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. This attractive building in Cordoba was built by order of Philip… As a result, the interior resembles a labyrinth of beautiful columns with double arcades and horseshoe arches. It was built in 785 by the Muslim emir Abdurrahman I, on the site of the ancient Visigoth church of San Vicente.
Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba Technical Information
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 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. The most substantial and visible additions are the cruciform 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. Abdurrahman III had a new minaret built whilst in 961 Al-Hakam II extended the ground plan and decorated the “mihrab” (prayer niche). The bell tower was built in the 17th century over what was the mosque’s minaret. Known as the Patio de los Naranjos, this open courtyard is attached to the mosque and surrounded by walls and the bell tower.
- During this period, in 1882, the cathedral and mosque structure was declared a National Monument.
- 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 (Mudéjars).
- Further restorations of features like chapels and some of the outer gates have continued to take place up to the late 2010s.
- Its design drew inspiration from the Great Mosque of Damascus, yet it also incorporated elements of the existing Visigothic structure on the site, reusing columns and capitals in a display of both practicality and symbolic continuity.
- While its structural framework remained largely intact, successive modifications introduced Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements, fundamentally altering the building’s original spatial and symbolic intent.
- A claim that the site of the mosque-cathedral was once a Roman temple dedicated to Janus dates as far back as Pablo de Céspedes and is sometimes still repeated today.
History of the Mezquita
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 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. The final element was the construction of the elliptical central dome of the transept, built between 1599 and 1607. He was responsible for building the transept walls to their full height as well as the buttresses upholding the structure. 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. Before his death in 1547 he built the choir walls up to the windows and the gothic vaults on the south side.
The Great Mosque of Cordoba
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. The courtyard is known today as the Patio de los Naranjos or "Courtyard of the Orange Trees". The Arabic inscriptions in the decoration around the mihrab are the first major example of a program of political-religious inscriptions inserted into Andalusi architecture.
The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (World Heritage Site since 1984) is arguably the most significant monument in the whole of the western Moslem World and one of the most amazing buildings in the world in its own right. Nowadays, some of the constructive elements of the Visigoth building are integrated in the first part of Abderraman I. In this same place, and during the Visigoth occupation, another building was constructed, the “San Vicente” Basilic. Some 850 pillars divide this interior into 19 north-to-south and 29 east-to-west aisles, with each row of pillars supporting a tier of open horseshoe arches upon which a third and similar tier is superimposed. Passing through the courtyard, one enters on the south a deep sanctuary whose roof is supported by a forest of pillars made of porphyry, jasper, and many-coloured marbles. The ground plan of the completed building forms a vast rectangle measuring 590 by 425 feet (180 by 130 metres), or little less than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Today, Cordoba’s mosque-cathedral is a beautiful masterpiece that stands testament to 1500 years of Spanish history. The conquering christian forces were impressed with Cordoba and especially the mosque. The Mihrab is a prayer niche found in mosques and the one found inside the Great Mosque of Cordoba could be the most beautiful in the world. Seeing these endless columns, a visiting Muslim poet once described the mosque as having “countless pillars like rows of palm trees in the oases of Syria.” It was converted into a church and eventually, an enormous cathedral was built right in the middle!
- 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.
- Discover one of the most beautiful and unique buildings in the world.
- Nuha N. N. Khoury, a scholar of Islamic architecture, has interpreted this collection of inscriptions in al-Hakam II’s expansion of the building as an attempt to present the mosque as a “universal Islamic shrine”, similar to the mosques of Mecca and Medina, and to portray Caliph al-Hakam II as the instrument through which God built this shrine.
- After the tower had been damaged by an earthquake in the 16th century, a decision was made to build a new, Renaissance-style structure around it.
- The courtyard of the mosque was planted with trees as early as the 9th century, according to written sources cited by the 11th century jurist Ibn Sahl.
- The original structure was built by the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān I in 784–786 with extensions in the 9th and 10th centuries that doubled its size, ultimately making it one of the largest sacred buildings in the Islamic world.
San Rafael triumphal monument
Starting in the 19th century, modern https://www.velwinscasino.gr/ restorations have in turn led to the recovery and study of some of the building's Islamic-era elements. Due to its status as a former mosque, it is also known as the Mezquita (Spanish for 'mosque') and in a historical sense as the Great Mosque of Córdoba.
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). The mosque's original mihrab (niche in the far wall symbolizing the direction of prayer) no longer exists today but its probable remains were found during archeological excavations between 1932 and 1936. This wall-less cathedral looks as though it was just plopped into the middle of the mosque – a truly strange sight to behold.
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. The most significant alteration of all, however, was the building of a Renaissance cathedral nave and transept – forming a new Capilla Mayor es – in the middle of the expansive mosque structure, starting in 1523. 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 first precisely dated chapel known to be built along the west wall is the Chapel of San Felipe and Santiago, in 1258.
The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba is a profound architectural expression of the layered histories of al-Andalus. This building is a temple and a monument. Discover one of the most beautiful and unique buildings in the world.
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. After all of its historical expansions, the mosque-cathedral covers an area of 590 by 425 feet (180 m × 130 m). 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. 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. During this period, in 1882, the cathedral and mosque structure was declared a National Monument. In 1816 the original mihrab of the mosque was uncovered from behind the former altar of the old Chapel of San Pedro.
Today, the building continues to serve as the city's cathedral and Mass is celebrated there daily. The former minaret, which had been converted to a bell tower, was also significantly remodelled around this time. The structure itself underwent only minor modifications until a major building project in the 16th century inserted a new Renaissance cathedral nave and transept into the center of the building. The mosque was converted to a cathedral in 1236 when Córdoba was captured by the Christian forces of Castile during the Reconquista. Among the most notable additions, Abd al-Rahman III added a minaret (finished in 958) and his son al-Hakam II added a richly decorated new mihrab and maqsurah section (finished in 971).