Muslim architecture of the
Mezquita.
The
Mezquita (of Córdoba or
Cordova) is a Roman
Catholic cathedral originally built as
a mosque in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain
. It is regarded as perhaps the most
accomplished monument of the
Umayyad dynasty
of Córdoba. After the Spanish
Reconquista, it was turned into a church, with a
Gothic cathedral inserted into
the center of the large
Moorish
building. Today the entire building is used to house the Cathedral
of the
diocese of Córdoba in
Spain.
History
The building was begun in approximately 600AD as the
Christian Visigothic
church of
St. Vincent.
Emir Abd ar-Rahman I
bought the church , and he and his descendants reworked it over two
centuries to refashion it as a mosque, starting in 784 AD.
Additionally,
Abd ar-Rahman I used
the mosque (originally called Aljama Mosque) as an adjunct to his
palace and named it to honor his wife. According to some authors
the church of St. Vincent was demolished after it was bought from
the local Christian community.
Several explanations have been proposed to explain the mosque's
unorthodox orientation. Some have suggested the
mihrab faces south because the foundations of the
mosque were taken from the old Roman and Visigoth constructions.
Others
contend that Abd ar-Rahman oriented the mihrab southward as if he
were still in the Ummayyad capital of Damascus
and not in
exile.
The mosque underwent numerous subsequent changes:
Abd ar-Rahman III ordered a new
minaret, while
Al-Hakam
II, in 961, enlarged the building and enriched the mihrab. The
last of the reforms was carried out by
Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir in
987.
It was the most magnificent of the more than 1,000 mosques in the
city and was at one time the second largest mosque in the Muslim
world. It was connected to the Caliph's palace by a raised
walk-way, mosques within the palaces being the tradition for the
Islamic rulers of all times.
The city in which it was built was subject to frequent invasion and
each conquering wave added their own mark to the architecture. The
building is most notable for its giant arches, with 856 columns of
jasper,
onyx,
marble and
granite. These were
made from pieces of the Roman temple which had occupied the site
previously, as well as other destroyed Roman buildings. The double
arches, pictured above, were a new introduction to architecture,
and helped support the tremendous weight of the higher ceilings.
The double arches consist of a lower horseshoe arch and an upper
semi-circular arch. The Mezquita also features richly gilded prayer
niches. A centrally located honey-combed dome has blue tiles
decorated with stars. The mihrab is a masterpiece of architectural
art, with geometric and flowing designs of plants. The Mezquita
reached its current dimensions in 987 AD with the completion of the
outer naves and orange tree courtyard.
In 1236, Córdoba was recaptured from the Muslim army by King
Ferdinand III of Castile
and the mosque was reconsecrated as 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:
Enrique II rebuilt the chapel in the
14th century.
The most significant alteration was building a
Renaissance cathedral
nave
in the middle of the structure. It was constructed by permission of
Charles V, king of
united Spain. Its reversion to a Christian church (officially the
Cathedral of the Assumption of the
Virgin) may have helped to preserve it when the
Spanish Inquisition was most
active.
Artisans and architects continued to add to the existing structure
until the late 18th century.
Gallery
- Photographs of the Mezquita architecture.
Image:Mezquita1.jpgImage:Mezquita2.jpgImage:Mezquita3.jpgImage:Mezquita4.jpgImage:Cordoba
moschee innen1.jpgImage:Cordoba moschee innen2.jpgImage:Cordoba
moschee innen3.jpgImage:Cordoba moschee
innen4.jpgImage:Cordoba_mihrab.jpg|mihrabImage:Cordoba moschee
innen5 dome.jpg|inside of domeImage:Cordoba
moscheefassade.jpgImage:Guadalquivir Mezquita.JPG|Guadalquivir
river & mosqueImage:Patio de los naranjos 2005-08-08.JPG|Patio
de los NaranjosImage:Cordoba4.jpg
See also
References
- God's Crucible: Islam and the Making of Europe, 570 to 1215,
David Levering Lewis, published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2008
, p. 272 ff.
- Medieval Islamic Civilization, Josef W. Meri and Jere L.
Bacharach, Published by Routledge, 2005, p. 176 ff.
- The Legacy of Muslim Spain (Handbook of Oriental Studies : the
Near and Middle East, Vol. 12), Salma Khadra Jayyusi and Manuela
Marín, Published by Brill Academic Publishers, 1992, p. 129
ff.
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