Great Mosque of Córdoba

One of the first buildings from the period when Muslims governed Al-Andalus (Muslim Iberia, which included most of Spain, Portugal, and a tiny portion of Southern France) in the late 8th century is the Great Mosque of Córdoba, also known locally as Mezquita-Catedral. A two-hour train trip south of Madrid, Córdoba is a popular tourist destination. The structures on this property are as intricate as the incredibly rich history they depict. According to historians, this location formerly housed a temple dedicated to the Roman deity Janus. When the Visigoths invaded Córdoba in 572, they turned the temple into a church.

The heirs of the exiled Umayyads, the first Islamic dynasty that had initially governed from its capital Damascus (in modern-day Syria) from 661 to 750, subsequently transformed the cathedral into a mosque before entirely rebuilding it. Over the course of two centuries, the structure itself was extended. A spacious hypostyle prayer hall, an orange grove, a covered walkway around the courtyard, a minaret that is now enclosed in a square, tapered bell tower, and a courtyard with a fountain in the centre make up this structure. The repetitive geometry of the large prayer hall seems to enlarge it. It is constructed using salvaged Roman columns, from which two tiers of symmetrical arches made of stone and red brick emerge. The mosque is really an amazing building. When you go through its pillar hall you can almost feel the atmosphere from the Moorish time.

Location: Cardenal Herrero street 1, Cordoba