Thursday Doors – Córdoba, Spain

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The Thursday Doors is a weekly challenge at Dan Antion’s site No Facility for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world. If you’d like to join us, simply create your own Thursday Doors post and then share a link to your post in the comments in Dan’s post.

In August 2022, I started to post our travel to Spain, but my posting was interrupted by our moving from California to Oregon. I continued today with our third stop at Córdoba where we visited the Great Mosque of Córdoba.

Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba

The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba officially known by its name of Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of the Córdoba dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It is in the Spanish region of Andalusia. It is also known as the Mezquita because of its former status as the mosque and as the Great Mosque of Córdoba. The Great Mosque of Córdoba is one of the oldest structures still standing from when Muslims ruled Al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia including most of Spain, Portugal, and a small section of Southern France) in the late 8th century.

This image was uploaded to Commons using Flickr upload bot on February 26, 2011, by Hameryko.

As the tour bus arrived at Córdoba, the tour guide took us passing by the Roman Bridge and the Bridge Gate.

Puente Romano (Roman Bridge)

The Roman Bridge, or Puente Romano, spans the Guadalquivir River in the historic center of Cordoba. The bridge dates back to the first century AD when it was built by the Romans. It has been rebuilt several times over the centuries. The current bridge retains the Islamic flavor of the Moorish reconstruction.

Puerta del Puente (Gate of the Bridge)

Built in the 1500s, the Puerta del Puente replaced the previous gate from the early Middle Ages. From one side of Puerta del Puente, you can see an old Roman bridge and Via Augusta. The latter was the longest major road built by the Romans along the Iberian Peninsula.

The doors and entrance are magnificent architecture with meaningful decorations.

A side door
The entrance

The buildings on this site are as complex as the extraordinarily rich history they illustrate. Historians believe that there had first been a temple to the Roman god, Janus, on this site. The temple was converted into a church by invading Visigoths who seized Córdoba in 572. Next, the church was converted into a mosque and then completely rebuilt by the descendants of the exiled Umayyads—the first Islamic dynasty who had originally ruled from their capital Damascus (in present-day Syria) from 661 until 750.

Following the overthrow of his family (the Umayyads) in Damascus by the incoming Abbasids, Prince Abd al-Rahman I escaped to southern Spain. Once there, he established control over almost all of the Iberian Peninsula and attempted to recreate the grandeur of Damascus in his new capital, Córdoba. He sponsored elaborate building programs, promoted agriculture, and even imported fruit trees and other plants from his former home. Orange trees still stand in the courtyard of the Mosque of Córdoba, a beautiful, if bittersweet reminder of the Umayyad exile.

The hypostyle hall

The building itself was expanded over two hundred years. It is comprised of a large hypostyle prayer hall (hypostyle means, filled with columns), a courtyard with a fountain in the middle, an orange grove, a covered walkway circling the courtyard, and a minaret (a tower used to call the faithful to prayer) that is now encased in a squared, tapered bell tower. The expansive prayer hall seems magnified by its repeated geometry. It is built with recycled ancient Roman columns from which sprout a striking combination of two-tiered, symmetrical arches, stone, and red brick.

Sources: Smart History, Wikipedia

My eyes were busier than my legs. I lost sight of our group! Everyone was a tourist but my group was nowhere to be found! I was more embarrassed than scared. My immediate instinct was to search for someone with at least half a head above the crowd. After looking and twirling a few rounds, I spotted my 6’4″ hubby. Sped up my pace casually, I blended in with my group without showing panicking.

The altarpiece is structured into a base, a main body formed by three aisles through four composite capital columns and a top. 
The symphonic organ of the Cathedral of Cordoba has around 3500 pipes. It is currently in use every day. 

Our next stop is Seville, Spain. Stay tuned!

Thursday Doors – Córdoba

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