Day 06 - Córdoba - La Mezquita

A common theme in all of my travels has been a quest o see great architecture. I've had an interest in architect since I was a child and took architecture in high school. I had hopes of one day becoming an architect. That didn't happen, but my love of discovering great structures continues. 

You can tell a lot about what a culture values by the works they create to house it and it follows that because religion has been so important to past cultures their structures are built on a grand scale. They Christians, Jews, and Mormons all have such buildings. In the twentieth century we began to see a new worship revolve around money and hence the great buildings in cities like New York and Chicago are tall sky scrapers dedicated to wealth. Personally I'm more comfortable with buildings now that are museums and libraries, places that promote knowledge and learning. 

The Great Mosque of Cordoba is an interesting mix of these things. It was originally the site of a pagan temple and then a Visigothic Christian church. In the 8th century AD following the Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula from the Visigoths it was rebuilt as a glorious Islamic Mosque. 

Over the next few hundred years the Muslim al-Andalus flourished throughout the peninsula and the subsequent rulers continued to improve and add onto the existing structure until it reached it's current outer dimensions in 987. 

The Mihrab is the focal point of all Mosques and is placed in such a way that as the worshipers face it they are also facing Mecca, the most holy site in their religion. This Mihrab is intricately decorated with geometric shapes and Arabic writing. 

Some detail of the Mihrad. 

During the middle ages the Christians began a campaign to regain control of Iberia from the Muslims of al-Andalus and it was called the Reconquista. In 1236 Cordoba was captured by King Ferdinand III of Castile. He chose to turn the Mosque back into a church, but instead of demolishing the existing structure he just inserted a chapel in the middle of it. 

This is the one thing that really disappointed me about my visit to the Mezquita. I was so looking forward to admiring the beautiful Muslim architecture, but everywhere I turned I saw tacky Christian symbols and architectuarl changes that were jarring and discordant with the original intent of the structure. I'm a big fan of lots of Christian buildings and have visited many of them throughout Europe, but this seems wrong to me. 

Here is a great example of what I mean. The sublime geometric shapes of the structure are penetrated by this grotesque image of blood sacrifice that Catholics in particular seem to love.  

Isn't this better?  

Oh, and then I found this in a dark corner. Plastic wrap isn't the type of shroud I'm used to seeing associated with Christ. Catholics are really something sometimes. No offense to any of you Catholics out there.  

And then after leaving the Mezquita I was walking down a little ally and saw these nice flowers so I turned around to snap a picture and there was the tower peaking through them.