La Mezquita Mayor de Córdoba y Samarra

Abstract

Between 962 and 971 al-Hakam II enlarged the oratory of the Great Mosque of Cordoba, constructed around 785 by Abd al-Rahman I, adding twelve bays to the south. The masterpiece of this second enlargement of the Umayyad oratory is without any doubt the sumptuosly adorned maqsura consisting of a central compartment in front of the mihrab and two lateral ones to the east and west, as well as the octogonal mihrab itself, being the architectural center of the mosque even after the enlargement of al-Mansur some twenty years later. With its marble incrustation, the mosaics und the originally painted stucco decoration, the central mihrabfaçade is distinguished among the others. The study of the here employed materials gives a new direction to the apparently solved question of the oriental origin of the Cordobese mihrab-façade.