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Charles V only visited the cathedral after it was completed and was not too pleased. Over four centuries, the mosque was continually extended as Cordoba prospered. This agreement lasted until 784 when the Muslim Emir Abd al-Rahman I purchased the church and demolished it to make room for the grand mosque of Cordoba. Unlike any other building in Spain, the Great Mosque of Cordoba tells the history of the Iberian Peninsula, starting with the Romans. To get to the top of the bell tower, a separate ticket is required which costs 3€.

• The final element was the construction of the elliptical central dome of the transept, built between 1599 and 1607.
• The Renaissance dome, with its sculptural articulation, directly opposes the mosque’s structural restraint.
• The construction resumed under architect Juan Sequero de Matilla in 1616 and the tower was finished in 1617.
• The area of the mosque’s mihrab and maqsura, along the south wall, was converted into the Chapel of San Pedro and was reportedly where the host was stored.
• Al-Hakam II’s work on the mosque also included the commissioning of a new minbar (pulpit) in 965, which took about 5 to 7 years to finish.
• The Royal Chapel was constructed in a lavish Mudéjar style with a ribbed dome very similar to the neighbouring dome of the Villaviciosa Chapel and with surfaces covered in carved stucco decoration typical of Nasrid architecture at the time.
• This maqsura area covers three bays along the southern qibla wall in front of the mihrab, and was marked off from the rest of the mosque by an elaborate screen of intersecting horseshoe and polylobed arches; a feature which would go on to be highly influential in the subsequent development of Moorish architecture.

Architectural Critique and Contemporary Relevance

The first major addition to the building under Christian patrons is the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real), located directly behind the west wall of the Villaviciosa Chapel. It was probably instituted not only to make use of Mudéjar expertise but also to make up for the cathedral chapter's relative poverty, especially vis-à-vis the monumental task of repairing and maintaining such a large building. Some of them were kept on payroll by the church but many of them worked as part of their fulfilment of a "labor tax" on Muslim craftsmen (later extended to Muslims of all professions) which required them to work two days a year on the cathedral building.

• As time went on, a fascinating blend of styles began to emerge as Mudejar, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements were incorporated into the not only Islamic, but also Visigoth and Roman architecture of the former mosque.
• The Christian-era additions (after 1236) included many small chapels throughout the building and various relatively cosmetic changes.
• He also worked on the mosque building’s eastern section (the extension added by Al-Mansur) by adding gothic vaulting to the mosque naves in this area.
• It served as a central prayer hall for personal devotion, for the five daily Muslim prayers and the special Friday prayers accompanied by a sermon.
• Unlike any other building in Spain, the Great Mosque of Cordoba tells the history of the Iberian Peninsula, starting with the Romans.
• The mihrab is one of the most important in the Muslim world, being the most noble piece of the Mosque-Cathedral.

The flames reached the Chapel of Expectation, and after the firefighters intervened, the roof of this chapel collapsed under the weight of the water. Further restorations of features like chapels and some of the outer gates have continued to take place up to the late 2010s. Further research work and archaeological excavations were carried out on the mosque structure and in the Courtyard of the Oranges by Félix Hernández between 1931 and 1936. Further restoration works concentrating on the former mosque structure were carried out between 1879 and 1923 under the direction of Velázquez Bosco, who among other things dismantled the baroque elements that had been added to the Villaviciosa Chapel and uncovered the earlier structures there. Patricio Furriel was responsible for restoring the mihrab's Islamic mosaics, including the portions which had been lost. In 1727 the tower was damaged by another storm and in 1755 pieces of it (mainly decorative details) were damaged by the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake.
Some remains of the original eastern doors of Al-Hakam II's expansion, before Al-Mansur's displacement of the eastern wall, are still visible inside the mosque-cathedral today. The cathedral's main chapel (known from Spanish as the Capilla Mayor) is located at the cruciform nave and transept at the center of the building. It was designed by architect Hernan Ruiz III (grandson of Hernan Ruiz I), who built the tower up to the bell's level but died before its completion.

Later Islamic history of the mosque (11th–12th centuries)

The ongoing debates over its religious designation further complicate discussions of heritage management, raising critical questions about architectural authorship and cultural ownership. The Renaissance dome, with its sculptural articulation, directly opposes the mosque’s structural restraint. Each expansion seamlessly extended the existing framework, reinforcing a sense of spatial continuity that was later challenged by the cathedral’s insertion. In 1236, Córdoba fell to King Ferdinand III of Castile, marking the beginning of the mosque’s conversion into a cathedral. Its design drew inspiration from the Great Mosque of Damascus, yet it also incorporated elements of the existing Visigothic structure on the site, reusing columns and capitals in a display of both practicality and symbolic continuity.

Route of the Fernandine Churches

Over the centuries, Cordoba’s Mosque-Cathedral has been a testing ground for building techniques which have influenced both the Arabic and Christian cultures alike. Now standing 10 metres to the north of its original location, with a height of 54 metres, it is the tallest building in the city. After the tower had been damaged by an earthquake in the 16th century, a decision was made to build a new, Renaissance-style structure around it. The bell tower, Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage As time went on, a fascinating blend of styles began to emerge as Mudejar, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque elements were incorporated into the not only Islamic, but also Visigoth and Roman architecture of the former mosque.

Orange Tree Courtyard of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

Located next to the altar, the cathedral’s Royal Chapel was completed in 1371. The mihrab and the maqsurah (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage Over time, Abd al-Rahman’s successors extended the mosque and enriched it with elements of Andalusian art. The ribbed dome at the entrance Al-Hakam II's 10th-century extension (1984) by Historic Centre of CordobaUNESCO World Heritage Using Roman and Visigoth elements and materials from the site’s previous structures, the mosque was completed in only two years.

The most exquisite decoration in the whole complex is found in the third mihrab, or prayer niche, a small octagonal recess roofed with a single block of white marble that is carved in the form of a shell and has walls inlaid with Byzantine-style mosaics and gold. This insertion disrupted the mosque’s expansive horizontality with a centralized vertical thrust characteristic of Christian cathedrals, initiating a dialogue of architectural dissonance that continues to provoke discourse today. The mosque was conceived as a hypostyle prayer hall, a typology emphasizing modular repetition, which allowed for gradual expansion. Defenders of the ecclesial ownership argue on the basis of continuous and peaceful occupation of the building by the Church whereas defenders of the public ownership argue that the mosque-cathedral never ceased to be a State's property, initially belonging to the Crown of Castile (and henceforth the Spanish State). After the mosque's conversion to a cathedral in 1236, Spanish Christian designs were increasingly added to new or existing gates.

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He asked the authorities to offer adhan at the cathedral and was even allowed to offer his prayers there. Despite the demise of the Umayyad caliphate and the concomitant decline of Córdoba's political status, its great mosque remained one of the most thoroughly described and lauded Islamic buildings for centuries to come. The Puerta del Perdón (Door of Forgiveness) is one https://www.velwinscasino.gr/ of the most ritually important doors of the cathedral, located at the base of the bell tower and directly opposite the Puerta de las Palmas. Al-Mansur's final expansion of the mosque a few decades later (starting in 987–988), which extended the mosque laterally to the east, copied the design of the earlier gates of Al-Hakam II's expansion. These later gates have even more elaborate decoration, particularly from the 10th century during Al-Hakam II's expansion (starting in 961), visible today on the western exterior façade of the former prayer hall. Next to the base of the tower is the Puerta del Perdón ("Door of Forgiveness"), one of the two northern gates of the building.