Arquitectura, memoria y futuro. La mezquita-catedral de Córdoba

Abstract

The Great Mosque of Córdoba is one of the foremost monuments of Islamic civilization and a famous World Heritage site.  But for almost eight centuries, it has served as the city’s cathedral. While other mosques on the Iberian peninsula were eventually demolished and replaced by churches and cathedrals at some point after the Castilian conquest, the Great Mosque of Cordoba survived.  It was modified for Catholic worship, culminating in the insertion of a massive choir and presbytery (crucero) in the sixteenth century.  This produced a curious, dual image that has confused, disturbed and fascinated visitors over the centuries: the building is a cathedral, but it looks like a mosque.  Following the insertion of the crucero, the fabric was progressively “christianized” – only to be “re-islamicized” in the 19th-20th centuries.  The Church’s current attempt to tighten its hold, and the resistance this has provoked among citizen activists, is just the latest episode in a remarkable 800-year story.  The struggle over the fabric and interpretation of the building attests to the continuing power of the Islamic architectural legacy.  But it is also a barometer of changing attitudes toward the Islamic past  –  and the meaning of that past for Spanish culture and society.