Cordoba: The Light of the World

 

Before the Moors (another name for North African Muslims) took control, Spain was a sparsely populated land in the middle of the Dark Ages – one of the greatest economic depressions the world has ever known. Most of Spain’s five million people lived as peasant farmers who rarely traveled far from their village, seldom bathed, couldn’t read a book, and died at the ripe old age of 40.

 

The city of Cordoba in Spain was just another medieval backwater town as ancient as the Romans until 711 when the Umayyads came pouring across the Strait of Gibraltar, turning most of Christian Spain into the Islamic kingdom of Al-Andalus. At the center of Al-Andalus was Cordoba that grew into one of the greatest cities on earth. Connected to Egypt, India, and Constantinople through vast trade routes, Cordoba was a part of a cultural empire united by Islamic values and Arab culture.

 

In the 900s, Cordoba was already under Moorish rule for two hundred years and had grown into the largest city in Europe. With 500,000 people, the capital of Al Andalus was far larger than even Paris which topped out at 350,000. But unlike Paris or London, Cordoba had brick streets lined with lemon and orange trees and lit by oil streetlights at night. Numerous gardens with elaborate fountains dotted courtyards of public parks and the homes of wealthy residents. The markets were thriving with exotic goods like cotton and sugar which were imported from India.

 

Welcome to Cordoba:

 

Spread throughout the city were grand public buildings meant to impress. The city boasted of 60,300 palaces, 600 mosques, and 700 bath houses. Most impressive of all were the libraries, some with 10,000 manuscripts about everything from science to Greek Philosophy to the history of the Romans. At a time when books had to be handmade (that’s what manuscript means) using animal skins or paper, this was no easy (or cheap) feat.

 

Most impressive of all was the Great Cathedral-Mosque that was the heart of Cordoba. The history of the Great Mosque is a like a history of Spain itself. Originally on the site, there once stood a pagan temple to Roman gods. Then when the Visigoths converted to Christianity, the place was razed to the ground and the church of St. Vincent stood in its place. Then along came the Moors who bought the church out and turned it into a Mosque.

 

The Mosque was given some extra fancy touches such as an enormous prayer hall supported by 856 arched columns made of jasper, onyx, and marble left over from the original Roman ruins.  In 1236, the Spanish Christian kings of the north captured Cordoba and the Great Mosque became a Cathedral once again. The Islamic minarets were converted into bell towers which called Christians to prayer for the first time in 400 years. Today, the Great Mosque is still a cathedral, but it is also a World Heritage Site that draws in thousands of tourists each year.

 

However, all good things must come to an end, and by the 1000s the Golden Age of Cordoba was coming to a close.