Spain

 

We started in Barcelona

We then traveled to Valencia, where Heather spent some time in college. 

The region of Valencia submitted peacefully to  Abd al-Rahman III in 915.

The rest  of our trip was in Andalusia. The name Andalusia is derived from the Arabic word Al-Andalus, which may be derived from the Vandals, a Germanic tribe that invaded the Iberian peninsula in 409 and ruled until  they were displaced into north Africa (King Gunderic) by the Visigoths, another Germanic tribe led by King Theodoric. 

The Visigoths ruled until 711, when the Umayyad conquest of Hispania caused a major cultural and political shift in the Iberian Peninsula. The city of Córdoba emerged as the capital of al-Andalus and one of the most important cultural and economic centers of the medieval world. The height of Andalusian prosperity came during the Caliphate of Córdoba, under rulers like Abd al-Rahman III  (912 to 929) and Al-Hakam II, when the region became known for its advancements in science, philosophy, and architecture.

Great Mosque of Córdoba

The Mezquita de Córdoba is also the cathedral of  Cordoba, seen in the center of the photo.

Mosque and Cathedral of Cordoba (from Wikipedia)

Traditional accounts claim that a Visigothic church, the Catholic Christian Basilica of Vincent of Saragossa, originally stood on the site of the current Mosque-Cathedral. The church was divided and shared by Christians and Muslims after the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711. It was replaced by The Great Mosque in 785 on the orders of Abd al-Rahman I (ruling 756-788), founder of the Islamic Emirate of Córdoba. Reused Roman and Visigothic materials in the area, especially columns and capitals, can still be seen in the photo of the original mosque's most famous architectural innovation, rows of two-tiered arches, which was preserved and repeated in all subsequent Muslim-era expansions.

The columns and two-tiered arches in the original section
of the mosque building. (from Wikipedia)

Al-Hakam II (r. 961–976), was a cultured man who extended the central "nave" of the mosque by highlighting an elaborate ribbed dome (now part of the Capilla da Villaviciosa). More famously, a rectangular maqsura area around the mosque's new mihrab (a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of  Mecca) was distinguished by a set of unique interlacing multifoil arches (in 965). 

            The mihrab (from Wikipedia)           

Soon after this date both the middle dome of the maqsura and the wall surfaces around the mihrab were covered in rich Byzantine-influenced gold mosaics. According to traditional accounts, al-Hakam II had written to the Byzantine emperor (initially Nikephoros II Phokas) in Constantinople requesting that he send him expert mosaicists for the task. The emperor consented and sent him a master craftsman along with about 1600 kg of mosaic tesserae as a gift. The mosaicist trained some of the caliph's own craftsmen, who eventually became skilled enough to do the work on their own. The work was finished by this team in late 970 or early 971.

Al-Hakam II's work on the mosque also included the commissioning of a new minbar (pulpit) in 965, which took about 5 to 7 years to finish. The minbar became associated with the mosque and was celebrated by many writers for its craftsmanship. It was made out of precious woods like ebony, boxwood, and "scented" woods, and it was inlaid with ivory and with other colored woods such as red and yellow sandalwood. 

The new extension was built in 987–988, covered 8600 square meters, and made the mosque the largest in the Muslim world outside of Abbasid Iraq. After the collapse of the Umayyad Caliphate in Cordoba at the beginning of the 11th century, no further expansions to the mosque were carried out.

The mosque was converted to a cathedral in 1236 when Córdoba was captured by the Christian forces of Castile during the siege of Córdoba by the forces of Ferdinand III, king of Castile and León, marking the end of the Islamic rule over the city.

 The Mosque underwent major modifications when a building project in the 16th century inserted a new Renaissance cathedral nave and transept into the center of the building. The former minaret had been converted to a bell tower, and was significantly remodeled around this time.