Eissa Albinali

The ‘Mezquita de Cordoba‘, Mosque of Cordoba is the most famous tourist attraction to visit in the city of Cordoba. We went to Cordoba for a weekend and this was the first place we wanted to visit. We were able to see it from a far distance, it is huge. Large stone walls surround the whole structure, massive metal gateways curve all around the exterior of the walls and large beautifully decorated archways greet you as you enter into the courtyard. Before you enter into the main structure of the mosque there is a very large courtyard just outside.

The courtyard dubbed, ‘El Patio de los Naranjos‘, The Garden of Orange Trees, gets it’s name from the many orange trees that used to grow there during the 16th century. Today many other types of trees and plants grow there giving shade to people who walk around in the courtyard under the sun.

One thing I have noticed about anywhere I go in Spain are the fruit trees. Everywhere you go, even in my house, there are fruit trees. It’s so different from Boston where there are almost no fruit trees, much less just planted on public streets. I guess if people get hungry walking around, they can just pick a fruit!

The courtyard’s ground is made of cobblestone. The center of the courtyard features a large water fountain and, like other wells in Andalusia, the water is clean to drink. All around the ground you can see small, slim moats of water used to transport old water out of the fountain.

When I entered the courtyard I right away knew we were gonna take many photos. I loved all the greenery inside and the tall minaret that rose high above us. A minaret is where they do the call to prayer during the time the Muslims ruled.

Living in Spain, such an old country with history everywhere you look, is so different from living in Boston. At the time I was living in Boston, I thought that was old and historical, but here in Spain, history is on a whole other level. Everywhere I go, buildings are a thousand years old, and that’s young!

I was blown away as soon as I walked in. The first thing I noticed were the hundreds of arches all around the mosque. Everywhere I walked I would find myself under them, I felt so small. The arches were red and white. They had a striped pattern with both of those colors. The arches stood on tall black marble columns. I walked around for so long I lost track of time just admiring all the arches and columns. I felt like I was in a maze with no way out. The arches inside the mosque are probably the most well known part of the mosque, however when you look up to the ceiling you find something just as fascinating.

The ceiling of the mosque has a different design wherever you look. One place you’ll see Islamic wooden architecture and in another place you’ll see stone work from when the Christians turned the mosque into a cathedral. I noticed something very interesting when looking at the Christian part of the ceiling. If you look closely you can see that much of the stonework on the ceiling was actually done over the Islamic wooden architecture. I didn’t like that they had to build over the Islamic architecture. Why didn’t they just keep it the way it was originally built?

I walked around the mosque a bit more until I reached a part that the ceiling was drastically risen. Unlike most of the mosque where the ceiling was almost the same level, this part had a very tall ceiling that echoed whatever you said. This was the main part of the mosque that was transformed into a cathedral. The ceiling and a bit of the wall was all made in stone. The stone had many different designs engraved in it. Lining most of the wall was sculpted metal and wood design. This part of the mosque is still used to this day as a cathedral.

I think it’s kind of sad that the Christians get to pray in the mosque however Muslims, the ones who built, it don’t even get to pray in it. Spanish Muslims have been lobbying since the early 2000’s to allow them to pray in the mosque. However, since then no progress has been made. I hope one day Muslims will be allowed to pray in the Mosque, I will definitely make the trip to join them when that happens.

I walked around the rest of the mosque taking pictures of everything I saw. I didn’t want to leave, there is something very special here. Going to such an old building, with so much Islamic history, it was incredible. I went home wanting to learn more and understand why a building that was originally meant for Muslims, now only allows us to tour. I look forward to many more experiences like this one all over Spain.