Cordoba's great mosque arose in the 9th and 10th centuries. After 711, Muslims and Christians shared the Visigothic cathedral that stood on the site, but later the Moors purchased the Christian half and permitted the cathedral to be moved elsewhere. The mosque is simply one of the world's great religious buildings, by age, size, and historical significance. It is, of course, a cathedral now, with a "proper" cathedral built smack right into the middle of the enormous old building (I quite agree with Charles V's remark to the builders that "you have taken something that is unique in all the world and rendered it something that can be seen in any city" (or something like that)). Previous posts on the Mezquita include enough of the Christian parts, so, here, I'll focus on mainly the Moorish parts and some of the contrasts. FWIW, Muslims are allowed to visit the Mezquita but not to pray in it. By order of the Vatican, no less. Anyhow, my previous blog posts on the Mezquita, with possibly different pix, are:
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Although it is amply ornamented, there are not too many pix of
the Mezquita on the outside; unlike a cathedral, it is just a 4-story
high stone building, a rectangle, about the size of a very large city
block |
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| Us there, third time |
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The double arch thing permits greater ceiling height; sort of
reminds of certain Roman aqueducts |
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As with any thousand-year-old building, there is a mixture, a
multiplicity of styles |
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Ever since Cuzco, we have been noticing what's on the menu;
here, definitely, tapas! |
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| Earlier 20th century, definitely a fixer-upper |
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A forest of columns...so it is usually described...856 of them,
some from the Visigothic cathedral, most from Roman sites
all over Spain; note particularly the red and pink marble
columns |
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| The Mihrab |
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| Its dome |
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| Every imaginable kind of vaulting |
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| Love those double arches |
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On our first visit, in 2010, we nearly had the place to ourselves;
it was a bit more crowded in 2013; in 2017, it was really
crowded (big weekend in Cordoba); but I still got the goose
bumps I often get in structures like this |
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In the oldest part (the Mezquita was enlarged
twice before the Reconquista), a deteriorating
column, now behind glass |
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| Other, beautiful, older columns |
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| Variety of vaulting; most barrel-, some coffered |
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| Christian capitals, no doubt |
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| Always my ecumenical parthian shot at the Mezquita |
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Except this time, finally, we engaged in a Cordoban tradition,
stopping at the Casa Santos, outside the exit |
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| And shared a tortilla de patata |
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Solid potato cake, somehow bonded together by calorie
molecules and possibly traces of egg; tasty, though, especially
washed down by an iced vino tinto |
