The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba: Shared Heritage Space and Collective Memories of Medieval Cultural (Im)Materiality
摘要
UNESCO Cordoba was founded by the Romans under Augustus and became the capital of the Umayyad Emirate (8C). Under Abd al-Rahman III’s Caliphate (929), the city blossomed in glory, constructing religious and secular buildings to compete with Byzantine Constantinople, Umayyad Damascus, and Abbasid Baghdad. Later, Catholic king Ferdinand III converted the Great Mosque into a cathedral and built new structures (13C). The historic centre has the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, and its significance finds a living expression in the urban landscape, reflecting 1000 years of occupation by cultural groups of Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, Jews, and Christians. In a mosque, the mihrab guides Muslims’ prayers towards Mecca, while the altar is the place of sacred Christian performances. Both spaces are underlined using different floral, geometric, and epigraphic materiality types. Questions arise about the spaces of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, where the mihrab and the altar are located. How does each sacred space function for Muslims and Christians? Others? This chapter explores the sacred materiality of (in)tangible cultural heritage in the architectural ornamentation of the Mosque-Cathedral, which citizens maintain through their collective memories. As a cultural mediator between the two spaces, shared vegetal motifs have brought them together.