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A design by Hernán Ruiz III (son of Hernán Ruiz II) was chosen, encasing the original minaret structure into a new Renaissance-style bell tower. The most significant alteration of all, however, was the building of a Renaissance cathedral nave and transept – forming a new Capilla Mayor es – in the middle of the expansive mosque structure, starting in 1523. In the late 15th century a more significant modification was carried out to the Villaviciosa Chapel, where a new nave in Gothic style was created by clearing some of the mosque arches on the east side of the chapel and adding Gothic arches and vaulting. The first precisely dated chapel known to be built along the west wall is the Chapel of San Felipe and Santiago, in 1258.

• At the beginning of al-Hakam’s extension, the central “nave” of the mosque was highlighted with an elaborate ribbed dome (now part of the Capilla da Villaviciosa).
• Defenders of the ecclesial ownership argue on the basis of continuous and peaceful occupation of the building by the Church whereas defenders of the public ownership argue that the mosque-cathedral never ceased to be a State’s property, initially belonging to the Crown of Castile (and henceforth the Spanish State).
• The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (World Heritage Site since 1984) is arguably the most significant monument in the whole of the western Moslem World and one of the most amazing buildings in the world in its own right.
• The Arabic inscriptions in the decoration around the mihrab are the first major example of a program of political-religious inscriptions inserted into Andalusi architecture.
• The former minaret, which had been converted to a bell tower, was also significantly remodelled around this time.
• Narrow clerestory windows filter sunlight through layered arches, producing a dim, almost mystical interior.

Expansions of the mosque

In the courtyard, there are citrus trees and palms planted in rows mimicking the columns found inside the mosque. The arches are doubled, which at the time was a new building innovation, allowing for higher ceilings to be built. The columns of the mosque support the famous alternating red and white brick arches which are said to be inspired by the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The King immediately converted the mosque into a Catholic cathedral, though the actual building was left intact. The hall’s eleven naves were comprised of two-tiered columns, made of jasper, marble and granite, which support the carved wooden-beam ceiling, a design which is known as hypostyle.
An archaeological exhibit in the mosque–cathedral of Cordoba today displays fragments of a Late Roman or Visigothic building, emphasizing an originally Christian nature of the complex. This attractive building in Cordoba was built by order of Philip… As a result, the interior resembles a labyrinth of beautiful columns with double arcades and horseshoe arches. It was built in 785 by the Muslim emir Abdurrahman I, on the site of the ancient Visigoth church of San Vicente.

• Some of the original building materials from the Visigothic basilica can still be seen in the first section of the Mosque built by Abderraman I.
• Muslim prayer has not been always banned outright and there are some cases of token concessions in the past, including Saddam Hussein’s prayer at the Mihrab in December 1974.
• Some 850 pillars divide this interior into 19 north-to-south and 29 east-to-west aisles, with each row of pillars supporting a tier of open horseshoe arches upon which a third and similar tier is superimposed.
• A restoration project began on the bell tower in 1991 and finished in 2014, while the transept and choir of the Renaissance cathedral were also restored between 2006 and 2009.
• The conquering christian forces were impressed with Cordoba and especially the mosque.
• Some of them were kept on payroll by the church but many of them worked as part of their fulfilment of a “labor tax” on Muslim craftsmen (later extended to Muslims of all professions) which required them to work two days a year on the cathedral building.

Bell tower and former minaret

An inscription is also included in the mosaics of the middle dome of the maqsura, in front of the mihrab. More inscriptions are carved into the stone imposts on either side of the mihrab niche's arch, above the small engaged columns. The three bays of the maqsura area (the space in front of the mihrab and the spaces in front of the two side doors) are each covered by ornate ribbed domes. The lower walls on either side of the mihrab are panelled with marble carved with intricate arabesque vegetal motifs, while the spandrels above the arch are likewise filled with carved arabesques. The mihrab opens in the wall at the middle of this maqsura, while two doors flank it on either side. The dome is now part of the Villaviciosa Chapel and two of the three intersecting arch screens are still present (the western one has disappeared and been replaced by the 15th-century Gothic nave added to the chapel).

The hypostyle hall

This tension between architectural languages remains one of the most debated aspects of the Mosque-Cathedral. Where the mosque emphasizes lateral expansion and spatial fluidity, the nave asserts axial hierarchy and vertical dominance. The cathedral nave, by comparison, disrupts this subdued ambiance, channeling light to highlight Christian iconography, thus shifting the experiential narrative. Narrow clerestory windows filter sunlight through layered arches, producing a dim, almost mystical interior. Perhaps the most contentious intervention came in the 16th century when Charles V authorized the construction of a cruciform nave at the heart of the hypostyle hall. While its structural framework remained largely intact, successive modifications introduced Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements, fundamentally altering the building’s original spatial and symbolic intent.

Construction of the mosque

Construction of a new cathedral bell tower to encase the old minaret began in 1593 and, after some delays, was finished in 1617. Nuha N. N. Khoury, a scholar of Islamic architecture, has interpreted this collection of inscriptions in al-Hakam II's expansion of the building as an attempt to present the mosque as a "universal Islamic shrine", similar to the mosques of Mecca and Medina, and to portray Caliph al-Hakam II as the instrument through which God built this shrine. In the nave or aisle of the hypostyle hall which leads to the mihrab, at the spot which marks the beginning of Al-Hakam's 10th-century extension, is a monumental ribbed dome with ornate decoration. The mosque's architectural system of repeating two-tiered arches, with otherwise little surface decoration, is considered one of its most innovative characteristics and has been the subject of much commentary. The hall was large and flat, with timber ceilings held up by rows of two-tiered arches resting on columns. The building's original floor plan follows the overall form of some of the earliest mosques built from the very beginning of Islam.

The space under this dome was surrounded on three sides by elaborate screens of interlacing polylobed arches, similar to those of the maqsura to the south but even more intricate. The ribs of this dome have a different configuration than those of the domes in front of the mihrab. The tensions that grow from these subverted expectations create an intellectual dialogue between building and viewer that will characterize the evolving design of the Great Mosque of Cordoba for over two hundred years. It served as a central prayer hall for personal devotion, for the five daily Muslim prayers and the special Friday prayers accompanied by a sermon. The Christian-era additions (after 1236) included many small chapels throughout the building and various relatively cosmetic changes.
Other chapels were progressively created around the interior periphery of the building over the following centuries, many of them funerary chapels built through private patronage. Notably, during the early period of the cathedral-mosque, https://www.velwinscasino.gr/ the workers charged with maintaining the building (which had suffered from disrepair in previous years) were local Muslims (Mudéjars). The area of the mosque's mihrab and maqsura, along the south wall, was converted into the Chapel of San Pedro and was reportedly where the host was stored. Soon after this date both the middle dome of the maqsura and the wall surfaces around the mihrab were covered in rich Byzantine-influenced gold mosaics. More famously, a rectangular maqsura area around the mosque's new mihrab was distinguished by a set of unique interlacing multifoil arches. According to Susana Calvo Capilla, a specialist on the history of the mosque–cathedral, although remains of multiple church-like buildings have been located on the territory of the mosque–cathedral complex, no clear archaeological evidence has been found of where either the church of St. Vincent or the first mosque were located on the site, and the latter may have been a newly constructed building.
The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (World Heritage Site since 1984) is arguably the most significant monument in the whole of the western Moslem World and one of the most amazing buildings in the world in its own right. Nowadays, some of the constructive elements of the Visigoth building are integrated in the first part of Abderraman I. In this same place, and during the Visigoth occupation, another building was constructed, the “San Vicente” Basilic. Some 850 pillars divide this interior into 19 north-to-south and 29 east-to-west aisles, with each row of pillars supporting a tier of open horseshoe arches upon which a third and similar tier is superimposed. Passing through the courtyard, one enters on the south a deep sanctuary whose roof is supported by a forest of pillars made of porphyry, jasper, and many-coloured marbles. The ground plan of the completed building forms a vast rectangle measuring 590 by 425 feet (180 by 130 metres), or little less than St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
The minaret's original appearance, however, was reconstructed by modern Spanish scholar Félix Hernández Giménez with the help archeological evidence as well as historical texts and representations. The courtyard is known today as the Patio de los Naranjos or "Courtyard of the Orange Trees". The Arabic inscriptions in the decoration around the mihrab are the first major example of a program of political-religious inscriptions inserted into Andalusi architecture.
Being surrounded by Muslim architecture and peering into a church, all within the same building, is quite a peculiar experience. After the Christians reconquered Spain, the mosque was deemed too beautiful to destroy. Those were recycled by the Moors as they began work on the mosque.

Works of Antoni Gaudí, Spain

Early alterations to the building were limited, with the cathedral’s first altar being installed below one of the skylights that was added to the building as part of Hakam II’s extension. Under Abd Al-Rahman II, eight new naves were added to the south side of the hall, with new Moorish-made columns being erected next to the already existing Roman and Visigoth ones. Cordoba’s growing population meant that an extension of the prayer hall became necessary. The need to call the faithful to prayer led to the construction of a minaret by Hisham I, who came to power upon the death of his father, Abd Al-Rahman I, in 788. This is the wall in a mosque which faces towards Mecca, although in this case, for reasons unknown, it actually faces south, rather than towards the holy city which is located to the south-east of Córdoba. The area inside is made up of a forest of columns with a harmonious colour scheme of red and white arches.
Today, Cordoba’s mosque-cathedral is a beautiful masterpiece that stands testament to 1500 years of Spanish history. The conquering christian forces were impressed with Cordoba and especially the mosque. The Mihrab is a prayer niche found in mosques and the one found inside the Great Mosque of Cordoba could be the most beautiful in the world. Seeing these endless columns, a visiting Muslim poet once described the mosque as having “countless pillars like rows of palm trees in the oases of Syria.” It was converted into a church and eventually, an enormous cathedral was built right in the middle!

By leaving the mosque to coexist with the cathedral, the building is a physical repository of power struggles in Spain.page needed Additionally, it is a showcase of architectural hybridity, representing ideological intersections between Christianity and Islam.page needed Abd al-Rahman III added the mosque's first minaret (tower used by the muezzin for the call to prayer) in the mid-10th century. This maqsura area covers three bays along the southern qibla wall in front of the mihrab, and was marked off from the rest of the mosque by an elaborate screen of intersecting horseshoe and polylobed arches; a feature which would go on to be highly influential in the subsequent development of Moorish architecture. At the south end of the prayer hall is a richly decorated mihrab (niche symbolizing the direction of prayer) surrounded by an architecturally defined maqsura (an area reserved for the emir or caliph during prayer), which date from the expansion of Caliph Al-Hakam II after 965. The mosque-cathedral's hypostyle hall dates from the original mosque construction and originally served as its main prayer space for Muslims. The minaret of the mosque was also converted directly into a bell tower for the cathedral, with only cosmetic alterations such as the placement of a cross at its summit.
The courtyard of the mosque was planted with trees as early as the 9th century, according to written sources cited by the 11th century jurist Ibn Sahl. The narrative of the church being transformed into a mosque, which goes back to the tenth-century historian Al-Razi, echoed similar narratives of the Islamic conquest of Syria, in particular the story of building the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. A claim that the site of the mosque-cathedral was once a Roman temple dedicated to Janus dates as far back as Pablo de Céspedes and is sometimes still repeated today.
What is today the 17th-century Chapel of the Conception (Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Concepción), located on the west wall near the courtyard, was initially the baptistery in the 13th century. According to Jiménez de Rada, Ferdinand III also carried out the symbolic act of returning the former cathedral bells of Santiago de Compostela that were looted by Al-Mansur (and which had been turned into mosque lamps) back to Santiago de Compostela. Upon the city's conquest the mosque was converted into a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary (Santa Maria).
Some of the original building materials from the Visigothic basilica can still be seen in the first section of the Mosque built by Abderraman I. The interior space consists of a forest of columns and red and white arches giving a strong chromatic effect. The original structure was built by the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān I in 784–786 with extensions in the 9th and 10th centuries that doubled its size, ultimately making it one of the largest sacred buildings in the Islamic world. Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Islamic mosque in Córdoba, Spain, which was converted into a Christian cathedral in the 13th century. The conversion from mosque to cathedral reflects broader historical conquest and cultural transformation patterns.
Those arches are supported by 856 Roman columns shaped from precious stones such as jasper, onyx, marble, granite and porphyry. The mosque-cathedral of Cordoba (locally known as the Mezquita) is one of the most impressive examples of Muslim architecture in the world. It was built by King Henry II to fulfil the wishes of his father, Alfonso XI of Castile and León, who wanted to be laid to rest in the cathedral where his own father, Fernando IV, was already buried.

The Layered Architectural Identity

Charles V only visited the cathedral after it was completed and was not too pleased. Over four centuries, the mosque was continually extended as Cordoba prospered. This agreement lasted until 784 when the Muslim Emir Abd al-Rahman I purchased the church and demolished it to make room for the grand mosque of Cordoba. Unlike any other building in Spain, the Great Mosque of Cordoba tells the history of the Iberian Peninsula, starting with the Romans. To get to the top of the bell tower, a separate ticket is required which costs 3€.

Great Mosque of Cordoba

Juan de Ochoa finished the structure in a more Mannerist style typical at the time, finishing the project with an elliptical dome over the crossing and a barrel vault ceiling – with lunettes along the side – over the choir area. The first two architects introduced Gothic elements into the design which are visible in the elaborate tracery design of the stone vaults over the transept arms and above the altar. The design was drafted by Hernan Ruiz I, the first architect in charge of the project, and was continued after his death by Hernan Ruiz II (his son) and then by Juan de Ochoa. The dome at the summit is topped by a sculpture of Saint Raphael which was added in 1664 by architect Gaspar de la Peña, who had been hired to perform other repairs and fix structural problems. On two of the tower's façades there were three of these windows side by side, while on the two other façades the windows were arranged in two pairs.

Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba

The door on the right, Bab al-Sabat ("door of the sabat"), gave access to a passage which originally led to the sabat, an elevated passage over the street which connected the mosque to the caliph's palace. Horseshoe arches were known in the Iberian Peninsula in the Visigothic period (e.g. the 7th-century Church of San Juan de Baños) and to a lesser extent in Byzantine and Umayyad regions of the Middle East. Because we share the belief that architectural components must by definition behave logically, their conversion into agents of chaos fuels a basic subversion of our expectations concerning the nature of architecture. It also would have served as a hall for teaching and for Sharia law cases during the rule of Abd al-Rahman I and his successors. To the people of al-Andalus "the beauty of the mosque was so dazzling that it defied any description."

Orange Tree Courtyard of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

The city has built many monuments to San Rafael, but the most… The courtyard of the Orange Trees leads to the complex. The mihrab is one of the most important in the Muslim world, being the most noble piece of the Mosque-Cathedral. The mosque underwent consecutive extensions over later centuries. It is a mixture of architectural styles superimposed on one another over the nine centuries its construction and renovations lasted.

About half-way up, the stairways were lit by sets of horseshoe-arch windows whose arches were decorated with voussoirs of alternating colours which were in turn surrounded by a rectangular alfiz frame (similar to the decoration seen around the arches of the mosque's outer gates). The main tower contained two staircases, which were built for the separate ascent and descent of the tower. The lantern tower was in turn surmounted by a dome and topped by a finial in the shape of a metal rod with two golden spheres and one silver sphere (often referred to as "apples") decreasing in size towards the top. The minaret has since disappeared after it was partly demolished and encased in the Renaissance bell tower that is visible today. Until the 11th century, the mosque courtyard (also known as a sahn) was unpaved earth with citrus and palm trees irrigated at first by rainwater cisterns and later by aqueduct.

• Among the most notable additions, Abd al-Rahman III added a minaret (finished in 958) and his son al-Hakam II added a richly decorated new mihrab and maqsurah section (finished in 971).
• Charles V only visited the cathedral after it was completed and was not too pleased.
• Its current appearance dates from the work of Hernán Ruiz II, who took over work on the cathedral in 1547 after the passing of his father (Hernán Ruiz I).
• But that’s just what the mosque is – a peculiar but beautiful masterpiece that stands testament to 1500 years of human civilization.
• After the mosque’s conversion to a cathedral in 1236, Spanish Christian designs were increasingly added to new or existing gates.
• The minaret of the mosque was also converted directly into a bell tower for the cathedral, with only cosmetic alterations such as the placement of a cross at its summit.

Claims of earlier Roman temple

Another tenth-century source mentions a church that stood at the site of the mosque without giving further details. The historicity of this narrative has https://www.velwinscasino.gr/ been challenged as archaeological evidence is scant and the narrative is not corroborated by contemporary accounts of the events following Abd al-Rahman I's initial arrival in al-Andalus. The mosque structure is an important monument in the history of Islamic architecture and was highly influential on the subsequent "Moorish" architecture of the western Mediterranean regions of the Muslim world.

• While its structural framework remained largely intact, successive modifications introduced Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque elements, fundamentally altering the building’s original spatial and symbolic intent.
• During this period, in 1882, the cathedral and mosque structure was declared a National Monument.
• The original structure was built by the Umayyad ruler ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān I in 784–786 with extensions in the 9th and 10th centuries that doubled its size, ultimately making it one of the largest sacred buildings in the Islamic world.
• A claim that the site of the mosque-cathedral was once a Roman temple dedicated to Janus dates as far back as Pablo de Céspedes and is sometimes still repeated today.
• Further restorations of features like chapels and some of the outer gates have continued to take place up to the late 2010s.
• Its design drew inspiration from the Great Mosque of Damascus, yet it also incorporated elements of the existing Visigothic structure on the site, reusing columns and capitals in a display of both practicality and symbolic continuity.

In 785, the self-proclaimed emir ordered the construction of a mosque that was to be more beautiful than that of his homeland, Damascus. The hypostyle hall, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage The Visigoths later replaced the temple with a church, only for that to be demolished in the 8th century to make way for the current building. Under the rule of the Visigoths, the Basilica of San Vicente occupied this very site, and later, after the Moslems bought part of the plot of land, a primitive Mosque was built.
The new tower had imperfections, however, and required repairs only a few decades later in the mid-17th century. The construction resumed under architect Juan Sequero de Matilla in 1616 and the tower was finished in 1617. Construction began in 1593 but eventually stalled due to resources being spent instead on the construction of the new cathedral nave and transept happening at the same time. The altarpiece was designed in a Mannerist style by Alonso Matías and construction began in 1618.
Over the centuries, Cordoba’s Mosque-Cathedral has been a testing ground for building techniques which have influenced both the Arabic and Christian cultures alike. Now standing 10 metres to the north of its original location, with a height of 54 metres, it is the tallest building in the city. After the tower had been damaged by an earthquake in the 16th century, a decision was made to build a new, Renaissance-style structure around it. The bell tower, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage As time went on, a fascinating blend of styles began to emerge as Mudejar, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements were incorporated into the not only Islamic, but also Visigoth and Roman architecture of the former mosque.