On Saturday I visited Cordoba with my medieval art class to see the Cathedral of Cordoba. It was originally the Great Mosque of Cordoba, but was converted into a cathedral by the Christians during the reconquest of Spain.
Simply put, it is absolutely incredible. Though I will try, photographs and words cannot do this building justice. When I first entered, I was literally stunned by how massive the place is, even though I had seen pictures and had studied it in class I was unprepared for its scale. The most distinctive feature of the mosque are the signature red and white horseshoe-shaped arches that span the entirety of the inside and seem to continue for an eternity.
The most striking feature, however, has to be the cathedral itself and how different it is from the rest of the building. Constructed right in the center of the old mosque, it seems impossibly tall compared with the (relatively) low ceiling of the rest of the building. The clash of architectural styles is very interesting because one can distinctly tell which parts were built by the Muslims and which by the Christians.
Outside, there is an equally impressive courtyard where palms and orange trees grow. They are irrigated by an ingenious series of channels, which in turn are fed by a fountain at the center of the courtyard. Rising above this is the Christian bell tower, which was built on the same spot where the minaret used to stand. As I approached the mosque, I could hear the deafeningly loud tolling of the bell as it signaled noon, but as I rounded a corner and saw it for the first time, I noticed that the clamor was originating from only one of the many bells. I was left to wonder what great noise would have been produced had all of the bells rung at the same time.
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