Visiting Córdoba Mosque/ Cathedral

A visit to Seville is not complete unless you also visit Cordoba.

It was probably the only "must do" that we had when we returned as we had been so overcome and impressed by the Mosque/Cathedral there that we wanted to relive the experience.
To quote from the UNESO web site:

…...In 711 the town was one of the first to fall to the Moorish conquerors, led by Tarik-ibn-Zayid, after his great victory at the Battle of Guadalete. When Abd-al-Rahman I was deposed as Caliph of Damascus in 756 he set up his court at Córdoba and laid the foundations for the most glorious period of the city's history. He began building the Great Mosque in 786, on the site of a Roman temple of Janus which had been converted into a church by the Visigoths, with the intention of creating a structure that outshone the mosque of Damascus. Work on it continued over the two succeeding centuries.

At the same time Córdoba became the centre of a great realm renowned for its artistic and intellectual predominance and its liberal toleration of other religions. At its height the city is said to have enclosed over 300 mosques and innumerable palaces and public buildings, rivalling the splendours of Constantinople, Damascus, and Baghdad. The Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed after the bitter civil war of 1009-31, and only the Great Mosque survived as a symbol of its achievements. With the accession of power by the Ahnoravid and, subsequently, the Ahuohad dynasties in the 12th century Córdoba recovered much of its former glory, however, as capital of Al-Andalus. Its intellectual supremacy was assured by great scholars such as Averroes (Abu Walid-ibn-Rusch) and Maimonides (Musa-ibn-Maymun).

In 1236 the city was captured by Ferdinand III the Saint, and Córdoba entered the Christian world again. The Great Mosque became the Cathedral and new defensive structures were raised……...

All part of the "entry" or exterior of the Mosque/Cathedral:

Even the exterior is spectular

One of the entries to the courtyard

Some of the original wood used - on display in courtyard

Part of the courtyard - before entry to the Mosque

Once inside -

The Moorish beginnings are combined with the influence of the Christians.

 The columns on the archways vary reflecting the different periods during construction. At the beginning there are these solid columns.  These then become the more slimmer ones.  The type ( and therefore colour) of marble used, changes over the different periods, extensions of the mosque

Some of the original tiled floor - about a metre below the currently used surface.

Incredible treasures inside as well as the amazing structures

A truly amazing place!