Cordoba Mosque Cathedral

Description

Cordoba Mosque Cathedral Fine Art photograph

Mesquita, Andalucia Spain

The Cordoba Mosque Cathedral is also known as Mesquita, Spanish for Mosque. During a recent trip to the Andalucia region of Southern Spain, our family had the pleasure of visiting  the city of Cordoba,Spain, its famed cathedral and the historic Roman Bridge of Cordoba.  This ancient city, steeped in history, contains 4 different Unesco World Heritage sites, more than any other city in the world!

Mezquita interior, Cordoba, Spain

The current Mosque Cathedral of Cordoba stands where there was once an ancient Christian Visigothic Church. After the Umayyad conquest of Cordoba, the church was shared by muslims and Christian until 785 when the Christian portion of the church was purchased by Muslim leaders who demolished the Christian structures to expand the great Mosque of Cordoba. The Mosque was constructed quickly, utilizing existing Roman and Visigothic structures from the region. The Mosque Cathedral’s most iconic features, its double arched columns, were preserved and repeated during several expansions and remodels over the last 1,500 years.

Cordoba Cathedral Ceiling

In the year 1236, Cordoba was conquered by the army of King Ferdinand III. After the conquest, the Mosque was converted to a Catholic Cathedral.  In 1523, construction of a renaissance cathedral nave and transept was begun in the middle of the sprawling Mosque structure. During the addition of traditional Catholic Cathedral elements, the iconic double arched columns, supporting the sprawling Mezquita were preserved. Currently there are more than 850 of these striking architectural structures.

After our stay in Cordoba, we traveled to the enchanting city of Grenada and the famed Alhambra.