Oh MY! the Cathedral in Cordoba was huge, and amazing! To begin with, we had to walk across the refurbished Roman bridge to get to the town of Cordoba. Remember this is the bridge w/ 15 times more water (and people watching it) than usual. We entered the Cordoba Mosque/Cathedral with our guide Maria (yep, our second Maria for a guide) AND WE WERE ALLOWED TO TAKE PICTURES!
There are 6 acres of church having been added to 3-4 times in its history. The earliest date know for the church is 786 AD. There is a courtyard called the Courtyard of Orange trees, a lovely area where we were given some more history.
The use of the facility over the years has been as a Muslin Mosque and a Catholic Cathedral.
There is a minaret where the faithful were called to prayer in years past. The worship space has been a shared church at times, with Muslim worshipers on one side of the building and Christians on the other. A true spirit of cooperation from which we could learn. One thousand years ago Cordoba was predominantly Muslin,--- today--95% Catholic. In the 10th Century, Cordoba was the 3rd largest city in the world. This description NEEDS pictures.
Around the side of the main worship spaces are 50 private chapels, used for burial. The architecture is predominantly Moorish, with some adjustments being made for the newer Christian iconography. There were at one time over 1000 elegant Moorish columns which with the changes and additions have in the past 1000 years have dwindled to about 850.
An interesting note, one wall we saw had what looked like plaster signatures or brands (pictures scratched in the plaster). These were the signatures of the workmen who carved/ decorated and generally constructed the church. It was a piece-work situation and the craftsmen were paid according to the pieces they completed. They signed their work. We saw several Christian "treasure rooms" which included gold and sliver items used in their worship. A particularly HUGE item was called a processional Monstrance ( at least I think this is what she said) ---An item of gold decoration which is at least as tall as I am that is carried in processions.
I did get a picture of the immense pipe organ from the 1600's, but we did not hear it. This is a functioning worship space in which Mass is celebrated twice a week. Sorry the picture is a little blurry.
Our guide told us that it has been called the most Unique building in the world and is designated as a UNESCO cultural heritage sight.
After leaving the Cathedral, we walked through the streets of the Juderia (Jewish neighborhood of the past) We saw a teeny one room synagogue which is one of only about three left standing after the expulsion of the Jews by Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. We could tell that it had been well decorated in its day, but much of the tilework and decoration were either missing or broken.
We saw an old hospital which is now a university where a famous surgeon was doing cataract surgeries in the 1100"s.
We visited a "private home's courtyard" with hundreds of flowerpots attached to the walls. This creates a "green" space where one might not have existed.
We left Cordoba about 6 pm and drove for about 2 hours to Seville (Sevilla) Tomorrow is our Flamenco "lesson" and then a show.
Our hotel room is SUPER MODERN having glass and chrome is everywhere with a really amazing bathroom. Looks a little like a magazine ad for bathroom sink and showers. And of course I have pictures.
The shower head on the ceiling made me feel as if I were in a warm rain shower. An unusual experience. N and I have been discussing modernizing our bathrooms at home and he has asked me several times if I like the sink bowls, which really do look like a bowl sitting on a counter. I'm not sure I'd want to live with them, but I'll get an opportunity to see what I like and don't like about them. LATER-----
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