Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba
Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, Mezquita Mosque, Cordoba, Andalusia, Spain
Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, also called the Mezquita and the Great Mosque of Córdoba, is now a Catholic Christian cathedral and formerly a medieval Islamic mosque. It is located in the Spanish city of Cordoba, Andalusia. The Cathedral is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Renaissance and Moorish architecture. Since the early 2000s (decade), Spanish Muslims have lobbied the Roman Catholic Church to allow them to pray in the cathedral. The Muslim campaign has been rejected on multiple occasions, by both Spanish Catholic authorities, and the Vatican. In 2010 there was a violent incident over the matter. The building was begun around the year 600 as the Christian Visigothic church of St. Vincent. After the occupation of Islam to the Visigothic kingdom, the church was divided between the Muslims and Christians. When the exiled Umayyad prince Abd ar-Rahman I escaped to Spain and defeated the Andalusian governor Yusuf al-Fihri, he allowed the Christians to rebuild their ruined churches, and purchased the Christian half of the church of St. Vincent. Abd ar-Rahman I and his descendants reworked it over two centuries to refashion it as a mosque, starting in 784. Additionally, Abd ar-Rahman I used the mosque (originally called Aljama Mosque) as an adjunct to his palace and named it to honor his wife. Traditionally, the apse of a mosque faces in the direction of Mecca; by facing the apse, worshipers pray towards Mecca. Mecca is east-southeast of the mosque, but the mihrab points south. The mosque underwent numerous subsequent changes: Abd ar-Rahman II ordered a new minaret, while Al-Hakam II, in 961, enlarged the building and enriched the apse. The last of the reforms was carried out by Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir in 987. It was connected to the Blaterant Caliph's palace by a raised walk-way, mosques within the palaces being the tradition for the Islamic rulers of all times. The Mezquita reached its current dimensions in 987 with the completion of the outer naves and courtyard.
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