A Cordoban History Lesson

• For over 100 years, Cordoba, Spain, was the largest city in Europe, with a population of over 1 million?
• That, for over 300 years, it was the capitol of Al-Andalus, a Muslim kingdom that controlled most of Spain?
• That this Muslim kingdom tolerated freedom of religion, and allowed all religions of the book (Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam) to be practised freely?
• That the largest mosque in Europe, a freaking enourmous ediplex, is in Cordoba?

Can�´t say I knew any of that before I set of to Spain and began reading about the riches of this country. Cordoba has been out of the limelight for over 1000 years, its population today only 300,000, a city of archealogical digs, ruins, and a deep, troubling yet intriguing history.

But imagine the city, the center of Europe, back in its heyday in 770 AD. The intellectual capitol of Europe, where Jewish, Muslim, and Christian philosophers debated the meri ts of life, love, and how to best govern a enlightened community. While the rest of western Europe was mired in the dark ages, Byzantine clerics travelled to Cordoba to learn from the brightest.

When you are in a city like Cordoba, you cannot understand it unless you try to understand the history. The Cathedral, formally the Mosque, has changed dramatically over the years. The hunderds of red striped arches now lead to chapelas , and a golden, ornate new dome in the center, highlighted by its 200 meter organ. No place else in Europe ca n you see the strark contrast between Islamic simplicity, and the overexuberance of the Catholic church in Spain.

The rulers of Al-Andalus, who had their own Caliph, seperate from that of Baghdad. The Caliph lived outside the city in the enormous Medina Al-Zarya complex. On our second day in C ordoba, we took a half an hour bus ride outside the city to see the remains of this once vibrant city.

Me dina Al-Zarya used to the the adminstrative, religious, and diplomatic capitals of Moorish Spain. It took self appointed Caliph Abd al-Rahman twenty-five years to build Madinat al-Zahra. The city existed for merely sixty-five years. For nine centuries it slept, forgotten beneath a hard dirt cover. Following eighty years of restoration work, about one tenth of the medina has been excavated, representing one third of the upper terrace: the noble part which houses the alcazar with the caliph’s palace and the most important dignitaries’ houses, together with the government bodies and military buildings. On the middle terrace, only the mosque has been excavated. The souk was also at this level, together with many gardens with pools, fountains and cages housing wild animals and exotic birds. The lower terrace was devoted to infantry and cavalry housing. Excavation work is still continuing so that we may learn the real beauty of this beautiful, mountainside medina.

ThereÃ?´s no better way to experience history than to read it when youÃ?´re there. CÃ?³rdoba was fantastic, an lesson into one of the most interesting periods of European History, Moorish Spain. How the relatively tolerant Moorish Spain led to the Conquisition…well, thats for next time!