Mosque Cathedral of Córdoba: An Architectural Palimpsest

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.

• 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.
• 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 Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba is a profound architectural expression of the layered histories of al-Andalus.
• 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.
• 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.

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.

Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba

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!

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Construction of a new cathedral bell tower to encase the old minaret began in 1593 and, after some delays, was finished in 1617. 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. 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 mosque's architectural system of repeating two-tiered arches, with otherwise little surface decoration, is considered one of its most innovative characteristics and has been the subject of much commentary. The hall was large and flat, with timber ceilings held up by rows of two-tiered arches resting on columns. The building's original floor plan follows the overall form of some of the earliest mosques built from the very beginning of Islam.

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In the courtyard, there are citrus trees and palms planted in rows mimicking the columns found inside the mosque. The arches are doubled, which at the time was a new building innovation, allowing for higher ceilings to be built. The columns of the mosque support the famous alternating red and white brick arches which are said to be inspired by the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The King immediately converted the mosque into a Catholic cathedral, though the actual building was left intact. The hall’s eleven naves were comprised of two-tiered columns, made of jasper, marble and granite, which support the carved wooden-beam ceiling, a design which is known as hypostyle.

Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba

• The area inside is made up of a forest of columns with a harmonious colour scheme of red and white arches.
• The rectangular area within this, in front of the mihrab, was covered by three more decorative ribbed domes.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 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.

The space under this dome was surrounded on three sides by elaborate screens of interlacing polylobed arches, similar to those of the maqsura to the south but even more intricate. The ribs of this dome have a different configuration than those of the domes in front of the mihrab. 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. 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. The Christian-era additions (after 1236) included many small chapels throughout the building and various relatively cosmetic changes.
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.
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. 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). 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. Soon after this date both the middle dome of the maqsura and the wall surfaces around the mihrab were covered in rich Byzantine-influenced gold mosaics. More famously, a rectangular maqsura area around the mosque's new mihrab was distinguished by a set of unique interlacing multifoil arches. 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 Soul of Cordoba. Nocturnal visit to the Great Mosque

Being surrounded by Muslim architecture and peering into a church, all within the same building, is quite a peculiar experience. After the Christians reconquered Spain, the mosque https://www.velwinscasino.gr/ was deemed too beautiful to destroy. Those were recycled by the Moors as they began work on the mosque.

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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.