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The Mosche of Cordoba
The ancient mosque of Cordoba, "La Mezquita",
converted in the 13th Century into Saint
Mary's Cathedral or "La Catedral de Santa
María", is the most important Hispano-Muslim
architectural monument in existence, after the
Alhambra and was the third largest mosque in
world rivalled only by Casablanca and Mecca.
Text: Mdp.
Photos: Flickr.com
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After Cordoba had fallen under Saracen rule, the
Visigoth Basilica of Saint Vincent, that had been
the Andalusian city's most important Christian
temple since the 5th Century, was destroyed in
order to build a great mosque in its place. According
to a succinct version of the tradition
al story, the Cordoba Mosque was begun under the
rule of the First Emir of Omeya, Abderramán I, between 780 and
785, on the same footings as the Christian church whilst, changing the
direction that it faced. The Mosque then went through a series of enlargements
and modifications in the 9th and 10th Centuries and was completed
under the rule of the mythical Almanzor.
The most significant enlargement was carried out by the Caliph, Alhakén
II, responsible for the arches in the mihrab. It is in these arches that
one perceives the renowned way that the building evolved: the Visigoth
columns with their horseshoe arches were too low for the Muslims, so
they decided to add columns and polychromatic arches higher up without
demolishing the previous ones. The result is an immense forest of 856
columns (it once had more than a thousand) capped with double archways
reminiscent of palm trees. It was a meeting place for both religious and
political gatherings and could hold as many as twenty thousand people.
This first building consisted of eleven longitudinal naves facing towards
the Guadalquivir River. The complex was closed off with the qibla, a
wall which unlike other Muslim mosques does not face Mecca but south; a
fact that has led to a number of different theories ranging from inexperience
and errors of calculation to a purely political statement following the declaration
of independence of Damascus from the Cordoban Emirates.
CORDOBA CATHEDRAL
After the fall of Cordoba in 1236, the mosque was again converted into a
Christian temple, undergoing a number of changes that would eventually
characterise the current cathedral. During the entire Early Middle Ages the
Christian culture and liturgy adapted itself to the Islamic spaces with some
degree of compromise. Firstly, the main chapel was located underneath one
of the skylights, although without causing any architectural damage. Similarly,
the magnificence of the building meant that the building's most splendid
environs, the inner sanctum, or macsura, and the mihrab, were neither
altered nor destroyed. Nevertheless, over the centuries, it was decided that
La Mezquita deserved more Christian dignity, leading to the construction
towards the end of the 15th Century of a cathedral with a Gothic nave where
the ancient 13th Century chapel had been before.
The greatest rupture for the Islamic building happened during the
course of the 16th Century, when a great cathedral was built in the very
midst of La Mezquita based on artistic and architectural foundations of the
Renaissance. Initially, the proposal was fairly controversial and was the
subject of much conflict between the different noblemen, such that the City
Council itself issued an edict preventing any citizens from participating in
the new building works, even on pain of death if any of them were found
working at the site. Finally, the Emperor Charles V himself intervened to
ensure that the works were carried out, although he was to regret this later,
as recorded by J. B. Alderete, with the famous phrase "You have destroyed
something that was unique in this world and replaced it with something that
can be seen anywhere".
After this extraordinary 16th Century refurbishment, La Mezquita would
only be privilege to minor additions and ecclesiastical furnishings. In spite of
the changes brought by the centuries, La Mezquita's Islamic essence remains,
through the majestic singularity of its basic constituents. Nevertheless, it is
unquestionably an architectural hybrid that to a great degree summarises eastern
and western artistic values. From this perspective the mosque-cathedral
in the City of Cordoba concisely defines the history of Spain.
+INFORMATION
www.mezquitadecordoba.org
www.andalucia.org |
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