Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
mosque is an architectural hybrid that has experienced two big 'modern' changes: a
16th-century cathedral plonked right in the middle; and the closing of 19 once-im-
portant doorways, which would have filled the original Mezquita with light.
The main entrance is the Puerta del Perdón , a 14th-century Mudéjar gateway
on Calle Cardenal Herrero, with the ticket office immediately inside. Beside the
Puerta del Perdón is a 16th- and 17th- century tower built around the remains of the
Mezquita's minaret. Inside the gateway is the aptly named Patio de los Naranjos
(Courtyard of the Orange Trees), originally the mosque's ablutions courtyard, from
which a door leads inside the prayer hall itself.
From this door you can see straight ahead to the mihrab, the prayer niche in a
mosque's kiblah (the wall indicating the direction of Mecca) that is the focus of pray-
er. In the centre of the building is the Christian cathedral. Just past the cathedral's
western end, the approach to the mihrab begins, marked by heavier, more elabor-
ate arches. Immediately in front of the mihrab is the maksura , the royal prayer en-
closure (today enclosed by railings) with its intricately interwoven arches and lav-
ishly decorated domes created by Caliph Al-Hakim II in the 960s. The decoration of
the mihrab portal incorporates 1600kg of gold mosaic cubes, a gift from the Chris-
tian emperor of Byzantium, Nicephoras II Phocas.
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