by URSULA GOODENOUGH
Here’s a history question:
What was the most populous and influential city in Europe circa 1000 CE?
I for one was most surprised by the answer given that I’d only vaguely heard of this city prior to being here for several days this week.
Answer: Córdoba, in southern Spain.
Córdoba’s full history is detailed on various websites. My story this afternoon is captured by my iPhone snapshot above, showing a crucifix embedded in Muslim iconography, an image that speaks — I would say poignantly — to our present times.
In 711, Córdoba was conquered by an Arabic army, and during the next three centuries, it developed into a metropolis of some 500,000-1,000,000 inhabitants with huge economic and cultural clout. A series of Arabic rulers held sway until the (apparently inevitable) occurrence of issues as to who was to succeed whom, leaving the regime vulnerable to the Reconquista by King Ferdinand III in 1236.
A key triumph of the Moorish presence in Córdoba was the construction of a magnificent mosque, now known as the Mezquita, with a seemingly endless expanse of huge red-and-beige striped arches in the praying hall and exquisite carvings.
After the Reconquista, the peoples of Córdoba proceeded to conduct Christian worship in the mosque for some 300 years, and when, in the 16th century, the Church proposed to tear it down to build a proper cathedral, there was local outcry. The result was a wonderful compromise: a large Gothic-style chapel, replete with Christian iconography, was inserted into the middle of the mosque, leaving intact the Muslim sensibility. While I was wandering slack-jawed through the maze of arches yesterday, the building was filled with the voice of a priest chanting communion mass from the chapel.
An architectural compromise, yes, but not yet an operational one, since Muslims are at present banned from praying in the Mezquita despite petitions from Muslim organizations to be able to do so. The current Bishop of Córdoba, Demetrio Fernandez, takes the position that while he is “eager to collaborate with Muslims in search of peace, justice and coexistence between peoples”, sharing the space for worship would be “like a man sharing his wife with another man.”
NPR for more
(Thanks to reader)