Located in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain, is the former Great Mosque of Córdoba or the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción which in English means the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption. Before the Umayyad Moors converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque here, it was originally a pagan temple and then a Visigothic Christian church. After the Spanish Reconquista, it once again became a Roman Catholic Church, with a plateresque cathedral later inserted into the centre of the large Moorish building. The Mezquita is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Islamic architecture.
The building was begun around the year 600 as the Christian Visigothic church of St. Vincent. After the Islamic conquest of the Visigothic kingdom, the church was divided between the Muslims and Christians. When the exiled Umayyad prince Abd ar-Rahman I escaped to Spain and defeated the Andalusian governor Yusuf al-Fihri, he allowed the Christians to rebuild their ruined churches, and purchased the Christian half of the church of St. Vincent. Abd ar-Rahman I and his descendants reworked it over two centuries to refashion it as a mosque, starting in 784. Additionally, Abd ar-Rahman I used the mosque as an adjunct to his palace and named it to honor his wife. Traditionally, the mihrab of a mosque faces in the direction of Mecca; by facing the mihrab, worshipers pray towards Mecca. Mecca is in east which means southeast of the mosque, but the mihrab points south.
In Córdoba, the capital, the Great Mosque was seen as the heart and central focus. The main hall of the mosque was used for multi purposes. It served as a central hall for teaching and to manage law and order within al-Andalus during the rule of Abd ar-Rahman. The Great Mosque of Córdoba showed features, and an architectural appearance, similar to the Great Mosque of Damascus, therefore it is evident that it was used as a model by Abd ar-Rahman for the creation of the Great Mosque in Córdoba.
King Ferdinand III of Castile in the Reconquista captured Córdoba in 1236 and the mosque was turned back into a Christian church. Alfonso X oversaw the construction of the Villaviciosa Chapel and the Royal Chapel within the mosque. The kings who followed added further Christian features, such as King Henry II rebuilding the chapel in the 14th century. The minaret of the mosque was also converted to the bell tower of the cathedral. It was adorned with Santiago de Compostela’s captured cathedral bells.
The most significant alteration was the building of a Renaissance cathedral nave right in the middle of the expansive structure. The insertion was constructed by permission of Charles V, king of Castile and Aragon.
The mosque’s floor plan is found to be similar to some of the earliest mosques built from the very beginning of Islam. It comprises of a rectangular prayer hall with aisles arranged perpendicular to the qibla, the direction towards which Muslims pray. The prayer hall was large in size, flat, with timber ceilings held up by arches of horseshoe-like appearance. One hundred fifty years following its creation, a staircase to the roof was added, along with a southward extension of the mosque itself. A bridge was built linking the prayer hall with the Caliph’s palace. The mosque was later expanded even further south, as was the courtyard which surrounded it. The mosque was built in four stages, with each Caliph and his elite contributing to it. The stone channels visible today are not original.
The double arches seen were a new introduction to architecture, permitting higher ceilings than would otherwise be possible with relatively low columns. The double arches consist of a lower horseshoe arch and an upper semi-circular arch. The famous alternating red and white voussoirs of the arches were inspired by those in the Dome of the Rock and also resemble those of the Aachen Cathedral, which were built almost at the same time. A centrally located honey-combed dome has blue tiles decorated with stars. The mosque also has richly gilded prayer niches. The mihrab is a masterpiece of architectural art, with geometric and flowing designs of plants. Other prominent features were: an open court surrounded by arcades, screens of wood, minarets, colourful mosaics, and windows of coloured glass. The walls of the mosque had Quranic inscriptions written on them.
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