La Mezquita
The Mezquita was a very grand and beautiful mosque. When the Christians defeated the Moors, their king (Charles) built a gothic cathedral right in the middle of the mosque in Cordoba. I think his point was fairly obvious. It seems like a bit of a shame, as the Mezquita mosque is a rare beauty. I have never seen anything quite like the forest of striped arches and columns of the older structure.
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It is quite dark inside. What a good little camera this Olympus 4000C is! I didn’t take many pictures because I didn’t believe they would turn out. I was thinking about the time I shot an entire role of film inside the Carlsbad caverns because I failed to appreciate the fact that the camera could not dark-adapt the way my eyes could. That was with my father’s old German camera, a good one in its day, but totally mechanical - speed, focus, everything set by dials and levers. You had to have a light meter.
Anyway, at left you can see how the red and white striped arches of the mosque segue into the gold and stone of the cathedral.
The mosque is made of red and black marble and finely carved stone. The cathedral is typically gothic in style.
Many people consider the juxtaposition jarring, but I don't. I just think it's interesting.
Next: Granada
