise criticized Marfil's view as relying on personal interpretation. The “stratigraphy” of the site is complicated and made more so by its impact on contemporary political debates about cultural identity in Spain. Regardless of what structures may have existed on the site, however, it is almost certain that the building which housed the city's first mosque was destroyed to build Abd ar-Rahman I's Great Mosque and that it had little relation to the latter's form.
Construction of the mosque
The Great Mosque was built in the context of the new Umayyad Emirate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
in Al-Andalus which Abd ar-Rahman I founded in 756. Abd ar-Rahman was a fugitive and one of the last remaining members of the Umayyad royal family which had previously ruled the first hereditary caliphate
A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...
based in Damascus, Syria. This Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
was overthrown during the Abbasid Revolution
The Abbasid Revolution, also called the Movement of the Men of the Black Raiment, was the overthrow of the Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE), the second of the four major Caliphates in early Islamic history, by the third, the Abbasid Caliphate ...
in 750 and the ruling family were nearly all killed or executed in the process. Abd ar-Rahman survived by fleeing to North Africa
North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...
and, after securing political and military support, took control of the Muslim administration in the Iberian Peninsula from its governor, Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri
Yusuf ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Fihri ( ar, يوسف بن عبد الرحمن الفهري) was an Umayyad governor of Narbonne in Septimania and the governor of al-Andalus from 747 to 756, ruling independently following the collapse of the Umayyad C ...
. Cordoba was already the capital of the Muslim province and Abd ar-Rahman continued to use it as the capital of his independent emirate
An emirate is a territory ruled by an emir, a title used by monarchs or high officeholders in the Muslim world. From a historical point of view, an emirate is a political-religious unit smaller than a caliphate. It can be considered equivalen ...
.
Construction of the mosque began in 785–786 (169 AH) and finished a year later in 786–787 (170 AH). This relatively short period of construction was aided by the reuse of existing Roman and Visigothic materials in the area, especially columns and capitals. Syrian (Umayyad
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by the ...
), Visigothic
The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kno ...
, and Roman
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
influences have been noted in the building's design, but the architect is not known. The craftsmen working on the project probably included local Iberians as well as people of Syrian origin. According to tradition and historical written sources, Abd ar-Rahman involved himself personally and heavily in the project, but the extent of his personal influence in the mosque's design is debated.
The original mosque had a roughly square floor plan measuring 74 or 79 square meters per side, equally divided between a hypostyle prayer hall to the south and an open courtyard (''sahn
A ''sahn'' ( ar, صَحْن, '), is a courtyard in Islamic architecture, especially the formal courtyard of a mosque. Most traditional mosques have a large central ''sahn'', which is surrounded by a '' riwaq'' or arcade on all sides. In traditi ...
'') to the north. As the mosque was built on a sloping site, a large amount of fill would have been necessary to create a level ground on which to build. The original mosque's most famous architectural innovation, which was preserved and repeated in all subsequent Muslim-era expansions, was its rows of double-tiered arches. Much speculation has been offered on the inspiration for this particular design, including the alleged similarity of the arches to a forest of palm trees
Palm most commonly refers to:
* Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand
* Palm plants, of family Arecaceae
**List of Arecaceae genera
* Several other plants known as "palm"
Palm or Palms may also refer to:
Music
* Palm ( ...
from Abd ar-Rahman's youth in Syria; however, a more technical motivation may have been the fact that the available columns being reused from previous buildings were not tall enough on their own to raise the ceiling to the desired height. The precedent of multi-tiered arches was also already present in the Iberian Peninsula thanks to remaining Roman aqueducts (e.g. the Milagros Aqueduct at Mérida).
The mosque's original ''mihrab'' (niche in the far wall symbolizing the direction of prayer
Prayer in a certain direction is characteristic of many world religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, Islam and the Baháʼí Faith.
Judaism
Jews traditionally pray in the direction of Jerusalem, where the "presence of the transcendent God ( ...
) no longer exists today but its probable remains were found during archeological excavations between 1932 and 1936. The remains showed that the mihrab's upper part was covered with a shell-shaped hood similar to the later mihrab. The mosque originally had four entrances: one was in the center of the north wall of the courtyard (aligned with the mihrab to the south), two more were in the west and east walls of the courtyard, and a fourth one was in the middle of the west wall of the prayer hall. The latter was known as ''Bab al-Wuzara (the "Vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...
s' Gate", today known as ''Puerta de San Esteban'') and was most likely the entrance used by the emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
and state officials who worked in the palace directly across the street from here. The outer walls were reinforced with large buttresses, which are still visible on the exterior today.
The courtyard of the mosque was planted with trees from at least as early as 808, according to the jurist Ibn Sahl, who himself cited five previous authorities. Although the species of tree is not known, the fact that these were fruit trees is attested in Ibn Sahl, who was consulted as to whether such a garden was forbidden and, if not forbidden, whether it was permitted to eat from it. That the trees remained in the courtyard is demonstrated by two seals of the City of Cordoba, one in 1262 and the other in 1445, both of which show the mosque (which by then had been converted to a cathedral) within whose walls appear tall palm trees. With secure evidence of its early date, this courtyard is the oldest continuously planted Islamic garden in the world.
''Qibla'' alignment of the mosque
Mosques were normally aligned with the ''qibla'' (the direction of prayer), which is theoretically the direction of Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow ...
. From Cordoba, Mecca is to the east-southeast, but the Great Mosque of Cordoba is instead oriented more towards the south. This orientation, which doesn't match that of modern mosques, is due to historical differences in opinion about the appropriate direction of the ''qibla'' in far western Islamic lands like al-Andalus and Morocco. In this early period, many Muslims in the region preferred a tradition that existed in the western Islamic world (the Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
and al-Andalus) according to which the qibla should be oriented towards the south instead of pointing towards the shortest distance to Mecca. This was based on a saying (''hadith
Ḥadīth ( or ; ar, حديث, , , , , , , literally "talk" or "discourse") or Athar ( ar, أثر, , literally "remnant"/"effect") refers to what the majority of Muslims believe to be a record of the words, actions, and the silent approva ...
'') of Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...
which stated that "What is between the east and west is a qibla", which thus legitimized southern alignments. This practice may also have sought to emulate the orientation of the walls of the rectangular '' Kaaba'' building inside the Great Mosque of Mecca
, native_name_lang = ar
, religious_affiliation = Islam
, image = Al-Haram mosque - Flickr - Al Jazeera English.jpg
, image_upright = 1.25
, caption = Aerial view of the Great Mosque of Mecca
, map ...
, based on another tradition which considered the different sides of the Kaaba as being associated with different parts of the Muslim world. In this tradition the northwest face of the Kaaba was associated with al-Andalus and, accordingly, the Great Mosque of Cordoba was oriented towards the southeast as if facing the Kaaba's northwestern façade, with its main axis parallel to the main axis of the Kaaba structure (which was oriented from southeast to northwest). Although later mosques in Al-Andalus did have more eastern-facing orientations (e.g. the Mosque of Madinat al-Zahra
Madinat al-Zahra or Medina Azahara ( ar, مدينة الزهراء, translit=Madīnat az-Zahrā, lit=the radiant city) was a fortified palace-city on the western outskirts of Córdoba in present-day Spain. Its remains are a major archaeological ...
in the 10th century), later expansions of the Great Mosque did not attempt to modify its original alignment.
Expansions of the mosque
In 793 Abd ar-Rahman I's son and successor, Hisham I
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik ( ar, هشام بن عبد الملك, Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik; 691 – 6 February 743) was the tenth Umayyad caliph, ruling from 724 until his death in 743.
Early life
Hisham was born in Damascus, the administrat ...
, added to the mosque a ''ṣawma'a'', a shelter for the muezzin
The muezzin ( ar, مُؤَذِّن) is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer ( ṣalāt) five times a day ( Fajr prayer, Zuhr prayer, Asr prayer, Maghrib prayer and Isha prayer) at a mosque. The muezzin plays an important r ...
on top of the outer wall, as the mosque did not yet have a minaret (a feature which was not yet standard in early mosques). The mosque was significantly expanded by Abd ar-Rahman II (r. 822–852) sometime between the years 833 and 848. This expansion preserved and repeated the original design while extending the prayer hall eight bays to the south (i.e. the length of eight arches). This made the prayer hall 64 metres long from front to back. During this expansion, the builders began to commission new marble capitals for the columns instead of just re-using ancient ones. These new capitals were imitations of the Corinthian style
The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...
but still differed slightly from classical models, thus hinting at the future evolution of architectural sculpture in al-Andalus. One probable example of these capitals is now preserved at the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid and features an Arabic inscription in an archaic Kufic script
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
that offers blessings on Abd ar-Rahman II. The expansion work may have been unfinished when Abd ar-Rahman II died in 852 and it appears to have been completed instead by his son and successor, Muhammad I (r. 852–886).
Muhammad I carried out various other works on the mosque and is reported to have created a ''maqsura'' (a prayer space reserved for the ruler). In 855 he also restored the ''Bab al-Wuzara gate (today's ''Puerta de San Esteban''). The decoration of this gate, which thus likely dates from this time, is often noted as an important prototype of later Moorish gateways. Muhammad's son, Al-Mundhir (r. 886–888), in turn added a treasury
A treasury is either
*A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry.
*A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...
to the mosque. Al-Mundhir's son, Abdallah (r. 888–912), built the mosque's first elevated passage, known as a ''sabat,'' which connected the mosque directly with the Umayyad palace
The Umayyad Palace ( ar, القصر الأموي) is a large palatial complex from the Umayyad period, located on the Citadel Hill (Jabal al-Qal'a) of Amman, Jordan. Built during the first half of the 8th century, it is now largely ruined, w ...
across the street. This passage allowed the ruler thenceforth to enter the mosque privately, where he would remain unseen behind the screen of the ''maqsura'', thus separating him from the general public during prayer. (New versions of this bridge would later be rebuilt during the mosque's subsequent expansions.)
In the 10th century Abd ar-Rahman III (r. 912–961) declared a new Caliphate in al-Andalus and inaugurated the height of Andalusi power in the region. As part of his various construction projects, he reworked and enlarged the courtyard of the Great Mosque and built its first true minaret (a tower from which the call to prayer
A call to prayer is a summons for participants of a faith to attend a group worship or to begin a required set of prayers. The call is one of the earliest forms of telecommunication, communicating to people across great distances. All religions ...
was issued) starting in 951–952. The minaret was 47 meters high and had a square base measuring 8.5 meters per side. Scholar Jonathan Bloom
Jonathan Max Bloom (born April 7, 1950) is an American art historian and educator. Bloom has served as the dual Norma Jean Calderwood University Professor of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College, along with his wife, Sheila Blair.
Career
Bloo ...
has suggested that Abd ar-Rahman III's construction of the minaret – along with his sponsoring of other minarets around the same time in Fez
Fez most often refers to:
* Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire
* Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco
Fez or FEZ may also refer to:
Media
* ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...
, Morocco – was partly intended as a visual symbol of his growing authority as caliph, and may have been aimed at defying the rival Fatimid Caliphate to the east which eschewed such structures. Abd ar-Rahman III also reinforced the northern wall of the courtyard by adding another "façade" in front of the old one on the courtyard side. Historical accounts differ on whether the completed courtyard had a surrounding gallery or portico (as seen today and as was common in the courtyards of other mosques). Many modern scholars affirm that the courtyard was provided with an enveloping gallery at this time and that its design involved an alternation between piers and columns (similar to its current appearance). The new works, including the minaret, were completed in 958, as recorded by a surviving inscription on a marble plaque that includes the name of Abd ar-Rahman III as well as the names of the master builder and the supervisor of works.
Abd ar-Rahman III's son and successor, Al-Hakam II (r. 961–976), was a cultured man who was involved in his father's architectural projects. During his own reign, starting in 961, he further expanded the mosque's prayer hall. The hall was extended 45 meters to the south by adding 12 more bays (arches), again repeating the double-tiered arches of the original design. This expansion is responsible for some of the mosque's most significant architectural flourishes and innovations. At the beginning of al-Hakam's extension, the central "nave" of the mosque was highlighted with an elaborate ribbed dome (now part of the ''Capilla da Villaviciosa''). More famously, a rectangular ''maqsura'' area around the mosque's new mihrab was distinguished by a set of unique interlacing multifoil arch
A multifoil arch (or polyfoil arch), also known as a cusped arch, polylobed arch, or scalloped arch, is an arch characterized by multiple circular arcs or leaf shapes (called foils, lobes, or cusps) that are cut into its interior profile or intra ...
es. The rectangular area within this, in front of the mihrab, was covered by three more decorative ribbed domes. The domes and the new mihrab niche were finished in November or December 965, and an inscription records the names of four of its craftsmen who also worked at the Reception Hall (''Salon Rico'') of Madinat al-Zahra. Soon after this date both the middle dome of the ''maqsura'' and the wall surfaces around the mihrab were covered in rich Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
-influenced gold mosaics. According to traditional accounts like that of Ibn 'Idhari, Al-Hakam II had written to the Byzantine emperor
This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...
(initially Nikephoros II Phokas
Nikephoros II Phokas (; – 11 December 969), Latinized Nicephorus II Phocas, was Byzantine emperor from 963 to 969. His career, not uniformly successful in matters of statecraft or of war, nonetheless included brilliant military exploits whi ...
) in Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
requesting that he send him expert mosaic
A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...
ists for the task. The emperor consented and sent him a master craftsman along with about 1600 kg of mosaic tessera
A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus.
Historical tesserae
The oldest known tesserae ...
e as a gift. The mosaicist trained some of the caliph's own craftsmen, who eventually became skilled enough to do the work on their own. The work was finished by this team in late 970 or early 971.
Al-Hakam II's work on the mosque also included the commissioning of a new '' minbar'' (pulpit) in 965, which took about 5 to 7 years to finish. Unfortunately, the details of its construction and of its chronology are muddled by sometimes contradictory historical sources. Ibn 'Idhari, for example, implies that Al-Hakam had two minbars built in this period, with one of them possibly having been destroyed or replaced. Either way, whichever minbar survived and became associated with the mosque was celebrated by many writers for its craftsmanship. It was made out of precious woods like ebony
Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also contains the persimmons. Unlike most woods, ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely textured and has a mirror finish when ...
, boxwood
''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box or boxwood.
The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost South ...
, and "scented" woods, and it was inlaid with ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...
and with other coloured woods such as red and yellow sandalwood
Sandalwood is a class of woods from trees in the genus ''Santalum''. The woods are heavy, yellow, and fine-grained, and, unlike many other aromatic woods, they retain their fragrance for decades. Sandalwood oil is extracted from the woods for us ...
. Modern scholars believe the minbar had wheels which allowed it to be rolled in and out of its storage chamber.
The mosque's last significant expansion under Muslim rule was ordered by Al-Mansur (Almanzor), the autocratic vizier of Caliph Hisham II
Hisham II or Abu'l-Walid Hisham II al-Mu'ayyad bi-llah (, Abū'l-Walīd Hishām al-Muʾayyad bi-ʾllāh) (son of Al-Hakam II and Subh of Cordoba) was the third Umayyad Caliph of Spain, in Al-Andalus from 976 to 1009, and 1010–13.
Reign
In 9 ...
, in 987–988. Rather than extending the mosque further south, which would have been impossible due to the proximity of the riverbank, Al-Mansur had the mosque extended laterally towards the east, extending both the courtyard and the prayer hall by 47.76 meters and adding eight naves to the mosque. Once again, the same design of double-tiered arches was replicated in the new construction. The capitals produced for the hundreds of new columns, however, have a simpler and less detailed design that may reflect the hurry in which they were produced. The new extension covered 8600 square meters and made the mosque the largest in the Muslim world outside of Abbasid
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
. The new eastern wall of the mosque featured ten richly-decorated exterior portals similar to the ones on the mosque's western side, although these were heavily restored in the 20th century. Al-Mansur also famously looted the bells of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela
The Santiago de Compostela Archcathedral Basilica (Spanish and Galician: ) is part of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela and is an integral component of the Santiago de Compostela World Heritage Site in Galicia, Spain. The c ...
and reportedly ordered them to be melted down and turned into chandeliers for the mosque, although none of these chandeliers have survived.
Later Islamic history of the mosque (11th–12th centuries)
After the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate in Cordoba at the beginning of the 11th century, no further expansions to the mosque were carried out. Indeed, the collapse of authority had immediate negative consequences for the mosque, which was looted and damaged during the '' fitna'' (civil conflict) that followed the caliphate's fall (roughly between 1009 and 1030). Cordoba itself also suffered a decline but remained an important cultural center. Under Almoravid
The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that ...
rule, the artisan workshops of Cordoba were commissioned to design new richly-crafted minbars for the most important mosques of Morocco – most famously the Minbar of Ali Ibn Yusuf commissioned in 1137 – which were likely inspired by the model of Al-Hakam II's minbar in the Great Mosque.
In 1146 the Christian army of King Alfonso Vll of Léon
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
and Castile briefly occupied Cordoba. The archbishop of Toledo
This is a list of Bishops and Archbishops of Toledo ( la, Archidioecesis Metropolitae Toletana). , Don Raimundo, accompanied by the king, led a mass inside the mosque to " consecrate" the building. According to Muslim sources, before leaving the city the Christians plundered the mosque, carrying off its chandeliers, the gold and silver finial of the minaret, and parts of the rich minbar. As a result of both this pillage and the earlier pillage during the ''fitna'', the mosque had lost almost all of its valuable furnishings.
In 1162, after a general period of decline and recurring sieges, the Almohad caliph Abd al-Mu'min
Abd al Mu'min (c. 1094–1163) ( ar, عبد المؤمن بن علي or عبد المومن الــكـومي; full name: ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn ʿAlī ibn ʿAlwī ibn Yaʿlā al-Kūmī Abū Muḥammad) was a prominent member of the Almohad mov ...
ordered that Cordoba be prepared to become his capital in Al-Andalus. As part of this preparation, his two sons and governors, Abu Ya'qub Yusuf
Abu Ya`qub Yusuf or Yusuf I ( ''Abū Ya‘qūb Yūsuf''; 1135 – 14 October 1184) was the second Almohad ''Amir'' or caliph. He reigned from 1163 until 1184 in Marrakesh. He was responsible for the construction of the Giralda in Seville, whic ...
and Abu Sa'id, ordered that the city and its monuments be restored. The architect Ahmad ibn Baso (who was later known for his work on the Great Mosque of Seville) was responsible for carrying out this restoration program. It is not known exactly which buildings he restored, but it is almost certain that he restored the Great Mosque. It is likely that the mosque's ''minbar'' was also restored at this time, since it is known to have survived long afterwards up to the 16th century.
''Reconquista'' and conversion to cathedral (13th–15th centuries)
In 1236 Córdoba was conquered by King Ferdinand III of Castile
Ferdinand III ( es, Fernando, link=no; 1199/120130 May 1252), called the Saint (''el Santo''), was King of Castile from 1217 and King of León from 1230 as well as King of Galicia from 1231. He was the son of Alfonso IX of León and Berenguel ...
as part of the ''Reconquista
The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...
''. Upon the city's conquest the mosque was converted into a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
(''Santa Maria''). The first mass was dedicated here on June 29 of that year. According to Jiménez de Rada, Ferdinand III also carried out the symbolic act of returning the former cathedral bells of Santiago de Compostela that were looted by Al-Mansur (and which had been turned into mosque lamps) back to Santiago de Compostela.
Despite the conversion, the early Christian history of the building saw only minor alterations being done to its structure, mostly limited to the creation of small chapels and the addition of new Christian tombs and furnishings. Even the mosque's minbar was apparently preserved in its original storage chamber, though it is unknown if it was used in any way during this time. (The minbar has since disappeared, but it still existed in the 16th century, when it was apparently seen by Ambrosio de Morales
Ambrosio de Morales (Cordoba, Spain, 1513 – ''ib.'', September, 1591) was a historian. After his studies at the University of Salamanca and Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, Alcalá, he took Holy orders. Soon he was elected to the chair of ...
.) The cathedral's first altar was installed in 1236 under the large ribbed dome at the edge of Al-Hakam II's 10th-century extension of the mosque, becoming part of what is today called the Villaviciosa Chapel (''Capilla de Villaviciosa'') and the cathedral's first main chapel (the ''Antigua'' ''Capilla Mayor''). There is no indication that even this space was significantly modified in its structure at this time. The area of the mosque's mihrab and ''maqsura,'' along the south wall, was converted into the Chapel of San Pedro and was reportedly where the host was stored. What is today the 17th-century Chapel of the Conception (''Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción''), located on the west wall near the courtyard, was initially the baptistery
In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...
in the 13th century. These three areas appear to have been the most important focal points of Christian activity in the early cathedral. The minaret of the mosque was also converted directly into a bell tower for the cathedral, with only cosmetic alterations such as the placement of a cross at its summit.
Notably, during the early period of the cathedral-mosque, the workers charged with maintaining the building (which had suffered from disrepair in previous years) were local Muslims (Mudéjar
Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...
s). Some of them were kept on payroll by the church but many of them worked as part of their fulfilment of a "labor tax" on Muslim craftsmen (later extended to Muslims of all professions) which required them to work two days a year on the cathedral building. This tax was imposed by the crown and was unique to the city of Cordoba. It was probably instituted not only to make use of Mudéjar expertise but also to make up for the cathedral chapter's relative poverty, especially vis-à-vis the monumental task of repairing and maintaining such a large building. At the time, Mudéjar craftsmen and carpenters were especially valued across the region and even held monopolies in some Castilian cities such as Burgos
Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos.
Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of ...
.
Other chapels were progressively created around the interior periphery of the building over the following centuries, many of them funerary chapels built through private patronage. The first precisely-dated chapel known to be built along the west wall is the Chapel of San Felipe and Santiago, in 1258. The Chapel of San Clemente was created in the southeast part of the mosque before 1262. A couple of early Christian features, such as an altar dedicated to San Blas (installed in 1252) and an altar of San Miguel (1255), disappeared in later centuries.
The first major addition to the building under Christian patrons is the Royal Chapel (''Capilla Real''), located directly behind the west wall of the Villaviciosa Chapel. It was begun at an uncertain date. While it is sometimes believed to have been started by Alfonso X
Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...
, Heather Ecker has argued that documentary evidence proves it wasn't begun before the 14th century when Contanza of Portugal, wife of Ferdinand IV, made an endowment for the chapel. It was finished in 1371 by Enrique II, who moved the remains of his father Alfonso XI and grandfather Ferdinand IV here. (Their remains were later moved in 1736 to the Church of San Hipólito.) The chapel was constructed in a lavish Mudéjar style
Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for M ...
with a ribbed dome very similar to the neighbouring dome of the Villaviciosa Chapel and with surfaces covered in carved stucco decoration typical of Nasrid architecture at the time. This prominent use of the Moorish-Mudéjar style for a royal funerary chapel (along with other examples like the Mudéjar Alcázar of Seville) is interpreted by modern scholars as a desire by the Christian kings to appropriate the prestige of Moorish architecture in the Iberian Peninsula, just as the Mosque of Cordoba was itself a powerful symbol of the former Umayyad Caliphate's political and cultural power which the Castilians were eager to appropriate.
In the late 15th century a more significant modification was carried out to the Villaviciosa Chapel, where a new nave in Gothic style was created by clearing some of the mosque arches on the east side of the chapel and adding Gothic arches and vaulting. The nave is dated to 1489 and its construction was overseen by Bishop Íñigo Manrique. The nave originally had a series of Byzantine-Italian style frescoes by Alonso Martinez depicting saints and kings, but only one of these frescoes has been preserved to the present day and is being kept at the Museum of Fine Arts in Cordoba.
Major alterations (16th–18th centuries)
The most significant alteration of all, however, was the building of a Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
cathedral nave and transept – forming a new ''Capilla Mayor'' – in the middle of the expansive mosque structure, starting in 1523. The project, initiated by Bishop Alonso de Manrique, was vigorously opposed by the city council of Cordoba. The cathedral chapter eventually won its case by petitioning Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
, king of Castile and Aragon, who gave his permission for the project to proceed. When Charles V later saw the result of the construction he is reputed to have been displeased, however, and is claimed to have commented: "You have built what you or anyone else might have built anywhere; to do so you have destroyed something that was unique in the world."
The architect Hernan Ruiz I was put in charge of the design of the new nave and transept. Before his death in 1547 he built the choir walls up to the windows and the gothic vaults on the south side. He also worked on the mosque building's eastern section (the extension added by Al-Mansur) by adding gothic vaulting to the mosque naves in this area. His son, Hernan Ruiz II "the Younger", took over the project after his death. He was responsible for building the transept walls to their full height as well as the buttresses upholding the structure. After him, the project was entrusted to architect Juan de Ochoa, who completed the project in a Mannerist
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...
style. The final element was the construction of the elliptical central dome of the transept, built between 1599 and 1607.
In 1589 a strong storm (or earthquake) caused damage to the former minaret, which was being used as a bell tower, and it was decided to remodel and reinforce the tower. A design by Hernán Ruiz III (son of Hernán Ruiz II) was chosen, encasing the original minaret structure into a new Renaissance-style bell tower. Some of the upper sections of the minaret were demolished in the process. Construction began in 1593 but eventually stalled due to resources being spent instead on the construction of the new cathedral nave and transept happening at the same time. Hernán Ruiz III died in 1606 and was unable to see its completion. The construction resumed under architect Juan Sequero de Matilla in 1616 and the tower was finished in 1617. The new tower had imperfections, however, and required repairs only a few decades later in the mid-17th century. The cathedral hired architect Gaspar de la Peña to fix the problems. He reinforced the tower and modified the initial design of the ''Puerta del Perdón'' ("Door of Forgiveness") which passed through the tower's base. In 1664 Gaspar added a new cupola to the top of the belfry onto which he raised a statue of Saint Raphael made by the sculptors Pedro de la Paz and Bernabé Gómez del Río. In 1727 the tower was damaged by another storm and in 1755 pieces of it (mainly decorative details) were damaged by the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. In combination with ...
. A French architect, Baltasar Dreveton, was charged with restoring and repairing the structure over a period of 8 years.
In the new ''Capilla Mayor'', after its completion by Juan de Ochoa, Bishop Diego de Mardones initiated the construction of its main altarpiece and provided a significant donation himself for the project. The altarpiece was designed in a Mannerist style by Alonso Matías and construction began in 1618. Other artists who were involved in its execution included Sebastián Vidal, Pedro Freile de Guevara, and Antonio Palomino. In March 1748 construction on the choir stalls began, with the commission awarded to Pedro Duque Cornejo
Pedro Duque y Cornejo (1677–1757) was a Spanish Baroque painter and sculptor of the Sevillian school of sculpture, a disciple of his grandfather Pedro Roldán.
He was born in Seville and worked mostly in his home city (church of the Sagrario, ...
. It was initially funded with the help of a large bequest by Archdeacon José Díaz de Recalde in 1742. Work on the choir stalls finished in 1757, though Duque Cornejo – who had worked on it continuously for nearly a decade – died just two weeks before the finished choir was officially opened.
Modern restorations (19th–21st centuries)
In 1816 the original mihrab of the mosque was uncovered from behind the former altar of the old Chapel of San Pedro. Patricio Furriel was responsible for restoring the mihrab's Islamic mosaics, including the portions which had been lost. Further restoration works concentrating on the former mosque structure were carried out between 1879 and 1923 under the direction of Velázquez Bosco, who among other things dismantled the baroque elements that had been added to the Villaviciosa Chapel and uncovered the earlier structures there. During this period, in 1882, the cathedral and mosque structure was declared a National Monument. Further research work and archaeological excavations were carried out on the mosque structure and in the Courtyard of the Oranges by Félix Hernández between 1931 and 1936. More recent scholars have noted that modern restorations since the 19th century have partly focused on "re-islamicizing" (in architectural terms) parts of the Mosque-Cathedral. This took place in the context of wider conservation efforts in Spain, starting in the 19th century, towards studying and restoring Islamic-era structures.
The Mosque-Cathedral was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984, and in 1994 this status was extended to the entire historic centre of Cordoba. A restoration project began on the bell tower in 1991 and finished in 2014, while the transept and choir of the Renaissance cathedral were also restored between 2006 and 2009. Further restorations of features like chapels and some of the outer gates have continued to take place up to the late 2010s.
Architecture
The Great Mosque of Córdoba held a place of importance amongst the Islamic community of al-Andalus for centuries. In Córdoba, the Umayyad capital, the Mosque was seen as the heart and central focus of the city.[Jayyusi, Salma Khadra, ed. ''The Legacy of Muslim Spain'', 2 Vols.. Leiden: Brill, p.599.] Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...
described its interior as having "countless pillars like rows of palm trees in the oases of Syria".Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...
The Mosque of Córdoba
/ref> To the people of al-Andalus "the beauty of the mosque was so dazzling that it defied any description."[Anwar, G. Chejne, ''Muslim Spain: Its History and Culture'', MINNE ed. Minnesota: University Of Minnesota Press, p.364.]
After all of its historical expansions, the mosque-cathedral covers an area of . The building's original floor plan follows the overall form of some of the earliest mosques built from the very beginning of Islam. Some of its features had precedents in the Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque ( ar, الجامع الأموي, al-Jāmiʿ al-Umawī), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus ( ar, الجامع الدمشق, al-Jāmiʿ al-Damishq), located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the ...
of Damascus, which was an important model built before it.[The Literature of Al-Andalus (The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature). New Ed ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 161.] It had a rectangular prayer hall with aisles arranged perpendicular to the ''qibla'', the direction towards which Muslims pray. It has thick outer walls with a somewhat fortress-like appearance. To the north is a spacious courtyard (the former ''sahn''), surrounded by an arcaded gallery, with gates on the north, west, and east sides, and fountains that replace the former mosque fountains used for ablutions. A bridge or elevated passage (the ''sabat'') once existed on the west side of the mosque which connected the prayer hall directly with the Caliph's palace across the street. Al-Razi, an Arab writer, speaks of the valuable wine-coloured marble, obtained from the mountains of the district, which was much used in embellishing the naves of the mosque.
The Christian-era additions (after 1236) included many small chapels throughout the building and various relatively cosmetic changes. The most substantial and visible additions are the cruciform
Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly describe ...
nave and transept of the ''Capilla Mayor'' (the main chapel where Mass is held today) which were begun in the 16th century and inserted into the middle of the former mosque's prayer hall, as well as the remodelling of the former minaret into a Renaissance-style bell tower.
The hypostyle hall
The mosque-cathedral's hypostyle hall dates from the original mosque construction and originally served as its main prayer space for Muslims. The main hall of the mosque was used for a variety of purposes. It served as a central prayer hall for personal devotion, for the five daily Muslim prayers and the special Friday prayers accompanied by a sermon
A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. ...
. It also would have served as a hall for teaching and for Sharia law cases during the rule of Abd al-Rahman I and his successors.
The hall was large and flat, with timber ceilings held up by rows of double-tiered arches ( arcades) resting on columns. These rows of arches divided the original building into 11 aisles or "naves" running from north to south, later increased to 19 by Al-Mansur's expansion, while in turn forming perpendicular aisles running east–west between the columns. The approximately 850 columns were made of jasper
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...
, onyx
Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The ...
, marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...
, granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
and porphyry. In the original mosque, all of the columns and capitals were reused from earlier Roman and Visigothic buildings, but subsequent expansions (starting with Abd al-Rahman II) saw the incorporation of new Moorish-made capitals that evolved from earlier Roman models. The nave that leads to the ''mihrab'' – which was originally the central nave of the mosque until Al-Mansur's lateral expansion of the building altered its symmetry – is slightly wider than the other naves, demonstrating a subtle hierarchy in the mosque's floor plan. The double-tiered arches were an innovation that permitted higher ceilings than would otherwise be possible with relatively low columns. They consist of a lower tier of horseshoe arches and an upper tier of semi-circular arches. The voussoir
A voussoir () is a wedge-shaped element, typically a stone, which is used in building an arch or vault.
Although each unit in an arch or vault is a voussoir, two units are of distinct functional importance: the keystone and the springer. The ...
s of the arches alternate between red brick and white stone. Colour alternations like this were common in Umayyad architecture
Umayyad architecture developed in the Umayyad Caliphate between 661 and 750, primarily in its heartlands of Syria and Palestine. It drew extensively on the architecture of older Middle Eastern and Mediterranean civilizations including the Sassa ...
in the Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
and in pre-Islamic architecture on the Iberian Peninsula. According to Anwar G. Chejne, the arches were inspired by those in the Dome of the Rock. Horseshoe arches were known in the Iberian Peninsula in the Visigothic period (e.g. the 7th-century Church of San Juan de Baños), and to a lesser extent in Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and Umayyad regions of the Middle East; however, the traditional "Moorish" arch developed into its own distinctive and slightly more sophisticated version.
The mosque's architectural system of repeating double-tiered arches, with otherwise little surface decoration, is considered one of its most innovative characteristics and has been the subject of much commentary. The hypostyle hall has been variously described as resembling a "forest of columns" and having an effect similar to a "hall of mirrors". Scholar Jerrilynn Dodds has further summarized the visual effect of the hypostyle hall with the following:
Interest in the mosque's interior is created, then, not by the application of a skin of decoration to a separately conceived building but by the transformation of the morphemes of the architecture itself: the arches and voussoirs. Because we share the belief that architectural components must by definition behave logically, their conversion into agents of chaos fuels a basic subversion of our expectations concerning the nature of architecture. The tensions that grow from these subverted expectations create an intellectual dialogue between building and viewer that will characterize the evolving design of the Great Mosque of Cordoba for over two hundred years.
The mosque's original flat wooden ceiling was made of wooden planks and beams with carved and painted decoration. Preserved fragments of the original ceiling – some of which are now on display in the Courtyard of the Oranges – were discovered in the 19th century and have allowed modern restorers to reconstruct the ceilings of some of the western sections of the mosque according to their original style. The eastern naves of the hall (in al-Mansur's expansion), by contrast, are now covered by high Gothic vaults which were added in the 16th century by Hernan Ruiz I. On the exterior, the building has gabled roofs covered in tiles.
The ''mihrab'' and the ''maqsura'' of the mosque
The prayer hall also has a richly-decorated ''mihrab'' (niche symbolizing the direction of prayer) surrounded by an architecturally-defined ''maqsura'' (an area reserved for the emir or caliph during prayer), which date from the expansion of Caliph Al-Hakam II after 965. This ''maqsura'' area covers three bays along the southern qibla wall in front of the mihrab, and was marked off from the rest of the mosque by an elaborate screen of intersecting horseshoe and polylobed arches; a feature which would go on to be highly influential in the subsequent development of Moorish architecture. The mihrab opens in the wall at the middle of this ''maqsura'', while two doors flank it on either side. The door on the right, ''Bab al-Sabat'' ("door of the ''sabat"''), gave access to a passage which originally led to the ''sabat'', an elevated passage over the street which connected the mosque to the caliph's palace. The door on the left, ''Bab Bayt al-Mal'' ("door of the treasury"), led to a treasury located behind the qibla wall (now partly occupied by the cathedral's treasury).
The mihrab consists of a horseshoe arch leading to a small heptagonal chamber covered by a shell-shaped cupola above a ring of polylobed blind arches and carvings. This is the earliest known mihrab that consists of an actual room rather than just a niche in the wall. Under the horseshoe arch are two pairs of short marble columns with capitals – each pair featuring one red column and one dark green column – that are believed to have been reused from the mihrab of Abd al-Rahman II's earlier expansion of the mosque. The mihrab is, in turn, surrounded by a typical arrangement of radiating arch decoration and a rectangular framing or ''alfiz The alfiz (, from Andalusi Arabic ''alḥíz'', from Standard Arabic ''alḥáyyiz'', meaning 'the container';Al ...
'', which is also seen in the design of the earlier western mosque gate of ''Bab al-Wuzara'' (the ''Puerta de San Esteban'' today) and was likely also present in the design of the mosque's first mihrab. Above this ''alfiz'' is another decorative blind arcade
A blind arcade or blank arcade is an arcade (a series of arches) that has no actual openings and that is applied to the surface of a wall as a decorative element: i.e., the arches are not windows or openings but are part of the masonry face. It is ...
of polylobed arches. The lower walls on either side of the mihrab are panelled with marble carved with intricate arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
vegetal motifs, while the spandrel
A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...
s above the arch are likewise filled with carved arabesques. The voussoirs of the arch, however, as well as the rectangular ''alfiz'' frame and the blind arcade above it, are all filled with gold and glass mosaics. Those in the voussoirs and the blind arcade form vegetal and floral motifs, while those in the ''alfiz'' and in smaller bands at the springs of the arch contain Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
inscriptions in Kufic script. The two doors on either side of the mihrab section are also framed by similar, but less elaborate, mosaic decoration.
The three bays of the ''maqsura'' area (the space in front of the mihrab and the spaces in front of the two side doors) are each covered by ornate ribbed domes. The use of intersecting arches in this area also solved the problem of creating additional support to bear the weight and thrust of these domes. The domes themselves are built with eight intersecting stone ribs. Rather than meeting in the center of the dome, the ribs intersect one another off-center, forming an eight-pointed star with an octagonal "scalloped" cupola in the center. The middle dome, in front of the mihrab, is especially elaborate and is also covered by mosaic decoration, including an inscription around the base of the central cupola containing verses from the Qur'an
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...
( ''Surah'' 22: 77–78). The translation reads:
Scholars have affirmed that the style of the mosaics in this part of the mosque is heavily influenced by Byzantine mosaics
Byzantine mosaics are mosaics produced from the 4th to 15th centuries in and under the influence of the Byzantine Empire. Mosaics were some of the most popular and historically significant art forms produced in the empire, and they are still studi ...
, which corroborates historical accounts of the Caliph requesting expert mosaicists from the Byzantine emperor at the time, who agreed and sent him a master craftsman. Scholars have argued that this use of Byzantine mosaics is also part of a general desire – whether conscious or not – by the Cordoban Umayyads to evoke connections to the early Umayyad Caliphate
The Umayyad Caliphate (661–750 CE; , ; ar, ٱلْخِلَافَة ٱلْأُمَوِيَّة, al-Khilāfah al-ʾUmawīyah) was the second of the four major caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. The caliphate was ruled by th ...
in the Middle East, in particular to the Great Umayyad Mosque of Damascus, where Byzantine mosaics were a prominent element of the decoration.
The Arabic inscriptions in the ''mihrab'''s mosaics are the first example of a major series of political-religious inscriptions inserted into Umayyad Andalusi architecture. They contain selected excerpts from the Qur'an as well as foundation inscriptions praising the patron (Caliph Al-Hakam II) and the people who assisted in the construction project. The largest inscription of the ''alfiz'' (rectangular frame) around the ''mihrab'', in gold Kufic characters on a dark background, begins with two excerpts from the Qur'an ( ''Surah'' 32:6 and ''Surah'' 40:65), translated as:
This is followed by a text commemorating al-Hakam's expansion:
Immediately inside this rectangular inscription frame is another inscription in a horizontal band above the mihrab, in dark letters against a gold background, which quotes ''Surah'' 59:23, translated as:
Nuha N. N. Khoury, a scholar of Islamic architecture, has interpreted these inscriptions, in combination with the other foundation inscriptions in this part of the mosque, as an attempt to present the mosque as a "universal Islamic shrine", similar to the mosques of Mecca and Medina
Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the second-holiest city in Islam, and the capital of the ...
, and to portray Caliph al-Hakam II as the instrument through which God built this shrine. This framed the official history of the Umayyad dynasty in prophetic terms, promoting the idea of the new Umayyad caliphs in Cordoba as having a universal prerogative in the Islamic world.
File:Maqsura de la Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, View of the intersecting arches in the ''maqsura'' area around the mihrab
File:Mezquita de Cordoba Mihrab.jpg, The mihrab
File:Mezquita marble carving of mihrab DSCF5465.jpg, Carved marble decoration on the lower walls around the mihrab
File:Cordoba Mosque 07.jpg, The mosaics in the voussoirs of the mihrab arch
File:Great Mosque of Cordoba, mihrab area, 10th century (28) (29208542874).jpg, Part of the Kufic
Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
inscriptions in the mosaics of the ''alfiz'' above the mihrab
File:Great Mosque of Cordoba, mihrab area, 10th century (32) (29761847451).jpg, The blind arcade
A blind arcade or blank arcade is an arcade (a series of arches) that has no actual openings and that is applied to the surface of a wall as a decorative element: i.e., the arches are not windows or openings but are part of the masonry face. It is ...
above the ''alfiz'', with mosaics
File:Cordoba Mosque 16. Mihrab.jpg, Interior of the mihrab and its shell-shaped dome
File:Cordoba Mosque 01.jpg, The middle dome over the ''maqsura'', in front of the mihrab
File:East door of the Maqsura, Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Spain - DSC07158.JPG, ''Bab Bayt al-Mal'', to the left of the mihrab, the door that led to the mosque's treasury
File:Cordoba Mosque 13.jpg, Dome in front of the ''Bab Bayt al-Mal''
File:West door of the Maqsura, Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Spain - DSC07154.JPG, ''Bab al Sabat'', to the right of the mihrab, the door that led to the passage linking with the Caliph's palace
File:Cordoba Mosque 14.jpg, Dome in front of the ''Bab al-Sabat''
Dome of the Villaviciosa Chapel
In the nave or aisle of the hypostyle hall which leads to the mihrab, at the spot which marks the beginning of Al-Hakam's 10th-century extension, is a monumental ribbed dome with ornate decoration. The ribs of this dome have a different configuration than those of the domes in front of the mihrab. Their intersection creates a square space in the center with an octagonal scalloped cupola added over this. In total, this intersection of ribs creates 17 vaulted compartments of square or triangular shape, in different sizes, each further decorated with a variety of miniature ribbed domes, star-shaped mini-domes, and scalloped shapes. The space under this dome was surrounded on three sides by elaborate screens of interlacing arches, similar to those of the ''maqsura'' but even more intricate. This architectural ensemble apparently marked the transition from the old mosque to Al-Hakam II's expansion, which some scholars see as having a status similar to a "mosque-within-a-mosque". The dome is now part of the Villaviciosa Chapel, while two of the three intersecting arch screens are still present (the western one has disappeared and been replaced by the 15th-century Gothic nave added to the chapel). Like the ornate decorative arches, this dome and the other ribbed domes of the ''maqsura'' were highly influential in subsequent Moorish architecture of the period, appearing also in simpler but imaginative forms in the small Bab al-Mardum Mosque in Toledo and giving rise to other ornamental derivations like the much later stucco domes of the Great Mosque of Tlemcen
The Great Mosque of Tlemcen ( ar, الجامع الكبير لتلمسان, ''el-Jemaa el-Kebir litilimcen'') is a major historic mosque in Tlemcen, Algeria. It was founded and first built in 1082 but modified and embellished several times afterw ...
and the Great Mosque of Taza
The Great Mosque of Taza ( Berber: ⵎⵙⵀⵉⵜⴰ ⴰⵎⵇⵔⴰⵏ, ) is the most important religious building in the historic medina of Taza, Morocco. Founded in the 12th century, it is the oldest surviving example of Almohad architecture ...
.
File:Capilla de Villaviciosa, Mosque of Cordoba, Spain - DSC07112.JPG, The interlacing arches at the entrance to Al-Hakam II's 10th-century extension (the Villaviciosa Chapel)
File:Bóveda de la Capilla de Villaviciosa (Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba).jpg, The ribbed dome at the entrance Al-Hakam II's 10th-century extension (the Villaviciosa Chapel)
File:Mezquita Villaviciosa dome SW corner DSCF5149.jpg, Details of one of the corners of the dome
The courtyard
The courtyard is known today as the ''Patio de los Naranjos'' or "Courtyard of the Orange Trees". Until the 11th century, the mosque courtyard (also known as a ''sahn
A ''sahn'' ( ar, صَحْن, '), is a courtyard in Islamic architecture, especially the formal courtyard of a mosque. Most traditional mosques have a large central ''sahn'', which is surrounded by a '' riwaq'' or arcade on all sides. In traditi ...
'') was unpaved earth with citrus and palm trees irrigated at first by rainwater cisterns and later by aqueduct. Excavation indicates the trees were planted in a pattern, with surface irrigation channels. The stone channels visible today are not original. As in most mosque courtyards, it had fountains or water basins to help Muslims perform ritual ablutions before prayer. The arches that marked the transition from the courtyard to the interior of the prayer hall were originally open and allowed natural light to penetrate the interior, but most of these arches were walled up during the Christian period (after 1236) as chapels were built along the northern edge of the hall. The courtyard of the original mosque of Abd ar-Rahman I had no surrounding gallery or portico, but it is believed that one was added by Abd ar-Rahman III between 951 and 958. The current gallery, however, was rebuilt with a similar design by architect Hernán Ruiz I under Bishop Martín Fernández de Angulo between 1510 and 1516. The current layout of the gardens and trees is the result of work carried out under Bishop Francisco Reinoso between 1597 and 1601. Today the courtyard is planted with rows of orange trees, cypresses, and palm trees.
Bell tower and former minaret
![Tower of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba 2021](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/Tower_of_the_Mosque-Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba_2021.jpg)
Abd al-Rahman III added the mosque's first minaret (tower used by the muezzin
The muezzin ( ar, مُؤَذِّن) is the person who proclaims the call to the daily prayer ( ṣalāt) five times a day ( Fajr prayer, Zuhr prayer, Asr prayer, Maghrib prayer and Isha prayer) at a mosque. The muezzin plays an important r ...
for the call to prayer) in the mid-10th century. The minaret has since disappeared after it was partly demolished and encased in the Renaissance bell tower that is visible today, which was designed by Hernán Ruiz III and built between 1593 and 1617. The minaret's original appearance, however, was reconstructed by modern Spanish scholar Félix Hernández Giménez with the help archeological evidence as well as historical texts and representations. (For example, the two coat-of-arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...
on the present-day cathedral's Puerta de Santa Catalina depict the tower as it appeared before its later reconstruction.)
The original minaret was 47 meters high and had a square base measuring 8.5 meters per side. Like other Andalusi and North African minarets after it, it was composed of main shaft and a smaller secondary tower or "lantern" (also with a square base) which surmounted it. The lantern tower was in turn surmounted by a dome and topped by a finial in the shape of a metal rod with two golden spheres and one silver sphere (often referred to as "apples") decreasing in size towards the top. The main tower contained two staircases, which were built for the separate ascent and descent of the tower. About half-way up, the stairways were lit by sets of horseshoe-arch windows whose arches were decorated with voussoirs of alternating colours which were in turn surrounded by a rectangular ''alfiz'' frame (similar to the decoration seen around the arches of the mosque's outer gates). On two of the tower's façades there were three of these windows side by side, while on the two other façades the windows were arranged in two pairs. These double pairs or triplets of windows were repeated on the level above. Above these, just below the summit of the main shaft on each façade, was a row of nine smaller windows of equivalent shape and decoration. The top edge of the main shaft was crowned with a balustrade of sawtooth-shaped merlons (similar to those commonly found in Morocco). The lantern tower was decorated by another horseshoe archway on each of its four facades, again featuring an arch of alternating voussoirs framed within an ''alfiz''.
Construction of a new cathedral bell tower to encase the old minaret began in 1593 and, after some delays, was finished in 1617. It was designed by architect Hernan Ruiz III (grandson of Hernan Ruiz I), who built the tower up to the bells level but died before its completion. His plans were followed by Juan Sequero de Matilla who finished the tower after him. The bell tower is 54 meters tall and is the tallest structure in the city. It consists of a solid square shaft up the level of the bells, where serliana
A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian ar ...
-style openings feature on all four sides. Above this is a lantern structure which in turn is surmounted by a cupola. The dome at the summit is topped by a sculpture of Saint Raphael which was added in 1664 by architect Gaspar de la Peña, who had been hired to perform other repairs and fix structural problems. The sculpture was made by Pedro de la Paz and Bernabé Gómez del Río. Next to the base of the tower is the ''Puerta del Perdón'' ("Door of Forgiveness"), one of the two northern gates of the building.
The ''Capilla Mayor'' and cruciform cathedral core
The cathedral's main chapel (known from Spanish as the ''Capilla Mayor'') is located at the cruciform nave and transept at the center of the building. This cruciform section was begun in 1523 and finished in 1607. The design was drafted by Hernan Ruiz I, the first architect in charge of the project, and was continued after his death by Hernan Ruiz II (his son) and then by Juan de Ochoa. As a result of this long period and the succession of architects, this cruciform section presents an interesting blend of styles. The first two architects introduced Gothic elements into the design which are visible in the elaborate tracery design of the stone vaults over the transept arms and above the altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
. Juan de Ochoa finished the structure in a more Mannerist
Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...
style typical at the time, finishing the project with an elliptical dome
An elliptical dome, or an ''oval dome'', is a dome whose bottom cross-section takes the form of an ellipse. Technically, an ''ellipsoidal dome'' has a circular cross-section, so is not quite the same.
While the cupola can take different geometr ...
over the crossing and a barrel vault ceiling – with lunettes along the side – over the choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
area.
The design and decoration of the ensemble includes extensive iconography. The Gothic-style vault over the main altar is carved with images of musical angels, saints, apostles, and an image of Emperor Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
(Carlos V), with an image of Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
at the center. The many writings spread amongst the images in turn form a long litany to Mary. The elliptical dome of the crossing rests on four pendentives which are sculpted with images of the four evangelists. On the dome itself, are the images of the eight Fathers of the Church along the outer edge and an image of the Holy Trinity at its center, which together are part of a Counter-Reformist iconographic program. Over the choir area, the central area of the barrel vault ceiling is occupied by images of the Assumption
Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
Assumption may also refer to:
Places
* Assumption, Alberta, Canada
* Assumption, Illinois, United States
** Assumption Tow ...
, Saint Acisclus
Saint Acisclus (also Ascylus, Ocysellus; es, Acisclo; french: Aciscle) (died 304) was a martyr of Córdoba, in Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, i.e., modern Portugal and Spain). His life is mentioned by Eulogius of Cordoba. He suffered marty ...
and Saint Victoria, while the sides feature images of David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
, Solomon, Daniel and Samuel along with the theological virtues
Theological virtues are virtues associated in Christian theology and philosophy with salvation resulting from the grace of God. Virtues are traits or qualities which dispose one to conduct oneself in a morally good manner. Traditionally they hav ...
.
File:Mezquita-catedral de Córdoba interior 13.jpg, The nave of the cruciform core of the cathedral or ''Capilla Mayor'', looking towards the altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
File:Vault choir cathedral Cordoba.jpg, Details of the Gothic lines and iconographic sculpting over the altar of the ''Capilla Mayor''
File:Bóveda del crucero - Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba.jpg, Elliptical dome over the crossing
File:WLM14ES - 16102009 205931 CRDB 1090 - .jpg, One of the arms of the transept
File:Mezquita-catedral de Córdoba interior 20.jpg, Gothic decoration on the ceilings of the transept arms
File:Cordoba Mezquita.jpg, Example of the arches of the former mosque incorporated into the sides of the transept
File:WLM14ES - 16102009 210034 CRDB 1096 - .jpg, The choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
section and ceiling
File:Crucero en la Catedral-Mezquita de Córdoba. (17198276242) (3).jpg, Details of the barrel vault ceiling over the choir
Main altar
The altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
of the ''Capilla Mayor'' was begun in 1618 and designed in a Mannerist style by Alonso Matías. After 1627 the works were taken over by Juan de Aranda Salazar, and the altar was finished in 1653. The sculpting was executed by the artists Sebastián Vidal and Pedro Freile de Guevara. The original paintings of the altar were executed by Cristóbal Vela Cobo but they were replaced in 1715 by the current paintings by Antonio Palomino
Acislo Antonio Palomino de Castro y Velasco (165513 April 1726) was a Spanish painter of the Baroque period, and a writer on art, author of ''El Museo pictórico y escala óptica'', which contains a large amount of important biographical mate ...
. The altar consists of three vertical "aisles" flanked by columns with composite
Composite or compositing may refer to:
Materials
* Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances
** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts
** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials
...
capitals. The central aisle houses the tabernacle (executed by Pedro Freile de Guevara) at its base, while its upper half is occupied by a canvas of the ''Assumption''. The two aisles on the side contain four more canvases depicting four martyrs
A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external ...
: ''Saint Acisclus'' and ''Saint Victoria'' on the bottom halves and '' Saint Pelagius'' and '' Saint Flora'' in the upper halves. The upper canvases are flanked by sculptures of Saint Peter
) (Simeon, Simon)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire
, death_date = Between AD 64–68
, death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire
, parents = John (or Jonah; Jona)
, occupat ...
and Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
, and the central portion is topped by a relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
sculpture of '' God the Father''.
File:Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba (6933169868).jpg, The main altar
Main may refer to:
Geography
* Main River (disambiguation)
**Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany
* Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province
*"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries
...
File:Córdoba 2015 10 23 2737 (25613740144).jpg, The tabernacle
According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
(center) and the lower region of the altar
File:Córdoba 2015 10 23 2733 (25613751954).jpg, The upper region of the altar, with the central canvas of the ''Assumption
Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven.
Assumption may also refer to:
Places
* Assumption, Alberta, Canada
* Assumption, Illinois, United States
** Assumption Tow ...
''
Choir stalls
The choir stalls, located across from the altar, were crafted from 1748 to 1757 and were executed by Pedro Duque Cornejo
Pedro Duque y Cornejo (1677–1757) was a Spanish Baroque painter and sculptor of the Sevillian school of sculpture, a disciple of his grandfather Pedro Roldán.
He was born in Seville and worked mostly in his home city (church of the Sagrario, ...
. The ensemble was carved mainly out of mahogany wood and features a row of 30 upper seats and a row of 23 lower seats, all intricately decorated with carvings, including a series of iconographic scenes. At the centre of the ensemble on the west side is a large episcopal throne, commissioned in 1752, that resembles the design of an altarpiece. The lower part of the thrones has three seats, but the most impressive element is the upper part which features a life-size representation of the ''Ascension of Jesus
The Ascension of Jesus (anglicized from the Vulgate la, ascensio Iesu, lit=ascent of Jesus) is the Christian teaching that Christ physically departed from Earth by rising to Heaven, in the presence of eleven of his apostles. According to th ...
.'' The last figure which stands above the summit of the ensemble is a sculpture of the Archangel Raphael
Raphael (, "God has healed"), ''Rəfāʾēl'', Tiberian: ''Răp̄āʾēl''; lit. 'God has healed'; grc, Ραφαήλ, ''Raphaḗl''; cop, ⲣⲁⲫⲁⲏⲗ, ''Rafaêl''; ar, رافائيل, ''Rāfā’īl'', or , ''Isrāfīl''; am, ሩፋ ...
.
File:Coro de la Mezquita de Córdoba (España).jpg, Overall view of the choir
File:Córdoba 2014.21.jpg, View of the seats on the upper and lower rows
File:Córdoba 2015 10 23 2744 (25945609200).jpg, The upper part of the episcopal throne of the choir, featuring a life-size representation of the Ascension
List of chapels
West wall, from north to south:
* Capilla de San Ambrosio
* Capilla de San Agustín
* Capilla de Nuestra Señora de las Nieves y San Vicente Mártir
* Capilla de los Santos Simón y Judas de la Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba
* Capilla de la Concepción de Salizanes o del Santísimo Sacramento
* Capilla de San Antonio Abad
* Capilla de la Trinidad
* Capilla de San Acacio
* Capilla de San Pedro y San Lorenzo
* Museo de San Vicente
South wall, from west to east:
* Capilla de San Bartolomé
* Capilla de Santa Teresa
* Capilla de Santa Inés
* Capilla del Sagrario
East wall, from north to south:
* Capilla de San Antonio de Padua
* Capilla de San Marcos, Santa Ana y San Juan Bautista
* Capilla de San Mateo y Limpia Concepción de Nuestra Señora
* Capilla de San Juan Bautista
* Capilla de Santa Marina, de San Matías y del Baptisterio
* Capilla de San Nicolás de Bari
* Capilla de la Expectación
* Capilla del Espíritu Santo
* Capilla de la Concepción Antigua
* Capilla de San José
* Capilla de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora
* Capilla de Santa María Magdalena
North wall, from west to east:
* Capilla de San Eulogio
* Capilla de San Esteban
* Capilla de Nuestra Señora del Mayor Dolor
* Capilla de la Virgen de la Antigua
* Capilla de San Andrés
* Capilla de la Epifanía
* Capilla de Nuestra Señora del Rosario
* Capilla de las Benditas Ánimas del Purgatorio
* Capilla de los Santos Varones
* Capilla de Santa Francisca Romana y Santa Úrsula
File:Capilla de Villaviciosa, Mosque of Cordoba, Spain - DSC07117.JPG, Capilla de Villaviciosa
File:Córdoba (15179244529).jpg, Capilla Sagrario
File:Royal Chapel - La Mezquita - Córdoba (2).JPG, Capilla Real
File:Monstrance - Capilla de Santa Teresa - La Mezquita - Córdoba.JPG, Capilla Teresa
File:Escritura en la Mezquita de Córdoba (España).jpg, Capilla San Clemente
File:Capilla de la Concepción - Mezquita de Córdoba 002.jpg, Capilla de la Concepción
Doors
Doors of the Islamic period
The ''Puerta de San Esteban'' (formerly the ''Bab al-Wuzara'' in Arabic) is one of the oldest well-preserved and historically significant gateways of Moorish architecture. It was originally the gate by which the Muslim emir and his officials entered the mosque and it presumably existed since the mosque's first construction by Abd ar-Rahman I in the 8th century. However, its decoration was completed by Muhammad I in 855. Centuries of slow deterioration and restoration attempts have erased some elements of its decoration, but major original aspects of it remain. Its historical-architectural significance derives from being the earliest surviving example to display the classic ornamental features of Moorish gateways: a door topped by a horseshoe arch with voussoirs of alternating color, which in turn is framed by a rectangular ''alfiz''.
Many other gates were added over the course of subsequent expansions of the mosque. These later gates have even more elaborate decoration, particularly from the 10th century during Al-Hakam II's expansion (starting in 961), visible today on the western exterior façade of the former prayer hall. Al-Mansur's final expansion of the mosque a few decades later (starting in 987–988), which extended the mosque laterally to the east, copied the design of the earlier gates of Al-Hakam II's expansion. Al-Mansur's doors are visible on the building's current eastern façade. Some remains of the original eastern doors of Al-Hakam II's expansion, before Al-Mansur's displacement of the eastern wall, are still visible inside the mosque-cathedral today. The best-preserved example is the door popularly known as ''Puerta del Chocolate'' or ''Puerta del Punto'', located next to the southern wall and serving today as the visitors' exit from the cathedral's treasury rooms, which was formerly a door to the mosque's treasury as well. Many of the exterior gates, however, have undergone various periods of decay and restoration. The most elaborate gates on the eastern wall today are in large part the work of 20th-century restorations. Many of the original Arabic inscriptions on these doors have nonetheless been preserved, however. Susana Calvo Capilla has noted that many of the inscriptions on the 10th-century gates have eschatological
Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of the present age, human history, or of the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that nega ...
and proselytizing
Proselytism () is the policy of attempting to convert people's religious or political beliefs. Proselytism is illegal in some countries.
Some draw distinctions between ''evangelism'' or '' Da‘wah'' and proselytism regarding proselytism as invol ...
connotations, possibly reflecting a conscious rebuttal of heterodox
In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , "other, another, different" + , "popular belief") means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". Under this definition, heterodoxy is similar to unorthodoxy, w ...
religious currents that the authorities deemed threats at the time. Three of the doors, for example, include Qur'anic verses that deny Christian beliefs on the divinity of Christ
In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek grc, Χριστός, Khristós, label=none and grc, -λογία, -logia, label=none), translated literally from Greek as "the study of Christ", is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Differ ...
.
Doors of the Christian period
After the mosque's conversion to a cathedral in 1236, Spanish Christian designs were increasingly added to new or existing gates. The small ''Postigo de la Leche'' ("Door of the Milk") on the west side of the building has Gothic details dating from 1475. Among the most notable monumental Christian-era portals are the ''Puerta de las Palmas'', the ''Puerta de Santa Catalina'', and the ''Puerta del Perdón''.
The ''Puerta de las Palmas'' (Door of the Palms) is the grand ceremonial gate from the Courtyard of the Oranges to the cathedral's interior, built on what was originally a uniform façade of open arches leading to the former mosque's prayer hall. Originally called the ''Arco de Bendiciones'' (Arch of the Blessings), it was the setting for the ceremonial blessing of the royal flag, a ritual which was part of a Spanish monarch's coronation ceremony. Its current form dates from the restoration and remodelling done by Hernán Ruiz I in 1533, who created a plateresque
Plateresque, meaning "in the manner of a silversmith" (''plata'' being silver in Spanish), was an artistic movement, especially architectural, developed in Spain and its territories, which appeared between the late Gothic and early Renaissance ...
façade above the doorway. The facade's statues depict the Annunciation while, unusually, the smaller figures in the lower corners depict mythological creatures.
The ''Puerta de Santa Catalina'' (Door of Saint Catherine) is the main eastern entrance to the Courtyard of the Oranges. Its name referred to the presence of a nearby Convent of Saint Catherine. Its current appearance dates from the work of Hernán Ruiz II, who took over work on the cathedral in 1547 after the passing of his father (Hernán Ruiz I). The gate has a Renaissance façade on its exterior: the doorway is flanked by two columns and is surmounted by a ''serliana
A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian ar ...
''-style composition of columns forming three alcoves topped by a curved lintel. Within the three alcoves are the remains of three murals depicting Saint Catherine (''Santa Catalina''), Saint Acisclus (''San Acisclo'') and Saint Victoria (''Santa Victoria'').
The ''Puerta del Perdón'' (Door of Forgiveness) is one of the most ritually important doors of the cathedral, located at the base of the bell tower and directly opposite the ''Puerta de las Palmas''. A gate existed here since the Islamic period; its location is aligned with the mihrab of the mosque and with the central axis of the building before Al-Mansur's expansion. Its first reconstruction in the Christian period of the building dates to 1377, but it has been modified several times since, notably by Sebastián Vidal in 1650. The faded mural paintings inside the blind arches above the outer doorway include a depiction of ''Our Lady of the Assumption'' in the middle, with ''Saint Michel'' and ''Saint Raphael'' on the sides.
List of doors
West façade, along Calle Torrijos, north to south:
* Postigo de la leche
* Puerta de los Deanes
* Puerta de San Esteban
* Puerta de San Miguel
* Puerta del Espíritu Santo
* Postigo del Palacio
* Puerta de San Ildefonso
* Puerta del Sabat
File:Postigo de la Leche.JPG, Postigo de la Leche
File:Puerta de los Deanes de la Mezquita de Córdoba (España).jpg, Puerta de los Deanes
File:Spain Andalusia Cordoba BW 2015-10-27 15-45-14 (cropped and retouched).jpg, Puerta de San Esteban
File:Puerta de San Miguel - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, Puerta de San Miguel
File:Puerta O3 de la Mezquita de Córdoba.JPG, Puerta del Espíritu Santo
File:Postigo del Palacio de la Mezquita de Córdoba.JPG, Postigo del Palacio
File:Puerta de San Ildefonso, Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.jpg, Puerta de San Ildefonso
File:Puerta del Sabat - Mezquita de Córdoba.JPG, Puerta del Sabat
East façade, along Calle del Magistrado González Francés, north to south:
* Puerta de la Grada Redonda
* Fuente de Santa Catalina
* Puerta de Santa Catalina
* Puerta de San Juan
* Puerta del Baptisterio
* Puerta de San Nicolás
* Puerta de la Concepción Antigua
* Puerta de San José
* Puerta del Sagrario
* Puerta de Jerusalén
File:Puerta en la Mezquita de Córdoba.JPG, Puerta de la Grada Redonda
File:Puerta de Santa Catalina (Mezquita de Córdoba).JPG, Puerta de Santa Catalina
File:Puerta de San Juan - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, Puerta de San Juan
File:Puerta del Batisterio - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, Puerta del Baptisterio
File:Puerta de San Nicolás - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, Puerta de San Nicolás
File:Puerta de la Concepción Antigua - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, Puerta de la Concepción Antigua
File:Puerta de San José - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, Puerta de San José
File:Puerta del Sagrario - Mezquita de Córdoba.jpg, Puerta del Sagrario
File:Puerta_de_Jerusalén_-_Mezquita_de_Córdoba.jpg, Puerta de Jerusalén
North façade, along calle Cardenal Herrero, west to east:
* Puerta del Perdón
* Puerta del Caño Gordo
File:2002-10-26 11-15 Andalusien, Lissabon 157 Córdoba, Mezquita.jpg, Puerta del Perdón
File:Puerta del Caño Gordo, Mezquita de Córdoba.JPG, Puerta del Caño Gordo
2000s Muslim campaigns
Muslims across Spain have lobbied the Catholic Church to allow them to pray in the complex, with the Islamic Council of Spain lodging a formal request with the Vatican.[Thomson, ''Muslims ask Pope to OK worship in ex-mosque'', Reuters, (2011)]
/ref> However, Spanish church authorities and the Holy See, Vatican have opposed this move. Muslim prayer has not been always banned outright and there are some cases of token concessions in the past, including Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...
's prayer at the Mihrab in December 1974.
Ownership dispute
The building was formally registered for the first time by the Córdoba's Cathedral Cabildo in 2006 on the basis of the article 206 of the ''Ley Hipotecaria'' from 1946 (whose constitutionality has been questioned). The diocese never presented a formal title of ownership nor did provide a judicial sentence sanctioning the usurpation on the basis of a long-lasting occupation, with the sole legal argument being that of the building's "consecration" after 1236, as a cross-shaped symbol of ash was reportedly drawn on the floor at the time. Defenders of the ecclesial ownership argue on the basis of continuous and peaceful occupation of the building by the Church whereas defenders of the public ownership argue that the mosque-cathedral never ceased to be a State's property, initially belonging to the Crown of Castile (and henceforth the Spanish State).
PSOE
The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( es, Partido Socialista Obrero Español ; PSOE ) is a social-democraticThe PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources:
*
*
*
* political party in Spain. The PSOE has been in gov ...
's Isabel Ambrosio, Mayor of Córdoba from 2015 to 2019, defended a model of public and shared management. In July 2019, the PP's mayor of Córdoba, José María Bellido, closed down a commission investigating ownership rights, saying it should be reserved for Catholic worship. He noted, "There are no administrative tasks arising from this commission and I've no intention of reactivating it."
Legacy
Architectural influence
The Great Mosque of Cordoba is a high point of the architecture of al-Andalus and one of the most important monuments of early Islamic architecture
Islamic architecture comprises the architectural styles of buildings associated with Islam. It encompasses both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. The Islamic world encompasses a wide geographic ...
. It had a major influence on the subsequent architecture of Al-Andalus and of the Maghreb
The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...
– what is known as "Moorish" architecture or western Islamic architecture – due to both its architectural innovations and its symbolic importance as the religious heart of the region's historic Cordoban Caliphate. Amira Bennison
Amira K. Bennison is a historian and currently Professor in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies in the University of Cambridge and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.
Education
Bennison studied history at Cambridge, graduating in 1989Unive ...
, for example, goes on to comment:
Jonathan Bloom also comments:
Among other examples of important precedents, the overall form of the 8th or 9th-century ''Bab al-Wuzara'' gate (''Puerta de San Esteban'' today), with its horseshoe arch, voussoirs of alternating colours, and rectangular ''alfiz'' frame, became one of the most recurring motifs of Islamic architecture in the region. The minaret commissioned by Abd ar-Rahman III in 951–952 was also highly influential and became the model for later minarets in the Maghreb and al-Andalus. Georges Marçais
Georges Marçais ( Rennes, 11 March 1876 – Paris, 20 May 1962) was a French orientalist, historian, and scholar of Islamic art and architecture who specialized in the architecture of North Africa.
Biography
He initially trained as a painter ...
traces the possible origins of some later architectural motifs to the complex arches of Al-Hakam II's expansion, most notably the interlacing arches of the Aljafería
The Aljafería Palace ( es, Palacio de la Aljafería; ar, قصر الجعفرية, tr. ''Qaṣr al-Jaʿfariyah'') is a fortified medieval palace built during the second half of the 11th century in the Taifa of Zaragoza in Al-Andalus, present d ...
in Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
(11th century), the polylobed arches found throughout the region after the 10th century, and the ''sebka
''Sebka'' () refers to a type of decorative motif used in western Islamic ("Moorish") architecture and Mudéjar architecture.
History and description
Various types of interlacing rhombus-like motifs are heavily featured on the surfaces of ...
'' motif which became ubiquitous in Marinid
The Marinid Sultanate was a Berber Muslim empire from the mid-13th to the 15th century which controlled present-day Morocco and, intermittently, other parts of North Africa (Algeria and Tunisia) and of the southern Iberian Peninsula (Spain) ar ...
, Zayyanid and Nasrid architecture after the Almohad period (12th-13th centuries). One exception to this legacy of influences was the mosaic decoration of the mosque's 10th-century mihrab, which, although admired, was not emulated by later architects.
The ribbed domes of al-Hakam II's expansion are also a curious innovation whose origins have been debated, but the appearance of similar (though simpler) domes in the small Bab al-Mardum Mosque in Toledo demonstrates that this feature spread into architectural designs beyond Cordoba. The domes also served as inspiration for the intricate ribbed dome made of plaster in the Great Mosque of Tlemcen
The Great Mosque of Tlemcen ( ar, الجامع الكبير لتلمسان, ''el-Jemaa el-Kebir litilimcen'') is a major historic mosque in Tlemcen, Algeria. It was founded and first built in 1082 but modified and embellished several times afterw ...
(present-day Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
), built by the Almoravids in the early 12th century, which in turn probably inspired similar domes built by the Marinids in the Great Mosque of Fes el-Jdid and the Great Mosque of Taza
The Great Mosque of Taza ( Berber: ⵎⵙⵀⵉⵜⴰ ⴰⵎⵇⵔⴰⵏ, ) is the most important religious building in the historic medina of Taza, Morocco. Founded in the 12th century, it is the oldest surviving example of Almohad architecture ...
(present-day Morocco) in the late 13th century.
In popular culture
A posthumous poetical illustration by Letitia Elizabeth Landon
Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L.
The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...
to an engraving of a painting by David Roberts, was published in Fisher's Drawing Room Scrap Book, 1840. Entitled ''The Mosque at Cordova'', this harks back to 'the Moslem rule in Spain'.
The South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
n Muslim philosopher and poet Muhammad Iqbal
Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( ur, ; 9 November 187721 April 1938), was a South Asian Muslim writer, philosopher, Quote: "In Persian, ... he published six volumes of mainly long poems between 1915 and 1936, ... more or less complete works on philos ...
, who is widely regarded as having inspired the Pakistan Movement
The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the per ...
, visited the Great Cathedral of Córdoba in 1931–32. He asked the authorities to offer ''adhan'' at the cathedral and was even allowed to offer his prayers there. The deep emotional responses that the mosque evoked in him found expression in his poem called "The Mosque of Cordoba". Allama Iqbal saw it as a cultural landmark of Islam and described it as:
Louis L'Amour
Louis Dearborn L'Amour (; né LaMoore; March 22, 1908 – June 10, 1988) was an American novelist and short story writer. His books consisted primarily of Western novels (though he called his work "frontier stories"); however, he also wrote hi ...
's '' The Walking Drum'' features a detailed description of the Court of Oranges in the 12th century.
See also
* List of former mosques in Spain
*History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes
The early domes of the Middle Ages, particularly in those areas recently under Byzantine control, were an extension of earlier Roman architecture. The domed church architecture of Italy from the sixth to the eighth centuries followed that of the ...
*History of early modern period domes
Domes built in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries relied primarily on empirical techniques and oral traditions rather than the architectural treatises of the time, but the study of dome structures changed radically due to developments in mathemati ...
* Timeline of Muslim history
* 12 Treasures of Spain
* List of the oldest mosques
Notes
References
Further reading
*
*
*D.F. Ruggles, “From the Heavens and Hills: The Flow of Water to the Fruited Trees and Ablution Fountains in the Great Mosque of Cordoba,” in
Rivers of Paradise: Water in Islamic Art
', ed. S. Blair and J. Bloom (London: Yale University Press, 2009), pp. 81–103
*D.F. Ruggles,
' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2008)
External links
*
Mezquita (Great Mosque) of Córdoba at Google Maps
The Mosque of Cordova (during early 19th century)
''Al-Andalus: the art of Islamic Spain''
an exhibition catalogue from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba (see index)
The Great Mosque of Cordoba in the tenth century
VirTimePlace.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Mosque of Cordoba
Moorish architecture in Spain
Buildings and structures in Córdoba, Spain
Historic centre of Córdoba, Spain
Former mosques in Spain
Roman Catholic churches in Córdoba, Spain
Conversion of non-Christian religious buildings and structures into churches
Arcades (architecture)
8th-century mosques
7th-century churches in Spain
Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Córdoba (Spain)
Cordoba
Religious buildings and structures converted into mosques
Buildings converted to Catholic church buildings
Architecture of the Emirate of Córdoba
Architecture of the Caliphate of Córdoba
Renaissance architecture in Spain