The Mezquita - A Christian Cathedral within a Mosque
At the center of the famous Spanish UNESCO World Heritage City of Cordoba stands an interesting structure known as the Mezquita; a building that has to be seen to be believed.
In a stunning reversal of the Muslim practice of converting captured churches into mosques, as with the case of Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock and Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, the Mezquita was the former Great Mosque of Al-Andalus.. turned into a grand Catholic cathedral!
* Officially known as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, the Mezquita looks nothing like your typical Christian place of worship.
A note from the writer: this is a pre-pandemic tale.
* In fact, the Mezquita is one of the best examples of Moorish architecture, a very specific style of Islamic architecture popular across Southern Spain and Portugal, as well as North Africa.
* Built in 784 AD under orders from the Emir of Cordoba, Abd al-Rahman I, the Mezquita is one of the crowning legacies of the Umayyad Dynasty.
* At its peak, the Umayyads controlled a Caliphate (or Islamic State) with a territory stretching across Arabia (today's Saudi Arabia and Gulf States), Persia (today's Iran), the Levantine (today's Syria, Jordan, and Israel), Northern Africa (including Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, and Morocco), and Iberia (Spain and Portugal).
* It's no surprise then that upon entering the Mezquita, one would be confused as to how a functioning Catholic Cathedral looks very much like an Islamic mosque.
* As a former Islamic place of worship, the edifice was itself patterned after the Great Mosque of Damascus, one of Islam's holiest sites, located in Syria.
* The Great Mosque of Damascus (or Umayyad Mosque) is significant for containing the tomb of the legendary Saladin, the warrior who recaptured Jerusalem from the Crusaders.
* As well as for supposedly containing the head of John the Baptist, who is also considered a prophet among the Muslims.
* This strange and peculiar transition happens thanks to the events of the Reconquista, the Catholic Crusade to retake Spain and Portugal from the Muslims, which began at around 711 AD.
* Over the next eight hundred years, the Northern Spanish Catholic Kingdoms of Castille, Leon, Navarre, Aragon, and Portugal waged a bloody campaign against the Southern Spanish Islamic Emirate of Cordoba.
* Slowly pushing southward into Muslim territory (referred to by Muslims as Al-Andalus) and reconverting towns and cities to Christianity; building a strong Spanish identity and fostering a sense of national pride in the process.
* Finally Cordoba, imperial city of the Caliphate, fell to the Catholics in 1236
* Previously Islamic palaces, gardens, strongholds, and buildings were repurposed to serve the Spanish Kings, who to their credit, did not want to let perfectly usable structures go to waste.
* And this included the Mezquita, which was promptly converted into a Cathedral.
* And as a testament to this Crusade, numerous works of art in the Cathedral proudly memorialize the greatest victories of the Reconquista.
* And what a stunning Cathedral it is!
* With its incredibly detailed high ceiling holding its own against the best of Europe.
* Extravagantly decorated main altar, complete with all the trimmings!
* And dozens of ornately chapels dedicated to a variety of Christian Saints.
* Offering a tremendous contrast to the earlier rows of Islamic columns, which completely surround the Cathedral, and yet is a part of it.
* Gifting us with a truly unique fusion of two religious worlds.
* Both, at its core, originating from the same patch of land on this earth, the Middle East, in fact sharing a cast of its prophets and holy people.
* And both heavily influencing the history and culture of our world these past two thousand years.
* And both sharing a blessing towards all of humanity: God is good all the time. Allahu Akbar.
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