Cordoba - Mezquite

Here is a little history lesson for you.

The romans ruled Spain, followed by the Moors who were Muslim. During the crusades, the Christians took back Spain once again.

The most fascinating part of Spain is the cross over between Christianity and Muslim culture.

So using the Marble from the old roman cathedrals and palaces, the Moors built the Mezquita. The Mezquita originally had nineteen giant doors open sending light into the giant building. The Mezquita was a place of prayer with the people praying towards Mihrab.

Keep in mind Cordoba was a grand city housing more than 500,000 people. As the city grew, the Mezquita grew. Originally built 786 AD it was expanded multiple times under rule of several Moore leaders.

When the Christians seized Cordoba they decided to build a church using the Mezquita. So, they built the dang church right in the middle of this grand building. They closed all 18 doors and put bricks over some of the grand master pieces of the Mezquita and went their merry old way.




Here are some pictures of the beautiful architecture of the Mezquita. The pillars were meant to mimic the forest of orange trees outside that greeted the holy men as they entered the building to prey each day.

On the display of the Mezquita there were several artifacts from Christian times that were interesting along with the Mihrab and some old tile work from Roman times.