Europe 2012 - England/Spain Part 13 - Cordoba, The Mezquita

With our full team intact, we are off to a see one of my primary sightseeing goals, the Mezquita of Cordoba.  This is the old mosque turned cathedral.  It is one of the finest representations of mosques from the grand period of Muslim rule in Spain.  One of my reasons for choosing this part of Spain for our trip is my extensive reading on the history of al-Andalus, the Muslim period in Spain that lasted at its peak from the mid-8^th century to the mid-12^th century and lingered on for another 300 years afterwards.  It was a period marked by a tremendously heterogeneous society where Muslims, Christians, and Jews could live and work together.  Where science and rationality were honored.  And where the overall quality of life and tolerance were enjoyed.  It is not unlike our own society and the fact that it lasted longer than our current nation has existed and then fell is a lesson that we should not take our current liberties, tolerance, and rationality for granted when the forces of irrational, fundamentalist religions (that brought down the culture of al-Andalus) still exist. 

We are deciding to all rendezvous at the Mezquita itself with each group navigating independently.  This leads to decidedly different outcomes as a variety of our GPS seem to have inaccurate information on the streets of Cordoba.  3A, #3, 3.1 and I are going together and our GPS asks us to turn onto a network of dirt roads from our exit of the rental.  After traveling 15 minutes on these rutted roads, we decided that GPS is crazy and go back the way we came.  We fully expected to be the last group to arrive since we left last but in fact beat one of the groups by almost 45 minutes.

I have seen all kinds of pictures of the Mezquita but none of them do justice to the size, scope and scale of it. It is essentially a structure that takes up a few city blocks in one open structure.  Certainly the outside gives no indication of how the inside looks.  From the outside, it is relatively boxy looking with the exception of the cathedral walls and spires. 

 Approaching the Mezquita from across the river

Old Moorish Era Entrance

Walls giving you an idea of just how big this is

Former minaret, now bell tower 

Through the wall into a court hard and entrance to the Mezquita itself

 In fact the cathedral was built into the middle of the mosque, replacing the former dome.   It is done in a very baroque style.  The remaining mosque part that is about 70% of the floor space is exceedingly simple in design (most of the original Islamic calligraphic decoration having been covered over).  The contrast is a bit jarring.  The interior of the mosque part is a sea of horseshoe arches done in alternating red and white stripes.  Many of these are juxtaposed so that they are not all on the same axis.

One of the few remaining Moorish style decorations.  These are not the original calligraphy inscriptions.

Wall of the Catholic Cathedral built within the mosque

What a difference in style!

The Mezquita during its period as a mosque was more than a religious center.  It acted as the civic center of the community where all kinds of business were conducted.  Walking through the vast open spaces, one tries to imagine in one section a group working a trade deal, another teaching students, a third discussing emir’s latest civil instructions to be implemented.  I left 3A, #3 and 3.1 wandering around letting my imagination wander.

Then I went back and decided to give 3.1 a bit of Mezquita experience.  Virtually the entire structure is flat floored with smooth marble.  It was not particularly crowded and I was pretty much able to let 3.1 wander to her heart’s content.  The Spanish are very child friendly.  We’ve seen families at every restaurant and public place we’ve been to.  There were lots of smiles for Munchkin and she had lots of curiosity and smiles coming back.  The best was a Italian gentleman brought in on a wheelchair.  3.1 went right up to him, and he gave her a big smile while she checked out his crutches.

La Mezquita Through Munchkin Eyes

Soooo much flat uninterrupted space to run in.

(actually she stopped at those steps and went up and down so many times, we had to distract her to get her elsewhere).

 

Munchkin and Italian Grandpa trade impressions of La Mezquita

After we finished we thought we would go to the ruins of one of the palaces of Abd-al-Rahman III, the last great emir who named himself caliph.  Unfortunately, it was closed on Monday.  So we elected to come back to the rental as we figured 3.1 had enough for one day.  I whipped up some soup for dinner to feed everyone as worked their way back.  Each evening most of us end up sitting around the outside patio drinking and talking.