THE MOSQUE OF CORDOBA

During the first years of the muslin presence in the city of Cordoba, Christians and Muslims shared the largest church in the city, the San Vicente Basilica, until Abderrahman I bought the Christian part and started the construction of the mosque (in the year 784) taking advantage of most Visigoth materials of the basilica.

The artistic importance of the cordobese city comes from the Muslim period and it’s manifested above all in that mosque. It’s the perfect complement for the visit of the Mosque of Cordoba. The importance of the city in history, is appreciated after the visit of the two greatest monuments that have remained until our days, the Mosque and the city of Medina Azahara.

The first construction has a patio and a harem of eleven rooms or areas perpendicular to the qibla, with nine sections in each area. Afterward, Hisham I built the antique minaret. During the rule of Abderrahman II (year 848) and Al-Hakam II (between 961 and 966) the mosque grew wider with the adding of eight more sections in the southern areas. The extension of Al-Hakam corresponds with the qibla and the mihrab that is preserved to this day. Under the rule of Almanzor (Abu Amir Muhammad ben Abi Amir al-Maafiri – in the 987) the last great extension was made, introducing eight more areas in the eastern side, this left the mihrab off-center.

The Cathedral - The Heritage of Humanity

In the exterior the mosque’s decoration is limited to the doors. The ones of the western façade, the older ones, are arches with the alfiz decorated with geometrical motives made with altering brick colors. On the other hand, the ones in the oriental facade, corresponding to the expansion by Almanzor, are more decorated, with friezes of intertwined arches above the access arch.

Definitely, due to all the reviewed characteristics, the Mosque of Cordoba, stylishly related to the great mosques of northern Africa, constitutes the most important piece of Hispanic-Muslim art and it’s the symbol of artistic and cultural splendor that defined the Caliphate period of Cordoba, until the internal power struggle led to its fragmentation and decadence.

THE MONUMENT OF CORDOBA

The most remarkable aspect of the Mosque of Cordoba, from a construction point of view, is the structure of the farmhouses of the praying room, in which there’s an overlapping of supports (pillars over reutilized classic columns) and arches (the inferior of horseshoe and the superior by half a point).
In the arches there are alternating voissiors of stone with red brick, creating a chromatic variation between white and red, which is one of the main decorative motives of the mosque.

This structural solution, which was repeated in subsequent expansions, responds to the need of raising the height of the room that with only columns would be distressing. The inferior horseshoe arches function as the underpinning of the structure by introducing itself in the pillars.
According to some authors, this construction system wouldn’t be completely original since it has a precedent in some roman peninsular aqueducts. The columns are of marble or granite, and the reutilized capitals are of Corinthian tradition, while the new sized ones have a very schematic style of acanthus leaves.

THE EXPANSION OF THE GREAT MOSQUE

The most important expansion of the mosque was made during the government of the caliph Al- Haham II when the definitive qibla and mihrab were built, this is a polygonal chamber covered and decorated with floral and epigraphic motives. The horseshoe arch of the mihrab entrance, held by a series of columns organized by pairs, and the afiz that frames it is decorated with gold motives and glass made by byzantine artisans that arrived from Constantinople for that task.
Before the mihrab there’s a maqsura with intertwined arched that alternate the decorated voissiors with embossing and plain. In this zone we also find other three ribbed domes that don’t cross in the middle, decorated with epigraphy and arabesque. This type of caliphate domes are found later in some Christian peninsular churches, for example the cathedral of Jaca.

Finally, Almanzor’s expansion is important because of the added surface to the precinct, but in practice it didn’t add any element of special interest from the artistic point of view.

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THE MOSQUE OF CORDOBA

Guided tour to Medina Azahara

Private tour to Medina Azahara

The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

The Cathedral - The Heritage of Humanity

THE HISTORY OF THE CATHEDRAL

THE MONUMENT OF CORDOBA

THE EXPANSION OF THE GREAT MOSQUE

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