If you have just one afternoon to take in the whole grand history of Spain, you could do worse than spend it in Córdoba’s Mezquita. The walls, arches and domes of this magnificent example of Moorish architecture tell the story of Spain from its days as a far-flung province of Rome to the fall of the Spanish Empire. Inside the Mezquita, you’ll gain an appreciation for the cultures that have combined to make Spain the country we know today.
The exterior of the Mezquita is a mixture of Christian and Muslim architectural styles.
By the time Julius Caesar came to power, the city of Córdoba was a Roman provincial capital and home to a temple dedicated to the Roman god Janus. After the Roman Empire fell, the Visigoths sacked the city and made it the center of their nascent kingdom; in 589 A.D., the Visigoth king converted to Christianity, and the ancient Roman temple was reconsecrated as the Cathedral of St. Vincent of Saragossa. A short hundred years later, the Visigoths were swept from power by the Ummayad Caliphate, which spread westward from its capital in Damascus.
The Umayyads created one of the largest empires the world has ever seen, and during their time in power, they created landmarks that endure to this day. Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, for instance, was created during the height of Umayyad power, as was the Great Mosque of Damascus. But a rival clan, the Abbasids, soon rose up and defeated the Umayyads in battle. In those days, little mercy was shown to the vanquished, and the Abbasids put most of the Umayyads to the sword. After years of running from the Abbasids, a single descendant of the Umayyads, Abd ar-Rahman I, found himself in modern-day Spain at the outer edges of what had been his family’s empire. Here, Abd ar-Rahman proclaimed the Caliphate of Córdoba.
When Abd ar-Rahman arrived, Córdoba was divided between Muslims and Christians, and the Cathedral of St. Vincent was already a dual-use building—half cathedral, half mosque. Abd ar-Rahman bought the Christian half of the Cathedral in 784, and over the next two centuries, he and his descendants transformed the Cathedral of St. Vincent into the Aljama Mosque.
The famous double arches of the Mezquita's prayer hall.
The new mosque would become a masterpiece, recycling the jasper, onyx, granite and marble of the old Roman temple to build the spectacular dome and minaret of the new structure. In some ways, the Aljama Mosque recalled the older triumphs of Umayyad architecture, including the signature red-and-white voussoirs of the mosque’s main prayer hall. In other ways, the new mosque was like nothing ever built before, which forced engineers to develop innovations such as the prayer hall’s double arches to support the structure’s massive roof. In 987, the mosque was connected to the caliph’s palace, and exterior courtyards and gardens were constructed; the Mezquita’s floor plan has changed little since these renovations.
There was just one more phase of major alterations to come, but these changes would be sweeping. For in 1236, the Christian King Ferdinand conquered Córdoba and ordered the Aljama Mosque converted back to a Christian church, this time named for Our Lady of the Assumption…which didn’t stop the common people of Córdoba from calling it “la mezquita,” Spanish for “the mosque.” Subsequent kings of a newly united Spain would commission Christian temples within the former mosque, but the modifications made by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V would change the face of the Mezquita. Charles ordered the construction of a Renaissance cathedral nave—the soaring ceiling above a cathedral’s main aisle—directly in the center of the square floor plan of the former mosque.
This addition of a cathedral nave makes the Mezquita the oddly fascinating sight it is today. Standing on a nearby bridge built by the Romans, visitors to the Mezquita can behold the walls of a fortress, the gardens of a king, the roof of a cathedral and the dome and minaret of a mosque. The history of Spain is the history of the interactions of wildly different groups of people—Romans and barbarians, Christians and Muslims, kings and caliphs—but in the timeless beauty of the Mezquita, you can glimpse the harmony of their long shared heritage.
You can experience the Mezquita first-hand on Go Ahead’s Grand Tour of Spain, Seville, Madrid & Barcelona, Lisbon, Seville & Madrid, and Portugal, Spain & Morocco. If you’ve already visited the Mezquita, let us know in the comments!
