Arab Civilization in Spain: The Great Mosque of Cordoba

October 21, 2011

Arab Civilization in Spain: The Great Mosque of Cordoba

The Cathedral and former Great Mosque of Córdoba, in ecclesiastical terms the Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (English: Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption), and known by the inhabitants of Córdoba as the Mezquita-Catedral (English: Mosque–Cathedral), is today a World Heritage Site and the cathedral of the Diocese of Córdoba. The site was originally a pagan temple, then a Visigothic Christian church, before the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba at first converted the building into a mosque and then built a new mosque on the site.

It is located in the Andalusian city of Córdoba, Spain. The Mezquita is regarded as perhaps the most accomplished monument of the Umayyad Caliphate of Córdoba. After the Spanish Reconquista, it once again became a Roman Catholic church, with a plateresque cathedral later inserted into the centre of the large Moorish building.

source: Wikipedia

images: Wikipedia

Great Mosque of Cordoba Panorama

images source: http://www.panoramas.dk/

“Let us point out, writes T. Burckhardt, that the structure of this mosque depends, in sum, on forms that can be delineated without perspective; it is, in a way, composed of arabesques.” (Burckhardt, 2009. P. 136)

Following Burckhardt’s observation we can point out that such a basic two-dimensional structural concept lead to a unique set of spatial effects; the initial or original planographic concept resulted in a specific three-dimensional structure and unique spatial experience.

The proliferation of basic forms, discrete or composed of clearly delimitated and articulated elements, results in a paradoxical effect of unity and completeness, in one hand, and of expansion, on the other: an expansive form rhythmically regulated, which produces a self-contained and yet “unlimited” total form and effect.

As if the horror vacui that we identify in Islamic art in the multiplication of decorative elements on architectural (and other kinds of) surfaces was able to transfigure itself into an organizational concept in which the architectural structure is realized not simply as a container of space, but as a form able to generate space from within itself, as much as it appear as a product of space as a living force.

Contrasting with the vertical trust and forceful mass of the Plateresque Cathedral implanted on its central part, the Islamic building balances vertical and horizontal visual rhythms and proportions to produce a kind of space, and related spatial experience, that is calmly invigorated and dynamic, both visual and corporeal, that is: contemplative and immersive, involving the mind and the body in unity.

Marcelo Guimaraes Lima