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The Mosque, Córdoba

Unknown

1804

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Romanticism Early 19th Century

Dominant colour

The Mosque, Córdoba is a 1804 by Unknown, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1804 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see a print of Córdoba’s great mosque, now a cathedral—scalloped arches, a crucifix on the altar, and the letters IHS glowing above it. This building has two lives: first as a mosque, then as a church. The arches come from the time when Muslim rulers shaped Spain. The altar was added later, when Christian kings took over. The mix is still there today. Look up more prints of this place at The Cleveland Museum of Art.

The story of this work

Overview

This print shows the Mosque of Córdoba, in Andalusia, southern Spain, being used as a Catholic cathedral. The site was used as a mosque from 785 through 1236 when it was converted into a cathedral under the Christian kingdom of Castile. Today the building includes both Islamic and Christian architectural elements. The scalloped archway recalls the period in which the Moors, a Muslim cultural group, ruled parts of Spain and Portugal. An altar with a crucifix is visible, and the Christogram IHS (an abbreviation of the first three letters of Jesus’s name in Greek) can be seen on one priest’s…