The story of Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

You are entering one of Spain's major historic monuments, a building that has been both a mosque and a cathedral. The Great Mosque was built in 785 on the orders of Abd al-Rahman I, founder of the Emirate of Córdoba. Its most famous innovation surrounds you: rows of two-tiered arches across the prayer hall, repeated in every later expansion of the Muslim era.

Rulers enlarged it many times up to the late 10th century; Abd al-Rahman III added a minaret, finished in 958, and his son al-Hakam II a richly decorated new mihrab, finished in 971. In 1236, when the Christian forces of Castile captured Córdoba, the mosque was converted into a cathedral. In the 16th century a Renaissance nave and transept were set into its centre, and the old minaret, by then a bell tower, was remodelled. Scholars still debate what stood on the site before.

Today Mass is celebrated daily, and the building has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984.