Mezquita (Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba)

Modern-day visitors to the Mosque-Cathedral will notice a curious mix of Christian and Muslim traditions. A large cathedral sits at the center of the mosque, crosses are situated alongside mihrabs, Spanish Catholics attend weekly services while Muslim tourists take in the beauty of the traditional Islamic architecture.

As its name might suggest, the Mosque-Cathedral, or Mezquita-Catedral, has served as a religious site for both Christians and Muslims over different times in its history.

The Mosque-Cathedral was built first as a mosque at the end of the 8th Century, during the period of the Islamic rule of southern Spain (or al-Andalus) under Abd er-Rahman I, the then caliph of Cordoba. He meant it to equal, if not surpass, in size and beauty the great mosques he knew in the Near East and thus the mosque became one of the largest religious spaces and grandest mosques in all of Spain.

There was once a Roman temple where the Mosque-Cathedral stands today, whose ruined pieces are believed to have been used to construct the Islamic place of worship. Following the Roman times, a Visigothic Christian church was also built there, which was shared by both Christians and Muslims after the Umayyad conquest of Spain. The Mosque-Cathedral was built as the original church became too small for the growing Muslim community in Córdoba.

However, with the Catholic reconquering—or reconquista—of Spain, the grand structure fell into Christian possession, eventually housing a cathedral, its minaret converted to a bell tower.

To top off the religious diversity, the Mosque-Cathedral is located in the center of Cordoba’s judería, Jewish Quarter, bringing together all the religious traditions and cultures that have lived in and once contributed to Spanish culture and identity.