The Cordoba's Mosque - Article Example

The Mosque of Córdoba The Mosque of Córdoba Introduction The Cordoba’s Mosque is set near the banks of the Guadalquivir River, and is in one of the most famous structure in the Andalusian cities; and has a long Caliphate history. The Mosque is one of the noblest works of the world architecture; it is a marvelous Islamic artwork found in the West. The Mosque is nowadays classed as a World Heritage Site, and it was commissioned on Visigoth basilica’s site by the Emir Abd ar-Rahman I in the mid-eighth century. After the Castilian conquest, a Christian cathedral was constructed within its walls. The Mosque was among the largest in the world, achieved a set of cultural, esthetic and technical innovations inspire new trends in the world of construction. History The Mosque of Córdoba, Mezquita de Córdoba, popularly known as the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Mezquita–Catedral de Córdoba, its ecclesiastical identity is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción. The structure was originally a Catholic Church commissioned by the Visigoths, but later converted into a Mosque during Middle Ages; immediately after the Reconquista the Mosque was converted again in a Roman Catholic Church (Ruggles, 2007). Abd ar-Rahman I, the founding father of Umayyad Dynasty, ordered construction of what was to be the great Mosque of Cordoba towards the end of 784. The Mosque was set on Basilica of San Vicente’s site and the outskirts of the city. The first Emir of Cordoba envisaged the oratory that would evoke his childhood in Syria; for this reason the Eastern Mediterranean’s influence imbued with the Hellenic tradition inspired the esthetic qualities of the original building (Dodds, 2007). Abd ar- Rahman II carried out essential expansion of the oratory in the ninth century. The principal works were undertaken in the auspicious decades of the Caliphate, which was in the tenth century. Abd ar-Rahman III, the first Caliph, added new minaret and extended the courtyard while Al-Hakam II, his son, had the naves extended and commissioned the lavish decoration of the maqsura and the mihrab. The last intense alterations and improvements to the Mosque were in Al-Mansur’s time, he extended the prayer hall significantly. Christian’s conquest in 1236 ensured restorations of the building to Christianity and the Christians. With the support and blessing of Emperor Carlos V, in the sixteenth century, work began towards the construction of a cathedral at the heart of an Islamic precinct. The Mosque’s interior was partially destroyed; the Emperor later regretted his approval for destroying something unique and replacing it a commonplace. The Cathedral took about two centuries for completion and resulted in a mixture of Baroque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Plateresque architecture. Architectural Features in Relation to Culture Patio de Los Naranjo A was a big and opened space, in the Islamic culture, where believers carried the ritual ablutions prior to prayer. The place has been greatly altered with time, and now it has combined two fountains under the shade of palms orange trees, and cypresses, with an arcade. Alongside the structure’s main entrance into the courtyard, just above the la Puerta del Perdon, the Gate of Forgiveness, there is the bell tower placed over the Arab minaret towards the end of the sixteenth century (Dodds, 2007). Figure 1: Patio de los Naranjos (www.mezquitadecordoba.org, 2015) Prayer room There are arrays of columns that rise in the prayer area designed and built by the crème de la crème architects of the period; it was an unprecedented art that later influenced Islamic architecture. Top architects were hired to show the appreciation intellectual culture among the people of Cordoba; the different Emirs were constantly gauging themselves with other states for instance north Africa (Triano, 2005). There are 856 columns within the nineteen naves rising with shafts made in beautiful forms and colors, and above which the curved horseshoe arches are topped with the semi-circular arches that are reminiscent of the Roman aqueducts (Dodds, 2007). The visible ochre hues on the stonework alternating with the red of the brickwork create an effect of a beautiful palm grove. Maqsura and Mihrab The Mihrab was the wall that the Muslim faithful faced when praying, and where the Koran was initially read from. The Maqsura is an adjacent space that was meant for the caliph. The Mihrab is octagonal and has a shell-shaped dome with bright glittering floral mosaics as well as the Arabic inscriptions originating from the Byzantine artists. There is a glittering Mosque’s dome above the Maqsura made of marbles that are covered with mosaics (Triano, 2005). Figure 2: Maqsura and Mihrab (www.mezquitadecordoba.org, 2015) Doors and façades The north side of the Mosque is the main façade and faces Calle Cardinal Herrero with the Puerta del Perdon (the Gate of Forgiveness) and the Puerta del Caño Gordo. The west front has the Puerta de la Leche, Milk Gate, and the Puerta de Los Deanes, the Deans’ Gate opposite a hospital, the San Sebastian Hospital, that was commissioned at Abd ar-Rahman II time. The east side has the Puerta del Sagrario, Gate of the Shrine, and the Saint Catherine Gate, Puerta de Santa Catalina (Irwin, 2004). The Mosque The original Mosque, the oldest part, was Abd ar-Rahman’s I work. He is responsible for fortress-like appearance, cultural symbol for defense, and the looks towards the south, the wall that the Mihrab is placed and where the faithful would face when praying instead of Mecca; they faced toward Damascus due to the Emir’s nostalgia towards his native Syria (Irwin, 2004). Due to fast population growth experienced by the city, the Mosque had several extension programs, in between 833 and 852 by the Emir Abd ar-Rahman II. Further expansion project was between 966 and 961, under the commissioning of the caliph Al-Hakam II. At this period the Caliphate was the most enlightened and cultured, it had master builders and craftsmen who are associated with the skylight of the Villaviciosa Chapel; also with multi-lobed arches that intersect each other eventually creating an extraordinary pattern of decorated stars located in the dome (Ruggles, 2007). a b Figure 3: a) South wall and b) West wall (Sacred-destinations.com, 2015) It is more appropriate to say that Islamic and Christian architectures clash at La Mezquita rather than meet. The Islamic architectural culture was characterized flatness and openness while Christian architectural culture was tall and in dark enclosures; coexistence of the two architectures leads into a dramatic contrast (Aanavi, 2007). The Great Mosque of Cordoba had architectural appearance and features resembling the Great Mosque of Damascus; hence it is evident that Abd-Al-Rahman’s I model was used in the making of the Great Mosque in Cordoba (Irwin, 2004). The Great Mosque and other Mosques are exceptional cultural and artistic summary of ideals among the medieval Islamic palatial culture. The mosque shows the shared cultures among the three religions, Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, since there were accretions and permutations of monuments created for particular service of religion but later adapted by another. The small ambergris, myrrh, and ivory containers made by Muslims for special occasion, such as her marriage, were collected after the Christian conquest, were preserved and were used as sacred relics in the Christian churches. It was ironic for containers having Arabic writings utilized as Christian relics, but the medieval Christians appreciated the culture of exquisite craftsmanship and luxurious materials usage among the Muslims (O’Neill, 2009). In the Byzantine Islamic world, the power of a ruler was exhibited not only via the military might, but through the refinement, learning, and extravagance of his court. The mosque was built under the rule of Abd al-Rahman I on Christian’s church site; on al-Rahman I ancestral land cultural achievement of the Umayyad building standards of the East, by reusing the double arches and the Roman marble columns.  Though there were presences of religious conflicts in the fabrication of the building, there need to appreciate the time each of them were made, these structure alterations serves as the reminder of how or extent at which has been lost; mainly culture wise (Aanavi, 2007). Discussion: Culture Context The Arab impact in Spain goes to the period which the Mosque of Cordoba and other Mosques were being constructed. The Catalan and Spanish dialects have the lexical components gotten from Arabic. From a linguistic perspective, Arabic words in Spanish offer shared attributes: most are place names and nouns (Ruggles, 2007). Figure 4: Horses and Carriages outside the west façade (Sacred-destinations.com, 2015) The Mosques contributed towards the Arab scholars, in the end they introduced cultural innovations , for example, chemistry, game of chess or ajedrez in Spanish, and algebra, the utilization of Arabic numbers rather than Roman numerals, restored Aristotelian Philosophy, and the number zero. The Spanish music is additionally impacted by the Muslim culture. The instruments, melodies or tunes they brought to the whole community would later offer route to the flamenco and guitar; the flamenco is a musical type or genre that imparts numerous structural components to conventional music from northern Africa (Tariq, 2004). Spanish cooking utilizes the use of flavors and herbs initially from northern Africa. The Spanish garbanzo bean, a trademark gimmick of Spanish cooking, is additionally from that Northern Africa. The Arab impact in Spain gets to be clear when taking a look at the names of spots or places; for example Guadajara and La Mancha near Gibraltar (Ruggles, 2007). Conclusion Other hybrids Mosques in Spain were demolished but not the Great Mosque, and in the present Spain it is the Catholic Archdiocese of Spain. Historians claim that it due to people recognition of the Mosque having great architecture and cultural value; hence consciously preserve it (Tariq, 2004). There is no surprise from the attraction of Spaniards towards the Arab culture; it is seen from the Mosque of Cordoba is a wonderful piece of architecture. Most of the Spaniard in Southern, a huge presence of individuals with Maghrebian culture, the northwestern range of Africa or Moroccan, brings its way of life or culture to Spain (Tariq, 2004). References Aanavi, D. (2007). Western Islamic Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Dodds, J. (Ed.). (2007). Art of Islamic Spain. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Irwin, R. (2004). The Alhambra. New York: Profile Books. O’Neill, P. (2009). Spains Medieval Art 500-1200 AD. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Owen, M. R. (2010). Islamic Arts from Spain. New York: V & A Publishing. Ruggles, F. D. (2007). The Mirador. Gesta, 36(2). Sacred-destinations.com,. (2015). Mezquita de Cordoba - Cordoba, Spain. Retrieved 23 February 2015, from http://www.sacred-destinations.com/spain/cordoba-mezquita Tariq, R. (2004). Western Muslims. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Triano, V. A. (2005). Madínat al-Zahrá. Cordoba: Junta de Andalucia. www.mezquitadecordoba.org, A. (2015). Mezquita de Córdoba - mezquitadecordoba.org. Mezquita de Córdoba. Retrieved 23 February 2015, from http://www.mezquitadecordoba.org/en/ Read More