Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba
Forest of striped horseshoe arches from the Umayyad mosque, with a Renaissance cathedral at its heart.
Building began in 785 under the Umayyad emir Abd al-Rahman I on the site of a Visigothic church, and successive rulers enlarged the prayer hall until it covered some 23,000 square metres. Rows of recycled Roman and Visigothic columns carry double tiers of arches banded in brick and stone, a system that let the builders raise a high roof over short shafts. The tenth-century extension by al-Hakam II added the mihrab, its horseshoe arch and dome faced with gold and glass mosaics made by craftsmen sent from Byzantium.
After Cordoba fell to Castile in 1236 the mosque was consecrated as a cathedral, and chapels were fitted between the columns. In the sixteenth century the chapter cut a Renaissance nave, transept and choir through the centre of the hall, work carried on by the Hernan Ruiz family of architects, while the minaret was encased in a bell tower. The building remains the cathedral of Cordoba and is run by the Cathedral Chapter. UNESCO listed it as World Heritage in 1984.
Highlights
- Hypostyle hall of roughly 850 columns under double horseshoe arches
- Mihrab of al-Hakam II with Byzantine gold and glass mosaics
- Renaissance nave and carved mahogany choir stalls by Pedro Duque Cornejo
- Bell tower encasing the old minaret, climbed for views over the Patio de los Naranjos
![Afrique occidentale française : Cathédrale à St Louis / [photogr. Eugène] Gallois ; [photogr. reprod. par Radiguet et Massiot pour la conférence donnée par] Gallois](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Afrique_occidentale_fran%C3%A7aise_-_Cath%C3%A9drale_%C3%A0_St_Louis_-_%28photogr._Eug%C3%A8ne%29_Gallois_%3B_%28photogr._reprod._par_Radiguet_et_Massiot_pour_la_conf%C3%A9rence_donn%C3%A9e_par%29_Gallois_-_btv1b532798828.jpg/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
![[Golestan, Le Salon et Fete de l'equinode, Teheran, Iran (le Pavillion du Trone)]](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/-Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg/500px--Golestan%2C_Le_Salon_et_Fete_de_l%27equinode%2C_Teheran%2C_Iran_%28le_Pavillion_du_Trone%29-_MET_DP202918.jpg)
![Théâtre de la guerre dans l'Inde sur la coste de Coromandel / par M.B.C.T. [Monsieur Bourcet Capitaine ?] ; gravé par Croisey](https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg/500px-Fort_de_Calicuta_-_btv1b59706294.jpg)
