al-Hakam II's Expansion of the Mosque

The most impressive of the 3 expansions of the Great Mosque of Cordoba was that done by al-Hakam II al-Mustanṣir. ("al-Mustanṣir was the Caliph title used because the Umayyads had upgraded their realm to a Caliphate. A Caliph may be as different from an Emir as an emperor is from a king.) By then, Cordoba was the largest and most sophisticated city in Europe, perhaps in the world.

Al-Hakam made peace with his neighbors and used the respite to expand crop irrigation, support the arts, and create a library with over 400,000 books. His mosque expansion again extended the original 11 aisles, keeping the central orientation of the wider main aisle. The square had again turned into a rectangle.

The Maqsuru of stone

The maqṣūrah (which means a “closed off space”) is typically a screened area where the leaders can worship without threat by attackers. (Muslim worshippers eventually prostrate themselves during prayers and are physically quite vulnerable). Typically these resemble screened porches found in backyards – although usually quite more elaborately embellished by Arabic patterns. But here the maqṣūrah is stone and incorporated deeply into the mosque expansion, creating a high decorated focal point in this otherwise simple building.

This results in a spectacular "mosque within a mosque" fit for a Caliph, one that dramatically focuses this huge rectangular space towards the double Qibla wall. Note how these spectacular and intertwined multi-lobe arches lead to the miḥrāb at right.

The miḥrāb 

Let's explore now the miḥrāb where the imām leads the congregation in prayer.

The Umayyad dynasty originated the mihrab in the famous mosques they built in Damascus and Jerusalem before their expulsion. Al-Hakam’s mihrab reflects this early Umayyad glory three centuries later, reminding the viewer through architecture and Byzantine mosaics that his reign is a continuation of that of his ancestors to the east. In fact, most Andalusian mosques borrowed many of their architectural elements such as minarets, mosaics, from those early models.

Look closely at the doorway to see the four pillars moved from the existing mihrab when Al-Hakam expanded the mosque. While the expansion had a practical need to house the growing congregation in a single Friday service, his architectural details reminded viewers of the continuity of the Umayyad dynasty, subtly here.

Rooms between the two walls of the Qiblah

The central dome holds the mihrab arch in its own room. On either side are domes and arches (as seen in the picture below left) which lead to the Umayyad treasury on one side and to a passageway to their palace on the other.

The treasury contained important Muslim relics intended to make this mosque a religious tourist destination such as Mecca and Damascus. These once held pages from a Qur’an stained with the blood of the assassinated third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, an Umayyad who had been a companion (and at two different times, a son-in-law) of Muhammad. Uthman formed the committee which consolidated the Qur’an. The Iberian Umayyads were myth building here -- reminding their countrymen that Umayyad nobility stretched back to the Prophet and continued Umayyad rule was God's will.

Above right shows a stitched shot of the mihrab and its elaborate dome. Byzantine mosaics appear in Cordoba's Grand Mosque for the first time with Al Hakam's expansion. 

Note that the mihrab niche beyond the Mudejar arch is, in fact, a room. The south wall of the mosque (the qiblah wall) has been made into a double wall, creating rooms and passageways. We were not allowed inside the mihrab, but it appears to be octagonal. Not apparent to those of us who know primarily the Latin alphabet, subtle calligraphy in Kufic (early Arabic) script quotes religious texts and extols the Umayyad dynasty. To us it looks like more Moorish decorative flourish.

Below left is a shot looking directly upwards at a portion of the dome without the distortion of the picture at above right. Note the arch at left with multiple lobes, a motif in Al Hakam’s remodeling which is also reflected in the geometric pattern at center.


Above right is one of the two doors leading to the side rooms off the mihrab, each with their own elaborate but smaller dome. Al Hakam added calligraphy further extolling the dynastic history of the Umayyads as part of a divine plan.

The next expansion substantially increased the size, but not the art of the prayer hall. Please join us for a quick look at it by clicking here.

Please join us in the following slide show to give Córdoba the viewing it deserves by clicking here.

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