Of those great days all that remains is the Mezquita—and that is much. Next to St. Peter's it is the largest of Christian temples, and certainly among the most ancient. As a Mohammedan place of worship, it ranked in sanctity with the Mosque of Omar at Jerusalem, immediately after Mecca, which it was indeed designed to eclipse. It was Abd-ur-Rahman's ambition to focus all the interests of Islam at this point within his own dominions. Spanish Moslems were taught that a pilgrimage to the "Zeka" of Cordova was in all respects equivalent to a pilgrimage to Mecca. Hence Sancho Panza's saying, "Andar de Zeca en Mecca." That the Umeyyad khalifa succeeded in diverting the Faithful from the old shrine to the new is doubtful, but he and his successors spared no pains to render their mosque one of the wonders of the world. In the year 786, seized, it is said, by a sudden inspiration, Abd-ur-Rahman convoked his council and declared his intention of raising a temple to Allah on the site of a Christian church. The Moslems had already appropriated half of the Basilica of San Vicente to their use, suffering the Christians to perform their rites in the adjoining portion. The khattib was commanded to approach the unbelievers to negotiate the purchase of the whole edifice. The Christians stood out for a high price, and got it. They received a sum equal to £400,000 of our money, and permission, moreover, to rebuild all their churches in the city that had existed at the time of the Conquest. When we remember the violent seizure and "purification" of the Church of St. Sophia by the Turks, seven hundred years later, we can see how little Islam had learnt of toleration in the meantime.
The old basilica was accordingly demolished and the mosque begun. The khalifa set apart a portion of his revenues for the work, and laboured himself upon it for an hour each day. Thus encouraged, his subjects of all ranks made it a point of honour to contribute either their personal labour or their money to the great work. Though most of the columns came from the marble quarries of the neighbouring town of Cabra, as many as possible were brought from the most distant parts of the Mohammedan empire, from the works of civilizations which Islam had subdued. The mosque was to be a monument to the triumph of the Crescent. Its dimensions as projected by the founder were four times less than those of the existing building.
The successors of Abd-ur-Rahman obtained the assistance of Byzantine craftsmen, and embellished the mosque with rich mosaics. Almost a quarter of the actual building was added by Al Hakem II., and the eastern half by Al Mansûr. To effect this last expansion, a cottage beneath a palm tree had to be acquired. The old lady to whom it belonged refused to budge till an exactly similar abode was found for her. This was done at last, after a diligent search, and a liberal donation made to her to boot.
Thus was reared this mighty temple of Islam on European soil, at a time when the state of the Christian world went far to justify the exultant words of the khalifa: "Let us build the Kaaba of the West upon the site of a Christian temple, which we will destroy, so that we may set forth how the Cross shall fall and become abased before the True Prophet. Allah will never place the world beneath the feet of those who make themselves the slaves of drink and sensuality, while they preach penitence and the joys of chastity, and while extolling poverty, enrich themselves to the loss of their neighbours. For these, the sad and silent cloister; for us, the crystalline fountain and the shady grove; for them, the rude and unsocial life of dungeon-like strongholds; for us, the charm of social life and culture; for them, intolerance and tyranny; for us, a ruler who is our father; for them, the darkness of ignorance; for us, letters and instruction widespread as our creed; for them, the wilderness, celibacy, and the doom of the false martyr; for us, plenty, love, brotherhood and eternal joy."
The face of the world has changed somewhat in ten centuries.
It must, I think, be admitted that the Mezquita, to European eyes, is fantastic and interesting rather than beautiful. It may be compared to a forest of columns or to a seemingly endless series of parallel aisles spanned by low horseshoe arches. It does in truth remind one, as one writer observes, of a gigantic crypt. The additions of Al Mansûr, may be distinguished by the pointed arches. Otherwise there is little of the variety insured in Christian churches by the distribution of the parts. It is only in the columns themselves that we find any relief from the prevailing uniformity. There are interesting differences in their capitals, and in their bases also, which are, however, buried underground. In the ruder carving is seen an attempt on the part of the Moorish masons to copy the work of the more skilled craftsmen of Rome and Byzantium. The mean vaulting overhead is modern. It is gradually being taken down and replaced by the beautiful carved ceiling of white larchwood which Murphy described a hundred years ago. He says: "Above the first arch is placed a second, considerably narrower and connecting it with the square pillars that support the timber work of the roof, which is not less curious in its execution than are the other parts of the building. It was put together in the time of Abd-ur-Rahman I., and subsists to this day unimpaired, though partially concealed by the plaster-work of the modern arches. The beams contain many thousands of cubic feet; the bottoms and side of the cross beams have been carved and painted with different figures; the rafters also are painted red. Such parts as retain the paint are untouched by worms: the other parts, where the paint no longer remains, are so little affected that the decay of a thousand years is scarcely perceptible; and, what is rarely to be seen in an edifice of such antiquity, no cobwebs whatever are to be traced here. The timber work of the roof is further covered with lead; and the whole has been executed with such precision and taste, that it may justly be pronounced a chef-d'œuvre of art, both with respect to the arrangement of the different parts, as well as to the extent and solidity of the whole."