The Great Mosque of Cordoba

The Great Mosque of Cordoba is a Roman Catholic cathedral and former mosque situated in the Andalusian city of Cordoba, Spain. Corboda was the largest, most prosperous city in Europe. Originally it was built as a church, after the Muslim conquest the building was confiscated for use as a mosque and greatly expanded until it became the second largest mosque in the world. The Great Mosque of Cordoba was considered a wonder of the medieval world by both Muslims and Christians. The Great Mosque symbolizes the many religious changes Corboda has undergone over the centuries. The site on which the Great Mosque stands has long been a sacred place – it was host to a Roman temple dedicated to Janus and a Visigothic cathedral dedicated to St. Vincent of Sargossa before the mosque was constructed in the 8th century. Finally, a cathedral was added inside the mosque by the Christian conquerors in the early 13th century. The construction of the Great Mosque lasted over two centuries, starting in 786 AD under the supervision of the emir of Carboda, Abd ar-Rahman I. Early in the history of Islam, Abd al-Rahman(731-788) was a member of the Umayyad dynasty who survived the Abbasid revole and escaped from Syria to southern Spain, where he found a new kingdom. In 786, he began to built the Great Mosque – an great example of the congregational mosque style. The congretional mosque style or Friday mosque was inspired by Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic faith. The congretional mosque, has a horizontal structure that houses the Friday worshipers in a central courtyard with a domed fountain for ablutions. Under the Abd ar-Rahman II (822-52), the Great Mosque held an original copy of the Koran and an arm bone of the prophet Muhammad, making it a major Muslim pilgrimage site. As I mentioned before the Mosque underwent numerous religious changes. In 1236, Cordoba was recaptured from the Muslim army by King Ferdinand III of Castile and the mosque was reconsecrated a Christian chruch.