The Mosque and the Cathedral

I had seen photos of the beautiful and immense Mosque of Cordoba filled with its 880 pillars connected by gold and red horseshoe arches, but being inside of it took my breath away. I wanted to keep taking more and more photos to try to capture the feeling of this place. Over the years and as the population of Cordoba increased and new Caliphates came into power, they added to the size of it until it was so large that 20,000 people could worship there at the same time. The rows of arches and pillars repeats itself over and over to the delight of the eyes. 

Eventually when the Muslims lost control to the Catholics they were able to make an agreement that the Mosque would not be destroyed. So, in an ingenious and harmonious way, a cathedral was built inside the Mosque. The architect was masterful at the way he blended the elements together so as to make a quite unified design. Unlike most of the Catholic cathedrals that I have been in while in Spain, the central altarpiece feels beautifully understated, using the local pink marble for its primary material rather than wood layered with gold. Surrounding the mosque are fruit trees and fountains and benches where people can relax and congregate.