Mosque of Córdoba

In the twelfth century, the geographer al-Idrisi wrote that the Friday Mosque of Córdoba had no equal among the mosques of the Muslims, neither for its size nor for its beauty. For 450 years, the Mosque of Córdoba was the largest place of worship in al-Andalus and the most prestigious teaching center in the Islamic West. The construction of the congregational Mosque of Córdoba began around the year 784 by order of the first Umayyad emir of al-Andalus, ʿAbd al-Rahman I (r. 756–788). The independent emirs of al-Andalus sponsored the embellishment and expansion of the Great Mosque of the capital of al-Andalus over the ninth century, making it a venerated oratory linked to the Umayyad dynasty. It was during this period that royal mechanisms, such as the ruler’s private passageway (sabat) and the space reserved for him next to the mihrab (maqsurah), were introduced. Following the proclamation of ʿAbd al-Rahman III (b. 912–d. 961) as caliph in 929, the Mosque of Córdoba became the setting of caliphal ceremonies, such as the oath of allegiance to the heir to the throne that took place at the foot of the pulpit (minbar). The ornamental and epigraphic program, together with the architectural conception of the expansion of al-Hakam II (r. 961–976), translates into a visual language the political-religious ideology of the state. The architects of ʿAbd al-Rahman III and al-Hakam II recovered forms, such as golden glass mosaics, from existing Umayyad monuments, both Eastern and Andalusian, with the intention of appropriating the memory of the dynasty and putting forward the legitimacy and the political claims of the Cordoban Umayyads. Once the Umayyad dynasty and the caliphate disappeared (c. 1030), Córdoba lost the capital status of al-Andalus but its Friday Mosque retained its reputation until the arrival of the King of Castile Fernando III in 1236, and its conversion into Cathedral of Santa María. The admiration for the building lasted after the conquest as evidenced by the fact that both the Castilian kings and the Cordovan population actively contributed to its conservation and restoration during the following centuries. However, two Christian buildings were inserted into the prayer hall, the Gothic nave built at the end of the fifteenth century and the transept, during the sixteenth century, while the courtyard was renovated and the old minaret was enveloped in a bell tower. To assess its extraordinary patrimonial importance, it is necessary to remember that it is the oldest preserved monument of al-Andalus.