Cordoba

Sala de Oracion
El Mihrab

Last Thursday, I got to experience a meal of Spanish “tapas.” A couple of Spaniards who are friends of the school took out small groups to have a typical Spanish dinner of tapas, which are basically smaller appetizer-like plates. When the Spanish go out for tapas, they typically go to two or three different tapas bars and order a tapa and a drink at each stop. So that’s what we did. I really enjoy this type of dining, there’s a lot of variety in both the food and atmosphere of each restaurant, and it’s a pretty slow, enjoyable process (we met for dinner at 9:00 and by the time we’d finished with tapas and ice cream it was nearly 1:00 am).

The next morning we met at school at the very un-Spanish hour of 7:50 am to drive to Cordoba. We visited the mosque that was constructed there during the 8^th, 9^th, and 10^th centuries. However, now it’s now known as the cathedral of Cordoba instead of the mosque, and parts of the original mosque have been torn down and replaced with Christian/cathedral-style architecture. When the Christians took over Cordoba from the Muslims in the 12^th century, they built their cathedral right in the center of this ancient mosque, as a symbol of the triumph of Christianity over Islam. It’s kind of a shame. The mosque is beautiful, but the cathedral in the center and room full of Catholic relics just seem odd and out of place.

This trip to the mosque of Cordoba was unlike any tour I’d been on before, because the past two weeks in History of Spanish art Class, we’d been studying Cordoba, and the construction of the mosque. I got so much more out of the visit, and was able to understand the mosque in a way that would have otherwise been nearly impossible. For example, being able to distinguish which parts of the mosque were built in which century under which rulers and their motives for building, why the construction material varies in different sections of the mosque, why there are some columns that vary in their design, the significance of the “mihrab” at the far end of the mosque, and all the symbolism built into every aspect of the mosque. It was a great excursion, and I was able to appreciate it so much more with what I’d been studying these past weeks. I miss you guys… but it’s been cool to read you comments. Hope things are going well back in the US!