VII
THE CATHEDRAL AND CHURCHES
From the time of the taking of Cordova by the sainted King Ferdinand, Spanish architects and artificers designed and constructed additions to the interior and exterior of the beautiful Mezquita. We have already described these additions as often incongruous and for a great part unlovely. San Fernando caused the erection of the first Christian chapel within the Mosque, and it occupied a position by the south wall, covering three naves from east to west, and four transverse naves from north to south. The chapel, which was dedicated to St. Clement, enclosed two Moorish arches.
Following the example of the sovereign, several noblemen erected chapels in the Mezquita. In 1250 Don Diaz de Haro built the chapel of Santa Inez, and later Domingo Muñoz erected that of San Bartolomé. Enriched by donations from the pious, the Chapter of the Cathedral undertook to transform the building, and even sought to improve upon the work of the Mohammedans. They removed the apartment of the Kadi, destroyed the chamber of the Khalif, known as the maksurrah, and in its place reared the Grand Chapel. The chapels of St. John and of Santiago were built between 1260 and 1265.
At this time four Mudejares, or reconciled Moors, were employed upon the work of altering the Mosque. It was evidently the wish of the improvers that the Arabic tradition should be followed in the construction of the arches and the plan of the decorations; but already the Moorish art was declining, and these latest examples of Morisco design and ornamentation do not display that wealth of imagination and high skill which characterised the Omeyyad craftsmanship. Hence the work in the Cathedral became more ‘Gothic’ and less Arab-Byzantine, as piece by piece the chapels were added to the structure of Abd-er-Rahman, Hakem II., and Almanzor.
The worst vandalism was wrought when the great Choir was made under the sanction of Charles V., who afterwards regretted that he had consented to the alterations. In order to erect the Coro, with its high roof, the old Moorish ceiling was destroyed. The architect originally employed upon the Grand Chapel and Choir was the celebrated Hernan Ruiz, who achieved some notable designs in the Plateresque style. The retablo, or high altar, is by Alonso Matias, and the painting is the work of Palomino.
In the Coro the seats are beautifully carved by Pedro Cornejo. The Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Villaviciosa is perhaps the most interesting of the many Christian chapels erected within the Mezquita. It is in the later Moorish style. Céspedes’ painting of ‘The Last Supper’ is in the Capilla de la Cena; and the tomb of this artist, who was a native of the city, is near the Capilla de San Pablo.
In the Christian Cathedral there are many examples of the composite Moorish and Gothic architecture, which is known in Spain as the Estilo Mudejar. Portraits of saints and paintings of living things were introduced later, in contravention of the Mohammedan law forbidding such representations in the decoration of holy buildings. Statues were also placed in the Cathedral. The brilliant Plateresque style eventually succeeded the later Mudejar work; the decorations were fanciful and flamboyant, and not always inspired by the highest æsthetic sense. Finally, in the seventeenth century, the Baroque style became the fashion of the hour, and the arts of pictorial embellishment and of carving degenerated often into the bizarre and the theatrical. Wood was used in place of stone for statuary, and many of the fine old altar-pieces in the Spanish churches were destroyed to give place to grotesque and more ‘realistic’ conceptions.
As early as 1278 the minaret of Abd-er-Rahman III. was crowned with the Christian figure of Saint Raphael, and at the time of the alterations under the direction of Hernan Ruiz the bulk of the Moorish praying-tower was removed, and the much loftier belfry erected. Most of the beautiful doors of the Mosque were blocked up during the progress of the reconstruction. The door of the Gate of Pardon was decorated by Henry II., and is in the later Mudejar style, with Christian images above it. Such are among the many examples of the curious blending of Moorish and Christian forms of design and styles of ornamentation within and without the Mosque.
For further examples of Mudejar architecture we may visit the Hospital del Cardinal, where there is a fine chapel dedicated to San Bartolomé. The Church of Santa Marina was originally Moorish, but it is now modern. Relatives of the Gran Capitan Gonsalvo are buried in the San Hipolito.