buildings demolished, and whole streets deserted, but some of the suburbs were razed to the ground, and all traces of them disappeared for ever. But it is full time that we should treat of the great mosque of Cordova, that magnificent building which has not its equal in the whole world, either in point of size, beauty of design, tasteful arrangement of its ornaments, or boldness of execution. This superb building has been so often and so elegantly described that we shall merely select, among the written accounts that exist of it, that which we deem indispensable for our narrative. CHAPTER II. The great mosque of Cordova-Built on the site of a Christian temple-Begun by 'Abdu-r-rahmán— Continued by his successors-Its dimensions-Makssúrah-Mihráb-Copy of the Korán written by 'Othmán-Tower-Al-hakem's addition-Alms-houses-Al-mansúr's addition-Number of chan deliers in the mosque-Attendants. mosque of THE great mosque of Cordova, as is well known, owes its erection to 'Abdu-r- The great rahmán Ad-dákhel, the first sovereign of the house of Umeyyah who reigned Cordova. independently over Andalus. All historians agree in saying that the moment 'Abdu-r-rahmán saw himself free from rivals, and firmly established on his throne, he began the building of the royal palace,—that of the pleasure-house called Rissáfah, which we have before described,—and that of the great mosque. He died, however, without seeing the building completed, and bequeathed to his son and heir, Hishám, the care of the undertaking. Under this Sultán the building was, properly speaking, finished according to the original plan, but during the reign of the succeeding Sultáns and Khalifs, eight in number, who ruled over Andalus, it was considerably augmented and embellished. site of a Chris The causes which led to the erection of this magnificent temple are thus related Built on the by the historian Ar-rází. "The conquerors of Andalus imitated the conduct of tian temple. "Obeyd Ibnu-l-jerráh and Kháled Ibnu-l-walíd1 in dividing with the Christians "the churches of the subdued cities, agreeably to the advice of the Khalif 'Omar "Ibnu-l-khattáb. So when Damascus was taken the principal temple of that city was divided, half of it remaining in the hands of the inhabitants for all purposes of their worship, while the other half was appropriated for the use of the Moslems, who converted it into a mosque; the same being done in every city which "surrendered by capitulation. According to this maxim, when the Arabs took Cordova they divided with the Christians their principal church, which was "within the city and close to the walls, and was known among them as the church of St. Vincent. In the moiety allotted to them the Moslems built themselves a mosque for the prayers of the Friday, whilst the other half remained in the hands 2 F VOL. I. Begun by 'Abdu-r-rahmán. "of the Christians as the only place of worship allowed to them, since all other "churches in and out of the city were immediately pulled down. The Moslems "remained for a long time satisfied with what they possessed, until their number increasing daily, and Cordova becoming a very populous city, owing to the "Arabian Amírs having taken up their abode in it and made it the seat of the government, the mosque proved to be too small to contain them all, and roof "after roof3 was built in order to make it more roomy and spacious, until from the contiguity of these roofs one to another, the narrowness of the doors leading to it, " and the great number of wooden pillars supporting each addition, which barred "the passage, it became a matter of the greatest difficulty to penetrate into the “interior of the mosque; besides, the roof of each successive addition being inferior "to the preceding, that of the last was in fact so low as almost to touch the ground "and to prevent the people from standing at ease under it. The mosque, however, continued for a long time in this state, until the arrival " of 'Abdu-r-rahmán, son of Mu'awiyeh, surnamed Ad-dákhel, who, having gained possession of Andalus, and made Cordova his capital, began seriously to think of enlarging the limits of the mosque. Accordingly he sent for the chiefs of the Christians, and proposed to purchase from them that part of the mosque which " remained still in their hands, in order that he might add it to the Mohammedan place of worship. But notwithstanding the liberality of 'Abdu-r-rahmán, who "offered them a very considerable sum of money, the Christians, relying on the capitulations of peace signed to them by the conquerors, would not agree to sell "their part. However, after much negotiation, they agreed to relinquish their own half, on condition of being allowed to rebuild or repair another church outside the "walls, which had been destroyed, and of holding it independently of the Moslems, and entirely consecrated to the worship of their God. This being granted by 'Abdu-rrahmán, and the Christians having received the sum agreed upon, which a certain "historian has stated at one hundred thousand dinárs, the Sultán proceeded in the year one hundred and sixty-eight of the Hijra (A. D. 784-5) to demolish the old place of worship, and to lay on it the foundations of the great mosque, which "became one of the wonders of the world. In this building, which was carried on with incredible activity during his reign, 'Abdu-r-rahmán is said to have spent the sum of eighty thousand dinárs, derived from the fifth of the spoil.' However, as we have remarked elsewhere, the building was not not completed until the days of his son Hishám, in the year one hundred and seventy-seven of the Hijra (A. d. 793-4). The poet Dihyah Mohammed Ibn Mohammed Al-balúní has alluded to this in an excellent composition, of which we quote the following verses : "'Abdu-r-rahmán has spent, for the sake of his God and the honour of "He has employed them in building a temple for the use of this devout "nation, and the better observance of the religion of the Prophet Mohammed. "There thou wilt see the gold which covers its ceilings in profusion glitter "as brightly as the lightning crossing the clouds." his successors. Once completed by Hishám, the mosque of Cordova received considerable im- Continued by provement at the hands of his successors; indeed, it can be safely advanced that none of the Sultáns of the illustrious family of Umeyyah who reigned in Cordova died without making some considerable addition, or contributing in some way to the ornament of that sumptuous building. Hishám, son of 'Abdu-r-rahmán, surnamed Ar-rádhí, the same monarch who saw it completed, added considerably to it, the expenses of the work being entirely defrayed out of the fifth of the spoils taken from the infidels of Narbonne. His son, 'Abdu-r-rahmán al-ausatt (the second), ordered the gilding of the columns and part of the walls,' but died before its termination. Mohammed, his successor, continued the work begun by his father, and brought it to a close. His son, Al-mundhir, repaired several rents in the walls, and made other material improvements in the building. The Khalif An-nássir caused the old minaret to be pulled down, and another magnificent one to be erected in its stead. Al-hakem Al-mustanser-billah, son of An-nássir, made also important additions; seeing, on his coming to power, that Cordova was every day increasing in size and extent, and the population rapidly augmenting, and that notwithstanding the great additions made on various occasions to the mosque it was still insufficient to hold the faithful that flocked to it on Fridays, he directed all his attention to the enlargement of it, and succeeded after great labour and expense in carrying his plan into execution and completing the additional building known by his name ;-the expenses incurred by it having amounted, according to the historian Ibnu Hayyán, to one hundred and sixty-one thousand gold dinárs, taken from the fifth of the spoils made from the infidels:by which the mosque reached the highest pitch of perfection, all these works being executed in a manner which baffles all description. Lastly, in the reign of his successor, Hishám II., and under the administration of his famous Hájib Ibn Abí 'A'mir Al-mansúr, a most important addition, built on a scale which left all those of the Sultáns, his predecessors, far behind in point of solidity, beauty of design, and boldness of execution, was made to the body of the mosque. But as it is our intention to treat at length and in detail of each of these additional works, we shall not dwell any longer on the subject, and shall proceed to give the dimensions Its dimensions. of the mosque, and to describe the works of art and precious objects amassed in it by the commendable piety of so many sovereigns. 8 The author of the Majmu'-l-muftarik says that the roof of the aisles before the addition made by Al-hakem measured two hundred and twenty-five cubits in length from jauf to kiblah,10 and that the breadth from east to west was likewise before the addition one hundred and five cubits. Al-hakem then added one hundred and five cubits, thus making the entire length of the mosque three hundred and thirty cubits. After this, Mohammed Ibn Abí 'A'mir, better known by the surname of Al-mansúr, added to it by order of the Khalif Hishám, son of Al-hakem, eighty cubits in breadth on the eastern side. The number of aisles was at first eleven; the breadth of the central one being sixteen cubits; that of each of the two next, east and west, fourteen cubits; and that of each of the remaining six, eleven cubits. To this number Al-mansúr added eight aisles of ten cubits in breadth each, the addition being completed in the space of two years and a half, during which time Al-mansúr himself occasionally worked in person. The length of the court" from east to west was one hundred and twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth from kiblah to jauf one hundred and five; the width of the porticos of the colonnade surrounding the court was ten cubits; and the area of the whole building measured thirty-three thousand one hundred and fifty square cubits. Ibnu Sa'id, quoting Ibnu Bashkúwál, agrees in some particulars with the above account. He states the length of the great mosque within the city at the same number of cubits, that is, three hundred and thirty from jauf to kiblah; the court or open space he only makes eighty cubits in length, the remainder being occupied by porticos tiled over. He estimates the breadth of the mosque from east to west at two hundred and fifty cubits, in which he is at variance with the preceding statement.12 He says also that the total number of aisles, comprising the addition made by Al-mansúr, was nineteen, and that they were called al-baláttát. The number of doors, great and small, was twenty-one; namely, nine on the west side, including in the number a large one by which women entered into the part of the mosque allotted to them; nine on the east, eight of which were for the men and one for the women; three to the north, of which two large ones were for the use of the men, and the other for the women to enter into their recesses. No doors were visible on the south side, with the exception of one in the south side of the makssúrah, and leading through a covered way to the palace of the Khalif. It was through this secret passage that the Sultán passed on a Friday into the mosque to join in the public worship. All these doors were covered with the finest brass, in the most beautiful manner.13 |