The Great Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba is one of the top 100 wonders of the world. The Great Mosque of Cordoba was started 784 A.D. but was not completed until 987 A. D. The mosque was constructed as a Muslim mosque but in 1236 Christian forces captured Cordoba and it became a Catholic Cathedral of Cordoba. In 2016 it was renamed the Mosque-Cathedral Monument Complex.

The mosque is one of the largest mosques in the world (It is 425 ft. by 590 ft. or about 250,000 sq. ft.). The outside almost appears as an undistinguished building except for some of the architecture around the doors.

Everything changes once you go inside. Immediately when you inter the building you get the feeling that you have just entered a mosque. Inside the mosque, there are 856 columns supporting a series of two-tiered arches that support the roof. The arches are what really make this building distinctive with striking alternating red and white masonry blocks.

The double arches are the feature that makes the mosque so distinctive and recognizable world wide.

Other than these arches there are many other features that make the mosque very special and interesting to see.

As you continue further into the building the Christian influences become apparent. The next two pictures shows how the Cathedral portion is seen from the mosque area and how the mosque portion is seen from the Cathedral

Some places have Christian symbols interlaced in the Islamic architecture and other areas are very distinctively a Christian Cathedral similar to some of the architecture that I saw in the Vatican.

The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba is an amazing building. It is a large complex and inside it has two very distinctive a styles. It is a combination of Muslim and Christian which makes it a little confusing when you look around. After spending a few hours inside the Mosque-Cathedral, there is no question why it is on everyone’s top 100 list.