Mezquita

Lonely Planet review

It's hard to exaggerate the beauty of the Córdoba mosque, one of the great creations of Islamic architecture, with its shimmering golden mosaics and rows of red-and-white-striped arches disappearing into infinity. Even the large numbers of tourists passing through the place today cannot destroy the mesmerising effect of the Mezquita's ever-changing perspectives and plays of light.

Emir Abd ar-Rahman I founded the Mezquita in 785 on the site of a Visigothic church that had been partitioned between Muslims and Christians, reputedly purchasing the Christian half from the Christian community. The Mezquita was Córdoba's Friday Mosque, always the most important building in an Islamic city, where men must go for prayers every Friday at noon. The Mezquita was enlarged and embellished by Abd ar-Rahman II in the 9th century, Al-Hakim II in the 960s, and Al-Mansour in the late 10th century. Ultimately it extended over nearly 23,000 sq metres in total, one of the biggest of all mosques. Its 14,000-sq-metre prayer hall incorporated 1293 columns, some of which had stood in the Visigothic church, in Roman buildings in Córdoba, and even in ancient Carthage. Today 856 of the columns remain. Architecturally revolutionary, the Mezquita recalls in a unique way the yards of desert homes that formed the original Islamic prayer spaces - in this case with a roof over the worshippers' heads, supported by a forest of columns and arches suggestive of an oasis palm grove. What we see today is the Mezquita's final Islamic form with two big changes: a 16th-century cathedral plonked right in the middle (which explains the often-used description 'Mezquita-Catedral'); and the closing of the 19 doors which communicated the Mezquita with the outside world and filled it with light. Also missing, of course, are the rows and rows of kneeling men, praying in unison, who would have filled the Mezquita when it was a mezquita . The main entrance is the Puerta del Perdón, a 14th-century Mudéjar gateway on Calle Cardenal Herrero, with the ticket office immediately inside. Beside the Puerta del Perdón is a 16th- and 17th-century tower built around the remains of the Mezquita's minaret. Inside the gateway is the pretty Patio de los Naranjos (Courtyard of the Orange Trees), originally the mosque's ablutions courtyard, from which a door leads inside the prayer hall itself. From this door you can see straight ahead to the mihrab, the prayer niche in a mosque's qibla wall (the wall indicating the direction of Mecca) that is the focus of prayer. The first 12 transverse aisles inside the entrance, a forest of pillars and arches, comprise the original 8th-century mosque. The columns support two tiers of arches, necessary to give the building sufficient height to maintain its sense of openness. In the centre of the building is the Christian cathedral, surrounded by Islamic aisles, pillars and arches. Just past the cathedral's western end, the approach to the mihrabbegins, marked by heavier, more elaborate arches. Immediately in front of the mihrab is the maksura, the royal prayer enclosure (today enclosed by railings) with its intricately interwoven arches and lavishly decorated domes The maksura and mihrabwere created by Caliph Al-Hakim II in the 960s and are the most lavishly decorated sections of the Mezquita. The decoration of the mihrab portal - the Córdoba caliphate's artistic high point - incorporates 1600kg of gold mosaic cubes, a gift from the Christian emperor of Byzantium, Nicephoras II Phocas. The mosaics give this part of the Mezquita something of the mysterious aura of a Byzantine church. After the Christians captured Córdoba, the Mezquita was used as a church. In the 16th century the centre of the building was torn out to allow construction of a cathedral comprising the Capilla Mayor, now adorned with a rich 17th-century jasper and marble retablo, and the coro (choir), with fine 18th-century carved-mahogany stalls. The forests of Islamic arches and pillars provide a magnificent setting for the Christian structures, but if you think of the building in its original terms, you've got to agree with Carlos I, who reputedly exclaimed to the church authorities: 'You have destroyed something that was unique in the world'.