The Great Mosque of Cordoba
The Great Mosque of Cordoba
The Great Mosque of Cordoba can be seen as “the earliest extant example of Andalusi architectural culture”[i]. The Mezquita’s history begins with its initial inception and assembly in the late eighth-early ninth century, continuing into its expansions of the tenth century, culminating in its unexpected welding of ideology in the sixteenth century. “As the premier monument of al-Andalus, the Cordoba mosque embodies the history of the Iberian peninsula from its Islamic takeover in 711 through successive stages of Umayyad and post-Umayyad dominion and beyond. Following the fall of Cordoba in 1236, the mosque was preserved as the repository of Castillian Spain’s signs of victory, and became a source of aesthetic and architectural inspiration that was eventually transported to the New World”[ii]. The mosque lies on the foundations of a former Christian Visigothic church, believed to have been started in 600 A.D. Built in a Spain under Moorish rule, the construction of the actual Mezquita, formally the “Aljama Mosque,” began between 784-786 A.D during the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman I[iii]. Rahman built the mosque as an adjunct to his palace, naming it in honor of his wife. Expansions, such as commissioning a new minaret to enlarging the building entirely, most notably occurred under the reigns of 'Abd al-Rahman II between 833-852 A.D, al-Hakam II between 961-976 A.D, and the vizier al-Mansur from 987 A.D.
As the Moorish rule in Spain was ending, Cordoba was conquered. Because of this, in 1236, Ferdinand III, the king of Castile, blessed the Mezquita as the city’s cathedral instead. For the next three hundred years, only relatively minor changes were made to the building. In the early sixteenth century, the Mezquita under went historically significant changes. The Bishop and Canons of the cathedral wanted to demolish the mosque in order to build a new cathedral; however, “the opposition of the townspeople to the proposed
The Great Mosque of Cordoba can be seen as “the earliest extant example of Andalusi architectural culture”[i]. The Mezquita’s history begins with its initial inception and assembly in the late eighth-early ninth century, continuing into its expansions of the tenth century, culminating in its unexpected welding of ideology in the sixteenth century. “As the premier monument of al-Andalus, the Cordoba mosque embodies the history of the Iberian peninsula from its Islamic takeover in 711 through successive stages of Umayyad and post-Umayyad dominion and beyond. Following the fall of Cordoba in 1236, the mosque was preserved as the repository of Castillian Spain’s signs of victory, and became a source of aesthetic and architectural inspiration that was eventually transported to the New World”[ii]. The mosque lies on the foundations of a former Christian Visigothic church, believed to have been started in 600 A.D. Built in a Spain under Moorish rule, the construction of the actual Mezquita, formally the “Aljama Mosque,” began between 784-786 A.D during the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman I[iii]. Rahman built the mosque as an adjunct to his palace, naming it in honor of his wife. Expansions, such as commissioning a new minaret to enlarging the building entirely, most notably occurred under the reigns of 'Abd al-Rahman II between 833-852 A.D, al-Hakam II between 961-976 A.D, and the vizier al-Mansur from 987 A.D.
As the Moorish rule in Spain was ending, Cordoba was conquered. Because of this, in 1236, Ferdinand III, the king of Castile, blessed the Mezquita as the city’s cathedral instead. For the next three hundred years, only relatively minor changes were made to the building. In the early sixteenth century, the Mezquita under went historically significant changes. The Bishop and Canons of the cathedral wanted to demolish the mosque in order to build a new cathedral; however, “the opposition of the townspeople to the proposed
Cited: Anderson, Glair D. and Mariam Rosser-Owen. Revisiting Al-Andalus: Perspectives on the Material Culture of Islamic Iberia and Beyond. Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. 2007 Davies, J.G Khoury, Nuha. 1996. "The Meaning of the Great Mosque of Cordoba in the Tenth century." Muqarnas 13, 80-98.