Dictionary of islamic architecture

See also:
Córdoba Great Mosque, Madinat al-
Zahra
, Spain.
Further reading:
G.Goodwin, 
Islamic Spain: Architectural Guides for
Travellers,
London 1990, 39–63.
E.Sordo and W.Swaan, 
Moorish Spain: Córdoba, Seville and
Granada,
Eng. trans. I. Michael , London 1963.
Principal mosque of Spain under the Umayyads.
The Great Mosque was laid out in 786 by Abd al-
Rahman I who built it on the site of a Christian church
which the Muslims had previously shared with the
Christians. The mosque was supposedly built by a
Syrian architect to recall the Great Mosque at
Damascus although it has more in common with the
Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Less than fifty years later
Abd al-Rahman II extended the mosque to the south
adding eighty new columns. In 964 al-Hakim II also
extended the mosque further south. Towards the end
on the tenth century the mosque was once more
enlarged by adding fourteen aisles to the east thus
balancing the length with the width. Each of these
extensions meant building a mihrab further south,
each of which was successively more grand. Two of
these mihrabs have survived. The earlier, ninth-
century mihrab is the size of a large room and has
now been converted into the Capilla Villavicosa; it
is roofed by a large dome supported on ribs resting
on cusped arches. Next to this mihrab is the maqsura
or royal enclosure which is equally grand with
carved stucco decoration and interlaced cusped
horseshoe arches. The tenth-century mihrab consists
of an octagonal chamber set into the wall with a
massive ribbed dome supported on flying arches.
The interior of the dome is decorated with
polychrome gold and glass mosaics which may be a
gift of the Byzantine emperor. This mihrab suggests
the change in status of the Umayyad rulers from
amirs to caliphs.
The most remarkable feature of the Great Mosque
are the two-tier free-standing horseshoe arches resting
on columns. It is thought that this arrangement is a
structural solution to the problem of achieving a high
roof with only short columns. The roof of the mosque
consists of aisles arranged perpendicular to the quibla
wall, a feature elsewhere encountered only in the Aqsa
Mosque in Jerusalem.
The appearance of the mosque was ruined in the
sixteenth century when a cathedral was built in the
middle of the sanctuary, the minaret of the Great
Mosque is now encased within the belfry of the
cathedral. Diagonally opposite the Great Mosque is
the caliph’s palace which has now been converted into
the archbishop’s palace.