CORDOBA

JUNE 4, 2004

After leaving the Villa Turistica we left the country lanes and got on the highway headed to Cordoba.  We were assured that we must see the Mezquita (the Mosque-Cathedral) in Cordoba.  I kind of discounted this idea because after Alhambra, what could compare?  But, we decided to go for a visit.

We approached Cordoba on the highway and I had an efficient route plotted into the old town, taking us directly to parking near the mosque.  Well, silly me, there are no gates to get through the wall into the old town.  The one gate we found was one way going out.  We got hopelessly lost in a maze of narrow one-way streets, always coming to a dead end at the wall, which surrounds the old town.  After approaching the town from several angles and ending up on the same route of one-way streets over and over, we decided to go back out on the ring road and come in from another side.  Don found a road in at last and on top of that found an almost legal parking spot where he only had to have a few feet of the car up on the sidewalk, so we locked up and headed out to see this mosque.

Well, I am glad we did!  The mosque was originally built over the over the site of a Visigothic Church of San Vicente, and housed about 1000 worshipers.  Abd-ar-Rahman I purchased this basilica from the Christians in the 8^th century. The original mosque is a beautiful traditional design opening to a patio of orange trees.  It is supported by hundreds of marble columns and colorful arches.  Over two centuries this mosque was enlarged several times to its present size, which will house 40,000 worshipers.  It is awesome to enter the building to see a virtual forest of columns supporting red and white striped arches.

There is also the Mihrab, a special alcove along the side of the building, which is adorned with beautiful carvings and designs.  This is a special place of worship within the mosque.

In the 16^th century, after the reconquest, the Christians built an ornate baroque cathedral in the center of the mosque.  The cathedral includes renaissance domes painted with cherubs, angels and bible scenes, elaborate carved mahogany pulpits and choir stalls, and of course, an extremely ornate altarpiece.  At the time this cathedral was built the open wall to the orange tree patio was filled in for added support because several interior columns were removed to accommodate the traditional configuration for a Catholic church.  At the time this alteration was made Emperor Carlos V said, “You have destroyed something unique to build something commonplace.”