Mezquita of Cordoba

The Mezquita of Cordoba is one of the wonders of Moorish Spain, a vast former great mosque whose interior is a hypnotic forest of hundreds of columns and double arches striped in red and white, receding in every direction. After the Christian reconquest a full Renaissance cathedral was raised, astonishingly, within its heart, and the fusion makes this UNESCO monument utterly unique.

History

Tradition says a Visigothic church of Saint Vincent stood here and was shared by Christians and Muslims after the conquest until 785, when Abd al-Rahman I, founder of the Emirate of Córdoba, bought the Christian half and built the Great Mosque in its place, letting the Christians rebuild churches outside the walls; historians doubt parts of this account, which first appears in the 10th-century writer al-Razi and echoes the story of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, while the old claim of a Roman temple of Janus on the site was dismissed in 1983 as speculation. The mosque was enlarged several times under his successors up to the late 10th century, and today it is the cathedral of Córdoba, officially the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption (Wikipedia, Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba).

What you'll find

• The forest of arches - the endless red-and-white striped double arches on columns.
• The mihrab - the exquisitely decorated former prayer niche.
• The cathedral within - the Renaissance cathedral raised inside the mosque.
• The Court of the Oranges - the courtyard of orange trees and the bell tower.

When to go

Spring and autumn for mild weather; summer in Cordoba is among the hottest in Europe. Early morning offers a quieter, atmospheric visit; some hours may be free early.

Things to know

It is a working cathedral, so dress and behave respectfully and expect it may close for services. Cordoba is fiercely hot in summer. The building alone is the sight; the rest of the old town, though pretty, is a smaller stop than Granada or Seville.

Nearby

The old Jewish quarter and Roman bridge are alongside; Seville and Granada are within reach.

Key facts