Cordova: A city of the Moors

by Albert Frederick Calvert; Walter M. Gallichan

Like most Moorish buildings, the exterior of the Great Mosque of Cordova has a somewhat forbidding aspect, and rises before one much unlike a house of prayer.

The vast interior of the Mosque may be likened to a petrified grove of palm-trees, their stems strangely varied in colour, and in amazing perspective to all points of the compass. Marble columns of every hue, from pure white and translucent alabaster, through the intervening red, the precious verde antique, jasper, porphyry, all shades, to the deepest black; the variety only to be explained by the fact that the great builders Abd-er-Rahman I., together with his son and successor, Hisham I., procured their materials whenever and wherever they could ‘acquire’ them. Many of the columns being too tall, were ‘topped’ to supply a deficiency in the length of another—a process eloquent of the pillage of many a distant city.[1]

All historians agree that the great Mosque of Cordova owes its inception to Abd-er-Rahman I., the first sovereign to reign independently over Andalus. Directly the Sultan found himself comparatively free from his turbulent rivals, and firmly established on the throne, he began the building of his royal palace—that of the pleasure-house called Rissafah, and of the great Mosque. The circumstances which led to the erection of the Mosque are thus related:—

When a city surrendered to the Moors by capitulation, it was their custom to divide with the Christians the principal temple of that city. So, for instance, when Damascus was taken, the principal temple was divided, half of it remaining in the hands of the inhabitants for their form of worship, while the other half was appropriated to the use of the Moslems, who forthwith converted their moiety into a Mosque.

According to this usage, when the Arabs entered Cordova they divided with the Christians their principal place of worship, all other churches, both within and without the city, being immediately pulled down. The Moslems remained for a long time satisfied with this state of affairs, until their number increased, and Cordova became a very populous city, owing to the Arabian Amirs having taken up their abode in it, and made it the seat of Government. The Mosque could then no longer contain the worshippers, and roof after roof was added to accommodate them, the roof of each successive addition being inferior in height to the preceding structure, until the roof of the latest addition was so low as to be but a few feet from the floor, preventing the people from standing with any comfort under it.

Upon the consolidation of the Omeyyah dynasty, Abd-er-Rahman at once turned his attention to the enlargement of the Mosque. He sent for the chiefs of the Christian Church, and proposed to purchase from them that part of the building which remained in their hands, in order that he might utilise the space for the better observance of the religion of the Prophet.

After much negotiation, the Christians agreed to relinquish their moiety, on condition of being allowed to rebuild or repair a church outside the walls, and of holding it independently of the Moslems. The church of the Christians was consecrated wholly to the worship of their God.[2] This being granted by Abd-er-Rahman, and the Christians having received the sum agreed upon, the Sultan demolished the old place of worship (A.D. 784-5), and laid upon its site the foundations of the great Mosque, which became one of the wonders of the world.

The building was carried on with incredible activity during the whole of his reign, for the Sultan begrudged no expenditure that could add to its magnificence; yet it was not until nine years after the death of Abd-er-Rahman that the Mosque was completed according to the original plan. The design was accomplished by the Sultan Hisham I. in the years 794-5, and the Mosque received considerable improvements at the hands of his successors; indeed, it can be safely said that none of the Sultans of the illustrious family of Omeyyah who reigned in Cordova failed to make some estimable addition, or contributed in some way to the decoration of the sumptuous building. Hisham’s son, Abd-er-Rahman II. (A.D. 822-852), ordered much ‘gilt work’ (Zak-hrafah) to be made, but died before the work was carried out. Mohammed, his son and successor (A.D. 852-886), continued the work begun by his father, and brought it to a close. Mohammed’s son, Mundhir, in a short reign (A.D. 886-888), is recorded as having made improvements in the building. The great Khalif, An-nassir (Abd-er-Rahman III., A.D. 912-961), caused the old minaret to be pulled down and a more magnificent one to be erected. Al-hakem Al-mustanser-billah (Hakem II., A.D. 961-976) made important additions. Seeing, on his accession, that Cordova was every day increasing in extent, and the population rapidly growing, he directed his attention to the enlargement of the Mosque, and completed the additional building known by his name, by which the structure, already gorgeous, reached the highest perfection, the work of his time being executed in a manner that bewilders by its excellence.

Lastly, in the reign of his successor Hisham II. (A.D. 976-1009), and under the administration of his famous Hajib (Lord Chamberlain and Prime Minister) Al-Mansur, or Almanzor, as he is more commonly called, an addition was made which almost doubled the capacity of the building. A vast number of houses were pulled down, the sites and the lands belonging to them appropriated for the extension of the Mosque; the addition falling nowise short, in respect of solidity, beauty of design, and boldness of execution, of those of any of his predecessors, unless we except the transcendent work of Hakem II.

The grace and purity of construction and decoration in Cordova reached their zenith during the reign of Hakem II. He it was who built the maksurrah [3] within the Mosque, a production that has been described by contemporary writers as one of the most exquisite fabrics ever raised by man. In the two jambs of the arch forming the entrance to the mih-rab[4] were four columns of great value: two were made of green marble, the other two of lapis-lazuli.[5]