The monumental Muslim religious centre, to which a Christian cathedral was added after the reconquest, is the great architectural attraction of the Andalusian city.
There are monuments that never disappoint expectations, however high they may be. They are as beautiful as we imagined they would be before we saw them, but they also provoke unexpected sensations. And the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba is undoubtedly one of them. It is almost impossible to visit the great legacy of the period of Muslim domination in Spain, together with the Alhambra in Granada, and not feel trapped by a torrent of harmony, stillness and silence.
Cordoba’s main tourist attraction, which was declared a World Heritage Site in the mid-1980s, is an imposing religious building that seems advanced even after almost thirteen centuries of construction. It is a space of peace, sober and inviting to introspection, to be seen without haste and even to stay a couple of hours and enjoy the forest of stony palm trees and discover how its appearance changes as the light filters in and projects prisms of colours on the colonnade and the interplay of arches and vaults.
Despite its fame that transcends borders, a part of the mosque’s history is little known. Here are a series of curiosities that you may not have known about the Andalusian city’s most superb architectural attraction.
Photos: Cabildo Catedral de Córdoba/Roxana Ibañez
♦ Mosque and cathedral at the same time
What was once the Great Mosque of Córdoba was built during the splendour of the Umayyads. It was designed by Adbderraman I in 785, modelled on the mosques of Damascus and Jerusalem, and was the place of prayer of the Syrian-dependent caliphate, which eventually became independent and an emirate. At its peak, Cordoba had a population of half a million, and the mosque was home to more than 17,000 worshippers. It was the centre of both religion and power, with a pilgrims’ hostel and offices, and was the place where successive caliphs or emirs made proclamations. The last extension was promoted by Almanzor, the first leader of the emirate independent of the Umayyads, and was completed in 990. The Christians conquered Córdoba in 1236 and the role of the mosque changed, with the Great Chapel erected in the same year, until Charles V, in 1526, ordered the demolition of the central interior area to build the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Ascension. The cross plan of the Catholic temple was embedded between the naves of the mosque and the cathedral took two centuries to complete, which explains the variety of different styles – Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerist, etc. – that can be seen in the vault of the choir, the main altarpiece and the various chapels.
♦ A garden for prayer
The prayer hall is the main room of the mosque and consists of 12 transverse aisles and 11 longitudinal aisles, which overlap around the cathedral. It contains 514 granite, marble and jasper columns that support a wonderful network of double arches, voussoirs and buttresses. The arches are Visigoth-inspired but wider, probably based on the Roman use in their aqueducts. The contribution of Islamic art is the double arch and the use of polylobes, which gives it a special charm, as well as the use of alternating red and white bricks. It is this combination that refers to the palm trees, as it is assumed that the original reference point was the original garden of Muhammad. It is the most iconic and recognisable part of the monument.
♦ From minaret to bell tower
The present-day bell-tower is one of the architectural elements that has changed the most since Al-Andalus. It was erected as a minaret, the watchtower from which the faithful are called to the five daily prayers, and it rose some fifty metres, making it one of the most privileged vantage points in Cordoba, an eminently flat city. The current structure is the one built after the earthquake of 1589: Hernán Ruiz III designed the set of bells and Juan Sequero de Matilla, the clock.
♦ The mihrab
It is the hollow in the quibla wall whose function is to indicate to the faithful the direction of Mecca and, therefore, the place to which they should pray. Curiously, in the Great Mosque of Córdoba, the mihrab, a niche with nothing inside it and decorated with verses from the Qur’an that served to reinforce the authority of the caliph, does not face correctly towards Mecca. This dysfunction does not detract from its status as one of the most beautiful parts of the monument. Quite the contrary. It is part of the extension made by Al-Haken II, with an octagonal plan on a marble plinth, a venerated dome, tri-lobed blind arches and a horseshoe arch entrance decorated with a profusion of mosaics, typical of the Byzantine artistic tradition. It is one of the great rooms of Islamic art in Spain.
♦ The orange tree courtyard
It was the place between walls and in the open air – in one corner was the minaret, which represented the entrance to a small Eden before prayer. The faithful performed their ablutions (ritual washings) before entering the prayer hall and chatted under the shade of the trees, which were not always orange trees, a species introduced to the south of the peninsula by the Arabs. The current layout dates from 1597, when Bishop de Reinoso planned the three squares separated by streets with the variety of orange, cypress and palm trees.
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♦ Conclusion
The ensemble of what was the Great Mosque of Cordoba and the present-day Cathedral justifies a visit to Cordoba, as it is the emblem of the city and a demonstration of architectural coexistence. The Muslim legacy is completed with the ruins of the city of Medina Azahara, while other worthwhile tourist attractions in Cordoba include the Roman Bridge, the Jewish Quarter and the Calahorra Tower.
