Spanish Senses

The Great Mosque -Aljama- of Cordoba, built during the period of Moorish occupation, is the most splendid Islamic monument in the western world. It was the third biggest mosque in the world, after that in Casablanca and in La Mecca, but its artistic importance, from the beginning of its construction, was famous both in the East and in the West. 

It’s a very big Muslim mosque whose some parts was added in the Christian Times, in particular in the 16^th century when the Christian Cathedral, in a Plateresque style, was built.  The Mosque of Cordoba is not only the symbol of Al-Andalus, but a fundamental monument of the Muslim West and one of the most spectacular in the world. The Mosque of Cordoba is an enormous quadrilateral with beautiful arcades. The most important parts of the building are the ancient minaret or tower, the courtyard and the room of prayer. 

The Mosque of Cordoba was transformed into the Christian Cathedral in 1236, after the conquest of the city by Fernando III. It’s a building which mixes different styles as the Gothic, the Plateresque, the Renaissance and the Baroque. It is constituted by a nave and a transept, with a Latin plan. The arcades are in Gothic style, the ornamentation is in Plateresque style and the dome is in Renaissance style. 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 5:36 am and is filed under Buildings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.