The city has built many monuments to San Rafael, but the most… The courtyard of the Orange Trees leads to the complex. The mihrab is one of the most important in the Muslim world, being the most noble piece of the Mosque-Cathedral. The mosque underwent consecutive extensions over later centuries. It is a mixture of architectural styles superimposed on one another over the nine centuries its construction and renovations lasted.
Architectural Critique and Contemporary Relevance
- The bell tower, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage
- During this period, in 1882, the cathedral and mosque structure was declared a National Monument.
- Further restorations of features like chapels and some of the outer gates have continued to take place up to the late 2010s.
- The original structure was built by the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān I in 784–786 with extensions in the 9th and 10th centuries that doubled its size, ultimately making it one of the largest sacred buildings in the Islamic world.
- While its structural framework remained largely intact, successive modifications introduced Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements, fundamentally altering the building’s original spatial and symbolic intent.
- Its design drew inspiration from the Great Mosque of Damascus, yet it also incorporated elements of the existing Visigothic structure on the site, reusing columns and capitals in a display of both practicality and symbolic continuity.
In 785, the self-proclaimed emir ordered the construction of a mosque that was to be more beautiful than that of his homeland, Damascus. The hypostyle hall, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage The Visigoths later replaced the temple with a church, only for that to be demolished in the 8th century to make way for the current building. Under the rule of the Visigoths, the Basilica of San Vicente occupied this very site, and later, after the Moslems bought part of the plot of land, a primitive Mosque was built.
Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba
Over the centuries, Cordoba’s Mosque-Cathedral has been a testing ground for building techniques which have influenced both the Arabic and Christian cultures alike. Now standing 10 metres to the north of its original location, with a height of 54 metres, it is the tallest building in the city. After the tower had been damaged by an earthquake in the 16th century, a decision was made to build a new, Renaissance-style structure around it. The bell tower, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage As time went on, a fascinating blend of styles began to emerge as Mudejar, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements were incorporated into the not only Islamic, but also Visigoth and Roman architecture of the former mosque.
Reconquista and conversion to cathedral (13th century)
The courtyard of the mosque was planted with trees as early as the 9th century, according to written sources cited by the 11th century jurist Ibn Sahl. The narrative of the church being transformed into a mosque, which goes back to the tenth-century historian Al-Razi, echoed similar narratives of the Islamic conquest of Syria, in particular the story of building the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. A claim that the site of the mosque-cathedral was once a Roman temple dedicated to Janus dates as far back as Pablo de Céspedes and is sometimes still repeated today.
Muslim campaigns
Some of the original building materials from the Visigothic basilica can still be seen in the first section of the Mosque built by Abderraman I. The interior space consists of a forest of columns and red and white arches giving a strong chromatic effect. The original structure was built by the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān I in 784–786 with extensions in the 9th and 10th centuries that doubled its size, ultimately making it one of the largest sacred buildings in the Islamic world. Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Islamic mosque in Córdoba, Spain, which was converted into a Christian cathedral in the 13th century. The conversion from mosque to cathedral reflects broader historical conquest and cultural transformation patterns.
The door on the right, Bab al-Sabat ("door of the sabat"), gave access to a passage which originally led to the sabat, an elevated passage over the street which connected the mosque to the caliph's palace. Horseshoe arches were known in the Iberian Peninsula in the Visigothic period (e.g. the 7th-century Church of San Juan de Baños) and to a lesser extent in Byzantine and Umayyad regions of the Middle East. Because we share the belief that architectural components must by definition behave logically, their conversion into agents of chaos fuels a basic subversion of our expectations concerning the nature of architecture. It also would have served as a hall for teaching and for Sharia law cases during the rule of Abd al-Rahman I and his successors. To the people of al-Andalus "the beauty of the mosque was so dazzling that it defied any description."
- Discover one of the most beautiful and unique buildings in the world.
- The cathedral’s main chapel (known from Spanish as the Capilla Mayor) is located at the cruciform nave and transept at the center of the building.
- In 1589 a strong storm (or earthquake) caused damage to the former minaret, which was being used as a bell tower, and it was decided to remodel and reinforce the tower.
- According to Muslim sources, before leaving the city the Christians plundered the mosque, carrying off its chandeliers, the gold and silver finial of the minaret, and parts of the rich minbar.
- After the tower had been damaged by an earthquake in the 16th century, a decision was made to build a new, Renaissance-style structure around it.
- 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.
What is today the 17th-century Chapel of the Conception (Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción), located on the west wall near the courtyard, was initially the baptistery in the 13th century. According to Jiménez de Rada, Ferdinand III also carried out the symbolic act of returning the former cathedral bells of Santiago de Compostela that were looted by Al-Mansur (and which had been turned into mosque lamps) back to Santiago de Compostela. Upon the city's conquest the mosque was converted into a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary (Santa Maria).
Charles V only visited the cathedral after it was completed and was not too pleased. Over four centuries, the mosque was continually extended as Cordoba prospered. This agreement lasted until 784 when the Muslim Emir Abd al-Rahman I purchased the church and demolished it to make room for the grand mosque of Cordoba. Unlike any other building in Spain, the Great Mosque of Cordoba tells the history of the Iberian Peninsula, starting with the Romans. To get to the top of the bell tower, a separate ticket is required which costs 3€.
About half-way up, the stairways were lit by sets of horseshoe-arch windows whose arches were decorated with voussoirs of alternating colours which were in turn surrounded by a rectangular alfiz frame (similar to the decoration seen around the arches of the mosque's outer gates). The main tower contained two staircases, which were built for the separate ascent and descent of the tower. The lantern tower was in turn surmounted by a dome and topped by a finial in the shape of a metal rod with two golden spheres and one silver sphere (often referred to as "apples") decreasing in size towards the top. The minaret has since disappeared after it was partly demolished and encased in the Renaissance bell tower that is visible today. Until the 11th century, the https://www.velwinscasino.gr/ mosque courtyard (also known as a sahn) was unpaved earth with citrus and palm trees irrigated at first by rainwater cisterns and later by aqueduct.
Juan de Ochoa finished the structure in a more Mannerist style typical at the time, finishing the project with an elliptical dome over the crossing and a barrel vault ceiling – with lunettes along the side – over the choir area. The first two architects introduced Gothic elements into the design which are visible in the elaborate tracery design of the stone vaults over the transept arms and above the altar. 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 dome at the summit is topped by a sculpture of Saint Raphael which was added in 1664 by architect Gaspar de la Peña, who had been hired to perform other repairs and fix structural problems. On two of the tower's façades there were three of these windows side by side, while on the two other façades the windows were arranged in two pairs.
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