The Great Mosque of Cordoba                                                                                         

Zhuan Liang

Aerial view of the Great Mosque

             In the year 710 AD, Abd ar-Rahman I conquered southern Spain from the Catholic Visigoths. During the rule of the Visigoths, in the place of the Great Mosque of Cordoba stood a Christian church dedicated to St. Vincent. After the Muslims took over, both Muslim and Catholic citizens shared the Church of St. Vincent with areas where worship of the Muslims was separated from the worship of the Christians. Then in the year 766 AD, Abd ar- Rahman I bought the other half of the church and he commissioned to replace the existing church with a new mosque, which was the Great Mosque of Cordoba.(1)

Plan of The Great Mosque

            The Great Mosque of Cordoba was inspired from the Great Mosque of Damascus because Abd ar- Rahman wanted to revive the original Great Mosque of Damascus, his home town, in his new capitol. Although the mosque took after the Great Mosque of Damascus, it also took many local trends of the time. For example, the horseshoe arches were Visigoths style, interlacing horseshoe arches were Christian style. On the exterior structure, it is seen that the arches it used served the purpose to help support the mosque and as a decorative element. There are poly-lobed arches, horseshoe arches, and interlacing horseshoe arches, all uniquely covered with decoration and art. Other than decorative arches, the door and entrances were also extremely elaborative, styled with mosaics. The Great Mosque of Cordoba initially had a minaret, but it was later converted to a bell tower when the Catholics took it back. (2)

Elaborate decorations

                   Just like the exterior, the Great Mosque of Cordoba has a rich and distinct interior. The interior has a hypostyle hall, containing 856 columns that support series of two- tiered arches in which supports the roof. Bi- level arches were seen in many structures before the mosque, however the mosque uses them differently in a way that it did not separate the arches in distinct levels, it just extended the arch column up and creating a freestanding arch. These arches were decorated with a red brick pattern which was a trend taken from the Byzantines.(2) The interior dome was built with crisscrossing ribs that creates point arches that were decorated with gold mosaic and radial patterning.(1) The mosque also has an orange tree courtyard with fountains that were used for ablutions.(3)

                               

Interior Columns

                The Great Mosque of Cordoba was one of a kind in that it has a Cathedral built on top of its roof. In sixteenth century, after the Christians took back Cordoba, the mosque was slowly changed with the objections of the citizens. But King Charles V insisted, so soon a cathedral was constructed and made it part of the mosque. However, upon visiting the mosques himself, King Charles said, “You have built here what you or anyone might have built anywhere else, but you have destroyed what was unique in the world.” (3)   

The added on cathedral 

sources:

1. Mirmobiny, Shadieh. "Khan Academy." Khan Academy. N. p., n. d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.
2. Http://www travelingthruhistory.com/author/admin/. "The Great Mosque of Cordoba." Traveling Thru History. N. p., 2014. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.
3. "The Great Mosque of Cordoba: La Mezquita." Spain Cordoba: Mosque. N. p., n.d. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.
4. Frishman, Martin, Hasan- Uddin Khan, and Mohammad Al- Asad. The Mosque: History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1994.Print.