Just the "Facts"

We are standing in the Mesquitza with its older than old walls and art and a tour group passes by.
"Over there the walls of the Mosque we built in 827" said the tour guide.
"And these walls of the Cathedral date from the 14th Century."  she notes to her group.
"What about these chandeliers above us?"  questions one of the tourists.
"Oh, those were 1997."

History is fluid. It happens and is told and retold and the listeners make it their "history." Sometimes the same story is understood in different ways and thus becomes the personal history of different groups yet with a different angle.

The Mesquitza is the focal point of Cordoba. Tourists flock to Cordoba because of this church turned mosque turned cathedral. Its style and colors reflect the area and the eras in which it was built.

We went in the morning and entered into the old courtyard which is filled with fruit trees and gardens. The walls of the place are huge and hide the gardens from the street. At one end of the gardens is the entry to the Mesquitza itself. And here is what we saw as we entered.

Everywhere a forest of columns which were the mosque. The colors and the arches were so striking and standing among the columns it felt like being surrounded by a forest of trees which was exactly what the architects wanted. So we wandered on and on through the "forest."

To where the imam would lead the prayers of the faithful.

If you continue around the inside of the mosques, walking through the forest of marble columns and brick arches you can go to each corner of the huge mosque and feel its beauty.

Now, come to the center of the mosque and this site appears.

It is a Catholic Cathedral,in Renaissance and Baroque style.

Within the mosque is the Cathedral of Cordoba.

The Romans had an outpost in Cordoba in the centuries after Christ. At one time they had a temple here. Then early Christians had the Church of St. Vincent on that spot. Around the 7th Century the Muslims took power in this region and tore down the Church of St. Vincent and built the magnificent mosque, The Mezquitza. In 1236 the Christian Kings reconquered Cordoba and worshipped for many years in the mosque after they re-sanctified the structure. Eventually the Cathedral of Cordoba was built right in the middle of the mosque.

Legend has it that the Emporer, upon seeing the beauty of the mosque, told the architects to not tear down any more of the mosque. Maybe so, but in any case. The Roman temple, turned early Christian church, turned mosque, turned Cathedral of Cordoba remains today, The Cathedral of Cordoba officially. Unofficially, it is The Mesquitza.

Thousands of tourist come here each year, but I noticed on the brochures given to us in the Mesquitza/Cathedral that the word, Mesquitza is not used. The brochure also makes clear that this is a living congregation of Roman Catholics who worship daily. There are relics of St. Vincent church unearthed beneath the mosque to prove that this was a Catholic Church before it was a mosque and that the Cathedral of Cordoba and its Catholics have the original claim.

It is still being fought over. But, what this guy saw was a stunning mosque like no other and a beautiful Roman Catholic Cathedral sitting on the same ground.

Cordoba is filled with history and much of it is still being interpreted. Later in the day we went to the Alcazar, the Fortress of the Catholic Monarchs. It is a mixture of fortress and gardens near the Mezquitza and the River. This too has an interesting history which makes one pause and consider.

In this fortress in 1487 Christopher Columbus first met King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella concerning his plan to sail west and find the Indies. There is a room in the Fortress which sort of implies (and I use that phrase intentionally, because there was no designation on the wall of the room) that it was the place of their meeting. We see a desk and chairs and a bust of a king and Columbus and some old official looking side chairs. No matter. They did meet in the Fortress, history was set by that meeting and subsequent meetings and events. The actual room is conjecture. I guess they never figured that THE room would be a big tourist draw.

And if that is not enough for one fortress, the Cordoban edition of the Spanish Inquisition took place here also in 1821. Jews were questioned and tortured to see if they had converted or had merely said they converted in order to remain in the country.

So much glorious history of the tolerance of three faiths and the intolerance of three faith. Many of the Sephardim Jews were expelled from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in the early 1500's and fled to Thessaloniki and Athens, Greece. I visited a museum there which told their story of expulsion and wandering and their deaths in WW II at the hands of the German Nazis. 

As for the Muslims who left in the late 1400s, many went on to Cordoba which remained in Muslim control for another 250 years. Today, the muslims are back and a part of the Cordoban community. Some have said that the Mesquitza should revert to a Muslim Mosque. The Catholic Bishop says that the Mesquitza was originally a Catholic Church and is now a living Cathedral.

 

History and its interpretations are fluid.

Peace,  Bob