June 7, 2009
We started the day on the Roman Bridge.
Roman Bridge
From their we headed off to the Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos. This castle was built on top of ruins and at points they could be seen emerging from below.
Alcazar Hallway with Ruins
Ruins within Alcazar
Their were also some really nice gardens that accompanied the castle.
Gardens in front of Alcazar
After the Alcazar we proceeded over to the Great Mosque/Cathedral of Cordoba (photos). The original Mosque covered a quarter of the area that the current Mosque sits on.
Initial Hypostyle Hall of the Great Mosque
Over a series of two centuries three subsequent additions were built expanding the Mosque to its current size. Throughout the additions the hypostyle columns were kept in rhythm with minor changes in the methods of construction responding to the wealth of the region at the time.
Hypostyle Hall at the hieght of power of the Great Mosque
The last addition was by far the largest but was also while the region was declining in power so instead of using bricks they just painted the brick parts of the arches red.
When the region was conquered by the Christians they took the Mosque and converted it to a Cathedral. The cathedral was built within the existing hypostyle halls sharing walls.
Sharing of walls between Mosque and Cathedral
The greatest difference is in the light of the two buildings with the Mosque being quite dark while the Cathedral is extremely bright.
Wing of Cathedral of Cordoba interacting with Great Mosque
There are many points where the two interact in an interesting and sometimes illogical ways.
Bad interactions of Cathedral arches and Mosque arches
The cathedral itself was quite impressive itself but it was the interaction between the Mosque and Cathedral that made this building so intresting.
Dome of Cathedral of Cordoba
The day in Cordoba ended at the Mosque/Cathedral and we headed back to the train station.
Cordoba Train Station