Cordoba: La Mezquita

 The next morning we drove to Cordoba.  Pierre drove through narrow winding streets, to the smallest car elevator ever, and down to the smallest parking place conceivable.  With a lot of work and squeezing we manged to get ourselves and our belongings out of the car and up to our room.

 It was a beautiful day and when we saw this scene, we thought we had better pull up a chair.   After some refreshment and too much sun, we walked over to La Mezquita.    The girls worked on perfecting jumping over the canals that led from the fountains to the orange trees.

 The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba is a medieval Islamic mosque that was converted into a Catholic Christian cathedral in the Spanish city of Córdoba, Andalusia. The mosque is regarded as the one of the most accomplished monuments of Moorish architecture. Since the early 2000s (decade), Spanish Muslims have lobbied the Roman Catholic Church to allow them to pray in the cathedral.^[3][4] The Muslim campaign has been rejected on multiple occasions, by both Spanish Catholic authorities, and the Vatican.

 More than 850 columns of granite, jasper, and marble support the roof.  Many were taken from Roman and Visigothic buildings.

 According to Wikipedia:

In 1236, Córdoba was conquered by King Ferdinand III of Castile in the 'Reconquista', and the mosque was converted into a Catholic church in its centre. Alfonso X oversaw the construction of the Villaviciosa Chapel and the Royal Chapel within the mosque. The kings who followed added further Christian features, such as King Henry II rebuilding the chapel in the 14th century. The minaret of the mosque was also converted to the bell tower of the cathedral. It was adorned with Santiago de Compostela’s captured cathedral bells.^[19]

The most significant alteration was the building of a Renaissance cathedral nave right in the middle of the expansive structure. The insertion was constructed by permission of El Libertador Charles V, king of Castile and Aragon. However, when Charles V visited the completed cathedral he was displeased by the result and famously commented, "they have taken something unique in all the world and destroyed it to build something you can find in any city."

The mosque's reconversion to a Catholic church, may have helped to preserve it when the Spanish Inquisition was most active.  Artisans and architects continued to add to the existing structure until the late 18th century.

 Saint Thérèse

 

 

These Roman pillars were found outside the current city hall.