History of Mosque of Cordoba

Muslim armies conquered Cordoba city in the 18 century to become the capital of the Islamic Emirate. The Muslim ruled city had many schools, universities, and libraries that attracted many scholars as well as produced her own. The Danes and Vikings ransacked and savaged Paris, and England Cordoba rose as the torch of learning and civilization. It was the first city with street lights the whole of Europe. Dubbed the bride of cities and the jewel of the tenth century,' Cordoba commands respect and is one of the most important cities in the history of the world. Christians and Muslims are involved in the intellectual life of the city. One of the most appreciated architectures of the city is the magnificent mosque which comes in second regarding popularity after the Alhambra palace in Granada. This paper is going to look at the history of the great mosque of Cordoba.To fully exhaust the topic research on History of Umayyadsin Al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula), History of Cordoba from the start to the fall and History of Mosque of Cordoba during and after Umayyads rule has been combine to produce the below literature.

History of Umayyads in Al-Andalus (Iberian Peninsula)

History of Iberian Peninsula was changed when the Arab-Berber forces reached the lands bordering the surrounding ocean, and they killed Hispanic last Visigoth king during the battle. Iberian Peninsula was then changed to be Al-Andalusone of the last provinces to be captured by the Caliphate from Damascus. Al-Andalus was in the following years to become one of the most powerful states in the western parts of the Mediterranean capable of facing the well to do and privileged Byzantium. The Umayyads family did not believe that this was their last destination as they had been wiped out of Orient earlier. The grandson of Caliph Hisham was known as al-Malik took the power of the al-Andalus after a long odyssey with the alliances.

When Umayyad took power on the Peninsula, the first century was rocked by various revolts and uprising as there was some legitimacy question about their rule. The revolts did not stop and entered the second century too (879-880), and there was a period of anarchy which they referred to as (fitna). When Abd al-Rahman III took the title of the caliph, the Islamic state of al-Andalusia finally consolidated. The new regime was referred to as the caliphate of Cordoba. The regime enjoyed prosperity during the rule of al-Raman II and his son Al- Hakim II. However, this was not for long as al-Mansur a Chamberlain snatched power and did set his dynasty with the help of a military offensive. The was civil wars that involved the Christians, Arabs, and the Berbers. This led to the breakdown of the caliphate in 1031. al-Andalus was divided into numerous groups where each was led by a muluk al-tawaif or the local warlords.

During this period, the capital was Cordoba, and it was the seat of the government too. Cordoba was situated in the middle of the fertile plains that were being irrigated by the Gludalquivir. Cordoba soon expanded to the madian where most of the principal administrative and the big religious institutions were located (the great mosque and the residences of the emirs). It was partially a planned town compared to the rest. Cordoba becomes an economic, cultural and political center of the al-Andalus. As it was the largest city in the western, it was named the mother of all towns. Attracting so much attention because of its huge size. The city was eyed by both the Muslims and the Christian community.

Cordoba acted as a landscape for many developments; it was the land of the al-Andalus. It was the framework of the elements of religion for instances the mosque and the bathhouse. It was a center for the military operations and the fiscal activities. Although the area was enjoying an economic success, this success was subject to fluctuations during the caliphate regime. The political instability and natural calamities led to the irregular minting of money that caused the economic instability in the long-run.

The city status could, however, change according to the ruling regime and with regime trying to outdo the other many wondrous activities were ordered out. Cordoba experienced a period of development in which it thrived both architecturally and artistically, one of the dynasty propaganda with the town was in ostentation, for example, the Madinat al-Zahra Palace and the great mosque. The sizes of these two were so enormous that the world could not ignore them.

In 786 Abd al-Rahman founded the great mosque. His aim was to replace the existing embryonic house of worship that they shared with the church. Those who came after him continued to enlarge it so that it could accommodate the growing population over the years. As it was already a work of art, the successors also tried to beautify the idea for prestige. To underline the power of the Umayyad state the Madinat al-Zahra showed the way space and architectural ornamentation was manipulated to back them up. The structure had an epigraphic message al-muluk which meant power that was the motto of the Umayyad of the al-Andalus.

History of Cordoba

Under the Umayyad Caliphate (Cordoba) that is in 929 to 1032, Spain became a world leader when it came to development in art, science, and culture. The rapid development was causing a loss of the virility, energy, leadership, spirituality, and solidarity. All the elements that have helped help her as a city to remain intact and prosper against the Christians who had for a long time threatened the city from the North.

Cordoba took a drastic change in 711 when the Moorish army captured the town. Unlike the other towns that were being occupied Cordoba occupation did not involve the signing of the capitulation as its invasions were taken as a storm. Cordoba was immediately turned into a direct Moorish rule.

Moorish commanders were position around the city and in 716; it had already been made a provincial capital. They divided up the area where some section were left for the services of Saint Vincent church, the house of worship that was shared by Moors and the Christians. In 766, it was chosen to be the capital of the independent Muslims of Al-Andalus that was later to become a Caliphate. During this era, Cordoba had a population of roughly 500,000 inhabitants. In the eleventh century, Cordoba was a significant city in the world. Regarding politics, culture, economic center and financial it could not be compared to any other town. In the ninth and tenth century, Cordoba was the most important cities in the global because Christians and Jews in the town were involved in the Royal Court and the intellectual life of the city.

Its great growth continued to amaze the world, and this led to the Saxon nun (Hroswitha) from Germany to give it the name ornament of the world in her Latin poems and dramas. Cordoba economy prospered because it had skilled artisans and there were great improvements in the agricultural sector.The artisan manufactured goods such as metalwork, leather, tiles, and textiles. In the other hand, agriculture had produce such as spices, grains, vegetables, fruits and raw materials like cotton and silk. As per the literature above, Cordoba was a city also famous because of education. Regarded as the education center, Cordoba education capabilities exceed the other cities in Europe. The Al-Hakam II large library and several other schools and universities propelled the city to become the learning center.

Julius Caesar is known to have massacred around 20,000 inhabitants in Cordoba for supporting the son of Pompey. Under the leadership of Augustus, Cordoba became the capital of Roman province of Baetica. It was then to be destroyed and captured by the Muslims in 711 until Abd al-Rahman an Umayyad took leadership of the Spanish Muslims. In his reign, Rahman founded the great Mosque of Cordoba that continued to expand with each successor that took over until its completion in the 756. Cordoba was seen to grow rapidly under the rule of Umayyad even though they were rocked by a series of revolts. With Abdal-Rahman III proclaiming himself as Caliph of the west, the city becomes the most cultured and biggest city in Europe. Cordoba continued to grow and enlarge with mosques and palaces. One theory states that Cordoba fall started when the caliphate was dismembered by the civil war in the eleventh century. After the removal of the caliphate in power, Cordoba became a contest for power among the Muslims in Spain. In 1236 the city became part of the Christian Spain when it fell to the Castilian king Ferdinand III.

Al-Mansur died while returning to Cordoba from an expedition in Rioja (1002). His death is related to the begging of the fall of the Cordoba city. When Al-Mansur died, his oldest son AbdaL-Malik took over and succeeded his father only to die in 1008. The younger brother took over the authority but was later to be overthrown by a revolution planned and instigated by Mohammed II al-Mahdi the Caliph. Slaves started an uprising against Mahdi where they succeeded and killed him in 1009 and replaced him with Hisham II in 1010. Hisham II was known to wear a veil. He has also forced out office. 1012 saw the Berbers sack Cordova.In 1016 slaves inhibited Cordova in search of Hisham II who in that time had escaped to Asia. There was a series of events after this which led to fighting of power in Cordova. The fighting continued until Hisham III which was to be the last of the Umayyad was thrown out of Cordoba (1031). These series of events led the great city of Cordoba to lose its fame and most important its prosperity. The city becomes isolated, and the then rulers were recognized for their laziness and disinterest in the outside world.

History of Mosque of Cordoba

The significant structure has a rich and extraordinary history; it affects the value to the western Islamic history especially the Mediterranean architecture. The site was believed to hold a temple that used to worship the Roman god Janus. The temple was later to be converted into a church with the invasion of the Visigoths. Visigoths captured Cordoba in 577 and converted the temple into the church where they Christians in the community used to worship. The same church was later to be turned into a mosque and again rebuild by the exiled descendants of the Umayyads. Umayyads were the first Islamic dynasty that ruled from the capital of Damascus what we now call Syria in the year 661 to 750.

In 786 Abd al-Rahman founded the great mosque. His aim was to replace the existing embryonic house of worship that they shared with the church. Those who came after him continued to enlarge it so that it could accommodate the growing population over the years. The Cordoba mosque was one time transferred from the Umayyad monument into the primary cultural, and the religious relic of the al-Andalus, meaning the Islamic land lost to Islam. The Cordoba mosques can be said to belong to at least two architectural and cultural traditions. The connections between the past and the subsequent history can be derived from the older tradition of Umayyad and the particular location in al-Andalus. The great mosque of Cordoba has a synthesis process behind it to be what it is todays history. The process is believed to have ended with the reign of Al-Hakam II al-mustansir in the 961-976. Al-Hakam in the tenth century continued to expand the mosque, and his work is a visual of morphological complex configuration that seems to connect the past and the future.

929 saw the restoration of the Umayyad caliphate by the Abd al-Rahman III al-Nasir who took a historical activity of expanding the mosque and completed the project. The intention was to enhance the image of the Andalusian Umayyad caliphate as well as fulfill the caliphal privilege. In 952 Rahman had refurbished...