A Mediterranean Creation The Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba
Introduction
The Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba is an important symbol of the dialogue between the Islamic and Christian population living on the Iberian Peninsula between 711 and 1492. The technical Spanish term for this period of co-existence is the convivencia. The Great Mosque-Cathedral was firstly constructed as a mosque by the Syrian Muslims in 786. Their presence on the Iberian Peninsula was due to unrest in the east of the Mediterranean: the Umayyad Caliphate of Damscus was overthrown by the Abbasids from Baghdad in 749. A small group of Umayyads fled Syria and went west, settling on the Spanish lands a couple of years later. The Arabs got the control over the Iberian and over a population of which the majority was Visigoth. The Umayyad Muslims dominated al-Andalusia (Muslim Spain), from their capital Cordoba since their arrival, to the Christian reconquest of the city led in 1236. After the reconquest, the Great Mosque was converted into a cathedral. The different cultural and religious aspects of the two succeeding monotheistic groups are to be found in the variety of architectural features the Mosque-Cathedral possesses. The Great Mosque-Cathedral has been considered as one of the most prestigious products of the convivencia, but the architecture of the building indicates the presence of several features belonging to cultural groups other than the Spanish Christians and the Syrian Muslims. This means that the architectural history of the building must be placed in a wider perspective. A social network analysis can illustrate which cultural groups were involved in the production of the Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba and help situate the building's remarkable location in the medieval Mediterranean context.
2. The production of the Great Mosque-Cathedral
The different cultural groups whom succeeded each other on the Iberian Peninsula, from the Romans to the Castilians, were indirectly responsible for an unusual combination of architecture which has been used to construct and decorate the Great Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.
During the construction of the original mosque, the Umayyads were influenced by the former and contemporary local traditions. They mixed these new influences with their own architectural input brought from Umayyad Syria and Abbasid Iraq. An example of a local influence is the presence of the horseshoe arch, found throughout the entire mosque. Originally this type of arch was a Visigothic building tradition, found in their churches constructed during the pre-Muslim and Muslim rule. Furthermore, the Umayyads used Roman techniques to heighten the ceiling of the new mosque. They were inspired by a Roman aqueduct from Spanish Merida, built in the first century. The Arabs even directly copied the red brick and white stone arches which were used to build the aqueduct. The two pictures below illustrate a merge of both local cultural influences (see figure 2).
Figure 2: horseshoe arches from red brick and white stone in the prayer hall of Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba.
In the ninth and the tenth century the Cordoba mosque doubled in size. The most important alterations were made during the tenth century, when the emirate was transformed into a caliphate by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III. During his reign, the new caliph improved the urban image of Cordoba and other cities of al-Andalusia to physically unify the recently found caliphate, and therefore realize its new entitlement. The Great Mosque was an important piece in the caliphate and had to undergo a few alterations as part of this ideological building program.
The expansion of the tenth century, is described by professor Nuha Khoury as follow: “a typical urban mosque built by the Syrian Caliph al-Walid between 705 and 715.” She argues that similar architectural traditions can be found in the Great Mosques of Damascus, Medina, and Jerusalem: three major cities of the older Umayyad caliphate. The mosques of al-Walid are characterized by a typical hypostyle with a raised and domed aisle vertical to the mihrab, the niche that indicates the direction of praying.
A new minaret was built during the transformation of the mosque. This minaret of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III was constructed on the basis of tower minarets as they were built by the Abbasids in Iraq: a type of minaret that served as universal example for the Sunni Muslims, the largest branch of the Islam. Furthermore, the new minaret appeared to be inspired by bell towers of Christian churches as they were found in the region of al-Andalusia. The dialogue between the Christians and the Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula have indirectly resulted in a coalescence of Abbasid, Syrian and local Christian architecture (see figure 3).
Figure 4: the mosaic mihrab, located on the qibla wall.
In the year 1236, King Ferdinand III from Castile was the one responsible for the undoing of the Muslim rule in Córdoba. After his grand victory, he and a group of bishops purified the Great Mosque of Córdoba and converted it into a Christian cathedral, named Cathedral de Santa Maria. Derived from chronicles, the early Castilians were impressed by the greatness of their new possession, as the Great Mosque has been described as: “the most perfect and most noble mosque that the Moors have in Spain.”
After the take-over of Córdoba and the purification of the Great Mosque, the Christians started to add chapels and burial spaces. As well, they built a pantheon for Castilian royalty. This pantheon was constructed in mudéjar style, an Islamic architectural and art tradition that thrived in the Spanish lands conquered by the Christians. The upswing of Islamic art in Christian Spain was possible due to the continuity and the adaptation of Islamic craftsmanship by Christian and Jewish patrons. Next to the Islamic influences, the Castilians brought their own cultural traditions to the city of Córdoba and processed these into their new cathedral.
Figure 6: a social network analysis of the production of the Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba from the eighth till the thirteenth century
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Map 1: the orange line between the Cordoba's connects the Iberian Peninsula from 1265, when the city was past of Christian territory, with al-Andalusia from 1036: it attaches the Cathedral de Santa Maria to its Muslim heritage, the Great Mosque of Córdoba (map 2). The orange line drawn from Cordoba to the north of Spain illustrates the link between Castile in the thirteenth century and Castile during the eleventh century: the origin of the Christians' cultural heritage. Moreover, the mudejar style is originally a Muslim architectural tradition. It flourished in the areas on the Iberian which were taken over by the Christians. In this figure the orange lines also represents this transition of Islamic Spain becoming Christian Spain and so symbolize the development of mudejar architecture.
Map 2: this map represents the Iberian Peninsula in 1038, the period after the last additions were made to the Great Mosque by the Umayyads. In this map the black lines illustrate the use of cultural influences from outside the Iberian Peninsula. The blue lines represent cultural influences from the Iberian itself. The creation of the mosque can be linked to different cultural groups, starting with the black lines drawn to the map of Syria and Iraq around 710 (map 4). These lines embody the Arab architectural influences, consisting essentially of the popular hypostyle plan, inspired by the urban mosques of al-Walid from around 710, and the shrine inscriptions found in Mecca and Medina. A sixth black line connects the Great Mosque to the Byzantine Empire of the tenth century, the period in which mosaic was brought to the court of Cordoba by a Byzantine artist (map 5) The blue line from south to northwest, connects the Great Mosque of Cordoba to the original site from 710: before the Umayyads settled on Visigothic grounds. The local Spanish architecture, such as the horseshoe arch and the bell towers, have been an important inspiration for the ruling Umayyads (map 4). The other blue line is drawn to Roman Spain during the first century, the period in which the aqueduct of Merida, then called Colonia Emirate Augusta, was constructed (map 3).
Map 4: Although it might be hard to see, in this map grey lines connect Abbasid Kufa, former Baghdad, to the urban mosques of al-Walid. The Abbasid minaret had become an universal example of how minarets should be constructed and were therefore copied by the Great Mosques of Damascus, Jerusalem and Medina, which at their turn served as a source of inspiration for the Cordoba mosque.
1. The history of Cordoba
To understand the architectural aspects used in the Great Mosque-Cathedral, one must know more about the rich history of medieval Cordoba. The importance of the city’s geopolitical position in the west of the Mediterranean world can be held accountable for Cordoba’s vibrant past, as the city has been through different phases of control by various cultural groups during the Middle Ages. Firstly, the Iberian Peninsula was part of the West Roman Empire, until it collapsed and the Visigoths took over. In 711, the Christians were confronted by an other strong monotheistic religion: the Islam. Umayyad leader ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān I , whom called himself Emir of Cordoba, was responsible for a unified al-Andalusia after his settlement on the Christian site around 756. In the tenth century the prospects of al-Andalusia were not optimistic. The lack of positivism was caused by two upcoming powers: the Kingdom of Leon and the Fatamids. Under the pressure of the Fatamid power in North-Africa, an important change was made by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān III in 929: the ruler of al-Andalusia was now to be called caliph. In this way the Umayyads were allowed to have sovereign authority in their internal affairs and could no longer be overruled by higher Muslim political authority. The Umayyad origin, brought from the Caliphate of Damascus, legitimized ʿAbd al-Raḥmān’s ability to change his title from emir to Caliph of Córdoba After a civil war in the beginning of the eleventh century, Muslim Spain got fragmented and became vulnerable. The Umayyad dynasty got overruled by various Muslim groups from North-Africa. Although Cordoba wasn't the capital of Muslim Spain anymore, the city was still an important target for the Christian Kings as the historic center of al-Andalusia. In 1236 the Islamic reign of Cordoba was defeated by the Castilians and became part of Christian Spain till today. In the slideshow below, the different stages of the political history of the Spanish Middle Ages are shown (see figure 1).
Figure 1: the Iberian Peninsula from 756 to 1265
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figure 3:the minaret of the Great Mosque, a coalescence of Abbasid and Visigothic architecture
The interior created by al-Hakam II received, among others, a mosaic mihrab. A mihrab is an enriched niche located on the qibla wall, both symbolizing the direction of Mecca: the direction of praying. Mosaic was unknown to the court of Córdoba and its artisanal knowledge was brought by a Byzantine master artist. The gold and blue glass tesserae, which were used to create the mosaic, were also brought from Byzantium (see figure 4).
Furthermore, al-Hakam created historical inscriptions in the mosque to show his gratitude for his position as the one to reconstruct the Great Mosque and contribute to the image of the Caliphate of Córdoba. The inscriptions of al-Hakam were legit as he followed a protocol that belongs to the language of shrines, as used in earlier engravings at Mecca and Medina. By creating these writings in the Great Mosque, he could present the building as a universal Islamic monument, which was important in the enhancement of the caliphate.
Figure 5: the Royal Chapel in the Great Mosque-Cathedral, built in mudejar style architecture
3. Social network analysis
he Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba forms a central node in a wide network of cultural and religious groups. The reason why these groups encountered each other in Spain, was due to the fall and rise of religions and cultures around the Mediterranean. The different activities in this area indirectly influenced the city of Cordoba and so the appearance of the Great Mosque-Cathedral. Consequently, the Great Mosque-Cathedral must be rather seen as a Mediterranean creation instead of only a product of the convivencia. In the figure on the left, a social network analysis is created of the different architectural influences from the various religious groups involved in the creation of the mosque, directly or indirectly. This social network analysis is not only constructed geographically, but also between past and present, as the Umayyad and the Castilians were not only influenced by their contemporaries, but also by their Mediterranean pastors.
The different colored lines and maps are explained below the figure.
Sources and further readings
Harris, Julie A. "Mosque to Church Conversions in the Spanish Reconquest." Medieval Encounters 3.2 1997.
Cummins, Joseph. History's Greatest Wars: The Epic Conflicts That Shaped the Modern World. Beverly, Mass: Fair Winds, 2011.
Dodds, Jerrilynn Denise. Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992.
Ecker, Heather. "The Great Mosque of Córdoba in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries." Muqarnas 20.1 (2003): 113-41.
Fairchild Ruggles, D. "The Stratigraphy of Forgetting: The Great Mosque of Cordoba and Its Contested Legacy." In Contested Cultural Heritage: Religion, Nationalism, Erasure, and Exclusion in a Global World, ed. Helaine Silverman. New York: Springer, 2011.
Khoury, Nuha. “The Meaning of the Great Mosque of Cordoba in the Tenth Century.” Mugarnas 13, 1996.
Lovat, Terence. Reconciling Islam, Christianity and Judaism: Islams Special Role in Restoring Convivencia. New York: Springer, 2015.
Meri, Josef W. and Jere L. Bacharach. Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, index. New York: Routledge, 2006.
Safran, Janina M. The Second Umayyad Caliphate: The Articulation of Caliphal Legitimacy in Al-Andalus. Cambridge, MA: Distributed for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University by Harvard UP, 2000.
Watt, William Montgomery and Pierre Cachia. A History of Islamic Spain. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine Transaction, 2008.