Notes on Ummayad

architecture in Crdoba
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PRASA Museum, Torrecampo
After conquering much of the Iberian Peninsula in 711,
a conglomerate formed mainly by Arabs and Berbers
erected a new political edice and a new culture in
what had formerly been Hispania. In doing so, they
drew on two fundamental supports: the tradition
they had brought with them from Damascus, and the
Hispanic-Roman-Gothic substrate they had found
on arrival. It was this fortunate twofold inuence that
shaped the political and administrative system, the
use of economic resources, social relationships and
Andalus culture.
Tese twin pillars the Islamic culture of the East and
the Hispanic cultural substrate also underpinned
the architecture of al-Andalus. Te traditional
prayer hall in Crdoba, modeled on the prayer-room
used by the Prophet in Medina, was erected using
designs and even materials from earlier Roman and
Visigothic buildings. Similarly, the builders of houses
and palaces in al-Andalus embellished their Eastern,
Islamic designs with novelties found in the domus
y villae of the old Roman province of Baetica. Two
major architectural complexes the Great Mosque
and the palatine city of Madinat al-Zahra and a
whole series of architectural elements scattered
around present-day Crdoba provide us with valuable
information not only on urban planning, art and
architecture, but also on al-Andalus as a key Islamic
state in the West.
Te Great Mosque of Crdoba was erected in the
eight century, under Abd al-Rahman I, on the site
of the former Christian basilica of St Vincent. It was
extended three times during the ninth and tenth
centuries, and the resulting edice oers us a superb
opportunity to chart the development of Ummayad
architecture in Crdoba.
Having declared al-Andalus an Independent Emirate
in 756, Abd al-Rahman I needed to undertake a
large-scale building program that would give public
expression to the political change. To this end, in
785-786 work began on the Great Mosque, which
was to be erected by extending the earlier Christian
Basilica of St Vincent. Since al-Andalus had not yet
developed its own clearly-dened architectural
style, the rst requirement was to build a roofed
prayer-room preceded by a courtyard which would
house the minaret, i.e. the tower from which the
muezzin calls the faithful to prayer. Tese three
elements intended to emulate the prayer-room
in Muhammads home at Medina had become
compulsory features of all mosques. Making use of
building materials and architectural solutions from
the citys Roman and Visigothic past, a complex
arcade system was erected comprising horseshoe
arches supported by columns; above these arches, a
second tier of pillars supported a row of semicircular
arches. Te double-arch system ensured that the
ceiling would be high enough to suit the proportions
of the ground-plan. Te arcades divide the internal
space into nine naves running perpendicular to the
qibla wall.
By the time Abd al-Rahman II came to power
fty years later, the state of al-Andalus had been
weakened by regional tensions and an internal
political and administrative crisis. Te new Emir
embarked on an ambitious program aimed at trans-
forming the State. Again, the public face of this
radical overhaul was to be in the form of building
work: the enlargement of the Aljama Mosque.
Between 833 and 848, the qibla wall was demolished
and the prayer-hall was extended southwards.
Te next major political change in al-Andalus, the
proclamation of Abd al-Rahman III as Emir of the
Believers (heralding the creation of the Caliphate in
929), was also to be given material form through
major public works. Tis time, however, the Emir
focused not primarily on the Mosque but on the
construction of a whole new palatine city: Madinat
al-Zahra. Even so, the courtyard of the Great
Mosque was enlarged, and a new minaret was built;
it has survived to this day, though within a later
Renaissance tower designed by Hernn Ruiz II. It
was left to Abd al-Rahmans successor al-Hakam
II to undertake a new expansion of the Mosque (in
964); the qibla wall was again demolished, allowing
the prayer-hall to be extended almost to the banks
of the River Guadalquivir. Later, in a bid to increase
his popular support, Almanzor the prime minister
of the third Caliph Hisham II commissioned the
nal extension of the Mosque, adding new naves to
the East because he could not extend further in the
direction of the river.
Te Mosque as we know it today is the result of this
long building process. Tis exceptional architectural
space was also to serve as the model for a number
of Andalus buildings: for example, a ninth-century
mosque that was later turned into the Church of
Santiago, although the old minaret survives inside
the building; a minaret built in the late ninth or early
tenth century that subsequently became the tower of
the Church of San Juan de los Caballeros; and nally,
a minaret erected in the reign of Almanzor which
still forms part of the Convent of Santa Clara. Written
sources also refer to numerous district mosques built
during the Caliphate, of which remains have been
excavated, for example at the El Fontanar Sports
Complex and the new bus station. Finally, the same
model was used for the construction of the Great
Mosque at Madinat al-Zahra.
All these buildings contain architectural and
decorative features clearly inuenced by the great
Mosque of Crdoba. Perhaps the most signicant
hallmark feature is the horseshoe arch echoing
the Visigothic style with its alternating stone
and brick voussoirs. On interior facades and
decorative screens, the horseshoe arch is usually
enclosed by a rectangular molding known as alz.
Te most widespread decorative features tend to
be geometrical or plant motifs, and inscriptions;
gurative decoration, however, was reserved for the
private apartments of a palace. All these elements,
together with the Syrian merlons crowning the
exterior facades, and the scroll modillions the
moldings used to bridge the dierence in width
between the lower tier arches and the pillars
supporting the higher tier arches were to have
immense inuence on later buildings.
Opposite the Great Mosque stood the Alczar, or
fortress, the ocial residence of the Emirs of Crdoba
ever since the old Visigothic building was rst restored
by Abd al-Rahman I in around 785. Very little is known
of its early architectural form, since it was later
extensively rebuilt when it became the Bishops Palace.
Te baths are the best-known part of the whole
complex. Two building periods can be clearly distin-
guished: the early construction dating back to the
reign of al-Hakam II and later post-Caliphate additions.
While little information is available regarding the
Ummayad Alczar, extensive excavation work has
revealed a great deal about Andalus houses and
palaces. As with the Mosque, the architecture of
homes in al-Andalus blends the Eastern or Arabic
legacy of the conquerors with the inuence of old
buildings erected in Roman Baetica. Te focus of
the house was a central courtyard, from which
the various rooms opened o. A similar model was
also used for the large almunias, country estates
located on the outskirts of the city, which served as
residences, venues for ocial functions, and farms.
But the most valuable information on civil architec-
ture in Ummayad Crdoba is provided by the palatine
city of Madinat al-Zahra, even though only a tiny
part has yet been excavated. Like the building and
subsequent extensions of the Great Mosque, the
founding of Madinat al-Zahra was intended as the
public expression of a radical overhaul of the State
model, in this case the proclamation of the Caliphate
by Abd al-Rahman III in 929. Drawing on Eastern
building projects, work began in around 936-940 on
the construction of a palace complex, which would
form the core of a whole new city close to Crdoba.
Plans included the installation of infrastructure,
for example a water-supply system, as well as the
construction of a road network linking the new city to
Crdoba itself.
Its hillside location enabled the complex to be
arranged in a series of terraces. Te highest terrace,
overlooking the whole complex, housed the Alczar
the private quarters of the Caliph himself and his
senior sta, together with the main State admi-
nistration oces. Within the Alczar, a system of
internal terraces separated the Caliphs residence
and the main oces on the uppermost level from
more accessible areas on the lower terraces.
Beyond the Alczar, the rest of the walled city
remains virtually unexcavated, except for the Great
Mosque, whose layout as indicated earlier was
clearly inuenced by that of the Aljama Mosque in
Crdoba.
Te Ummayad architecture of Crdoba, particularly
as embodied by the Great Mosque and the palatine
city of Madinat al-Zahra, had an enormous inuence
on later Islamic and Christian art. Tat inuence
persisted into the Middle Ages through the Nasrid art
produced in the Kingdom of Granada and through the
Mudjar art of Christian Spain.