Cordoba's Mosque - Cordoba monuments - Andalucia, Spain

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Cordoba Information: THE CATHEDRAL, FORMER MOSQUE - Cordoba Mosque

The Patio de los Naranjos or Courtyard of Orange Trees derives from the Islamic area devoted to ablutions before prayer, though six centuries of Christian tradition have given it a somewhat unusual physiognomy. The main elements are the fountain, the tower, the north front and the arcade surrounding the courtyard. As late as the twentieth century, the women of the neighbourhood used the courtyard's Baroque fountain to fill their pitchers with water. The fountains, spouts and conduits indicate the deference to water shown by cultures characterised by heat and drought. Inside the tower, crowned by a sculpture of St Raphael, stands the original minaret of Abd ar-Rahman Ill, which was damaged during an earthquake. The cathedral tower has been used as a model for numerous Baroque towers in Castile. In 2001 archaeological excavations improved the existing knowledge of the Mosque, as well as of other constructions that formed part of a sixth-century series of Christian buildings, interpreted as having been where the bishop of Cordoba would originally have officiated. The Visigothic basilica of San Vicente, seat of the bishop of Cordoba, was a temple used extensively for veneration by the Mozarabs of Cordoba. Later, the Muslims were to buy the church from the Christians and build part of the mosque on the site of the Christian basilica.

The original Mosque. Unlike other mosques, the Cordoba mosque has a north-south layout. The north side originally opened up to the courtyard, with only awnings covering the arches that led into the naves. The qibla (the wall that closes off the south part from the prayer room) is home to the mihrab, the niche guiding Muslim prayer and which, according to Martin Gonzalez, is inspired by Christian apses. Abd ar-Rahman I took less than a year to build the mosque, between July 786 and June 787. It would appear to have had a simple layout, eleven naves with gable roofs, running perpendicular to the qibla, with the central nave leading to the mihrab. This was the basis and model for all the splendour that was to come later. Each nave has twelve sections made up of columns, pillars, superimposed walls and two series of arches, round at the top and horseshoe below, holding up the gable roofing. The columns, capitals and cymas (stone pieces placed on top of the capital) were taken from previous constructions. The roofing support is complex in its design; first a column with its capital and cyma in the shape of a cross, above this a four-sided pillar, and above this the wall. The double set of arches and the free column suggest open spaces. The round arch spreads the pressure from the roofing to the pillars and columns, and the horseshoe arch prevents lateral movement from the weight of the walls and roof.

Enlargement by Abd ar-Rahman II. The increase in the number of Muslims in Cordoba required a larger space for worship. Forty years after the original building had been completed, Abd ar-Rahman 11 made the decision to enlarge the mosque, fully respectful of the previous construction. The qibla was moved to the south, and the prayer room's capacity was increased with eight new series of arches. Old buildings were searched for material, though a dozen new capitals also had to be made. Enlargement by al-Hakam II. Carried out between 962 and 966, this is the riches enlargement in terms of new and decorative constructions. Completely new materials were employed. Alternate columns of deep pink and bluish grey were used create a multiplicity of axes of perspective formed by the columns. One of the bravest novelties was the "groin vault with thick ribs held up by the cornice, arranged in parallel pairs and which, instead of crossing at the key, leave a free central space". Four of these vaults light up the enlargement. The lines of lobed arches (having smaller arches inside the main arch) produce a variety of geometric patterns. The caliph demanded his masons to sculpt the stone on view with abundant plantlike motifs. At the entrance of the mihrab there are two perfectly sculpted ala baster panels. To decorate the mihrab, the Byzantine emperor' Nicephorus Phocas gave the mosaics as a gift to al-Hakam, and Byzantine specialists carried out: the works. The plant motifs and geometric patterns, the Kufic char-, acters (Arab letters with decorative effects) were employed with a brilliant harmony.

Enlargement by al-Mansur. The new growth in the population, of Cordoba required a new extension of the mosque, but the proximity of the river prevented any enlargement to the south - AI-Mansur opted for the east side, and built shafts, capitals and cymas, to a certain extent in a kind of produc-, tion line. He removed the brick from, the arches and instead painted part of the stones in colour. He left the Mosque more proportionate, with a more harmonious rectangle, albeit with the mihrab off centre. With this definitive extension, the mosque ran 115 metres north-south, and 128 metres east-west. Christian constructions. At the end of the fifteenth century some of the arches, panelling and columns disappeared and were replaced by Gothic ogee arches to create the Villaviciosa chapel. A quarter of a century later, Bishop Alonso Manrique, who wished to place the main altar and the choir stalls in the prominent place that the former enjoys in Catholic liturgy, commissioned Hernam Ruiz I to produce a Gothic construction. Part of Cordoba society opposed the plan. Although part of the Arab work was destroved, the architect was respectuful of the mosque, conserving as much of it as he could.

The transept begins with Gothic leanings, which the master-builder himself finished off with plateresque decoration. At the beginning of the seventeenth century the elliptic dome of the transept was built, and the Seville architect Juan de Ochoa worked on the choir vault, divided with registers and lunettes as in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The decorative wealth on show indicates a Baroque sensibility. Whereas the main altarpiece, with marble and jasper, is in a classicist style, it belongs definitively to the seventeenth century. The choir stalls were carved by Pedro Duque Cornejo in mahogany without any polychrome, with an affected technique reminiscent of earthenware models. The themes depicted are varied, but they are linked by a fundamental aspect of Christian life: man's salvation illustrated using Biblical figures, mysteries of the life of Christ and the martyrs of Cordoba.

The Treasury. Much of the city's major art works in precious metals are to be found in the Cathedral Treasury. Particularly beautiful is a small reliquary, around 25 cm long, produced in silver and filigree dating from the end of the fifteenth century. Much more striking is the processional cross of Bishop Mardones, in gilded silver with engraved elements, pieces in gold and emeralds, though false jewel are also used in parts. It dates fro the seventeenth century, is mannerist in style and has an architectural organisation. In the same century, Cordoba tradition created a image of St Raphael. One of th most elegant is by Damian de Casitro, a Cordoba silversmith from th eighteenth century, housed in th Treasury.
The monstrance by Enrique de Arfe is one of the most beautiful in Spain. It was first used in the Corpus Christi procession of 1518. It i a work in gilded silver, in the shap of a tower. The sculptures and relie work allude to eucharistic symbol of the Old Testament, the life of Christ and scenes of Cordoba customs.

	More Cordoba Information
Cordoba Arts and Culture World Heritage Las Tendillas Square Cordoba City La Juderia The Christian Quarters Cordoba Fiestas Cordoba Gastronomy Churches and Towers Museums in Cordoba Two Cordoba itinararies Sorrounding area Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos Madinat Al-Zahra

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