Spain Guide
Andalucía
La Mezquita
Opening time: April– Sept Mon– Sat 10am–7pm, Sun 2–7pm; Oct– March Mon– Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 2–5pm
Price: €8, kids €4; free entrance at side doors 8.30am–10am for services but without lighting
The development of the Mezquita paralleled the confidence and splendour of ninth- and tenth-century Córdoba. While Abd ar-Rahman III provided it with a new minaret, 80m high, his son, al-Hakam II (961–76), was responsible for the most brilliant expansion. He virtually doubled its extent, demolishing the south wall to add fourteen extra rows of columns, and employed Byzantine craftsmen to construct a new mihrab, or prayer niche; this remains complete and is perhaps the most beautiful example of all Moorish religious architecture. The final enlargement of the building, under the chamberlain-usurper al-Mansur (977–1002), involved adding seven rows of columns to the whole east side.
The Mezquita is approached through the Patio de los Naranjos, a classic Islamic ablutions court that preserves its orange trees. Originally, all nineteen naves of the mosque were open to this court, allowing the rows of interior columns to appear an extension of the trees with brilliant shafts of sunlight filtering through. Today, all but one of the entrance gates is sealed, and the mood of the building has been distorted from the open and vigorous simplicity of the mosque to the mysterious half-light of a cathedral.
Originally, the whole design of the mosque would have directed worshippers naturally towards the mihrab. Today, though, you almost stumble upon it, for in the centre of the mosque squats a Renaissance cathedral coro. This was built in 1523 – nearly three centuries of enlightened restraint after the Reconquest – and in spite of fierce opposition from the town council. The erection of a coro and capilla mayor, however, had long been the "Christianizing" dream of the cathedral chapter and at last they had found a monarch – predictably Carlos V – who was willing to sanction the work. Carlos, to his credit, realized the mistake (though it did not stop him from destroying parts of the Alhambra and Seville's Alcázar); on seeing the work completed, he told the chapter, "You have built what you or others might have built anywhere, but you have destroyed something that was unique in the world."