Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba by Yuri Rapoport The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Andalusia, as seen fro

Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba by Yuri Rapoport The Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba, Andalusia, as seen from the Calle Magistral Gonzalez Frances. The construction of the Great Mosque started in 784 under Abd Al-Rahman I, the founder of a Muslim dynasty that ruled the greater part of Iberia for three centuries. Also known as the Mezquita, it was expanded by Al-Rahman successors to reach around four times the original size becoming one of the largest sacred buildings in the world. The building is most notable for its arcaded hypostyle hall, with 856 columns of jasper, onyx, marble, granite and porphyry, and red and white arches. The mosque was converted into a church after the Reconquista, with a cathedral inserted in its center in the 16th century. Located at the foot of the Morena Mountains, about 80 miles northeast of Seville, Córdoba dates back to the ancient times as settlements are known to have existed in the mouth of the Guadalquivir from the 8th century BC. In the historical era, the city emerges as Kartuba during the Carthaginian expansion. The city was conquered by the Romans as early as 206 BC and became the capital of the province of Baetica over time. The great Romans Seneca the Elder (orator), Seneca the Younger (philosopher) and Lucan (poet) all came from the Roman Córdoba. The Romans were succeeded by the Byzantines and then the Visigoths who were driven out by the Moorish invasion in 711. Córdoba grew rapidly under the Umayyad rule and by the year 1000 it was the largest city in Europe with a 100,000-strong population, with some scholars’ estimates rising up to 400,000. The city was filled to the brim with palaces and mosques, of which the Great Mosque (the Mezquita) was the largest and most beautiful. Arts and sciences flourished as never before. Suffice it to say that two of the most prominent philosophers of the time, Averroes and Maimonides, were born in Córdoba. At its peak, the city was home to some eighty libraries and educational institutions. The economy prospered, too, with local goods like leather, metal work, glazed tiles and textiles were highly valued across Europe. The Golden Age of Córdoba ended after it fell to the Castilian king Ferdinand II and became part of Christian Spain in 1236. Córdoba was not engaged in the trade with the New World, although Christopher Columbus did met with the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and his wife Isabella I of Castile, here in 1487. The city went on a decline that continued well into the Renaissance times. In the 18th century, the population was reduced to just 20,000 inhabitants. Nowadays, downtown Córdoba remains a typically Moorish city with narrow, winding streets, especially in the older quarter of the center and, farther west, the Juderia (Jewish quarter). The legacy of the past makes it a first-rate tourist destination [May 26, 2017]. https://flic.kr/p/2iaUxcZ -- source link

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