The Mezquita, or Great Mosque of Córdoba,
was for centuries a symbol of diversity and tolerance in the southern
Spanish city and has long been one of Europe’s most admired historical
monuments.
But recently, disagreements over its management and efforts by the Catholic Church to take it out of public hands have made it the subject of a fierce dispute.
Sitting
on the shore of the Guadalquivir river, the Mezquita has long been
revered not just as a remarkable piece of architecture, but also one
with a unique history.
The caliph of Damascus constructed the huge
mosque on top of a Visigothic church in the eighth century, ushering in a
period of intense intellectual and cultural activity in Córdoba.
When
Christian forces reconquered the city in the 13th century, they built a
cathedral in the centre of the mosque as a symbol of the restoration of
the Catholic faith.
Today, visitors can wander
through dozens of the mosque’s horseshoe arches before reaching the
cathedral, where Mass is still held. Only Christians are allowed to use
the cathedral-mosque as a place of worship.
Public property
However, it has emerged that the local archbishopric is in the process of registering itself as the owner of the entire building – which is public property – a move that will be irreversible by 2016. Many in the city believe this is part of an effort by the Córdoba Catholic authorities to suppress the monument’s Islamic identity.
“The
Mezquita is a global symbol of the meeting of cultures and today more
than ever the world needs symbols like this,” said Antonio Manuel
Rodríguez, a professor of civil law at the University of Córdoba.
He
sparked a furore recently when, during a conference, he accused the
Córdoba archbishopric of jeopardising this symbolism by attempting to
appropriate the property.
Prof Rodríguez said a loophole in land ownership laws dating from the dictatorship of Francisco Franco was being exploited and that the archbishopric was “administrating the monument in an abusive way”.
He warned that the historic centre of Córdoba even risked losing its status as a Unesco World Heritage Site if the “Christianisation” of the Mezquita continued.
Concern among Muslims
The prospect of the building, which is still an important Islamic symbol around the world, becoming the property of the Catholic Church has also upset Muslims.
“It’s a historical heritage belonging to all Spaniards,” said Isabel Romero, director of the Islamic Junta, which represents Muslims in Spain. “It’s very strange that it should pass into private hands.”
Ms
Romero said this was the latest of many efforts by the church, which
manages the Mezquita, to eliminate the building’s Muslim identity.
In
2010, the archbishop of Córdoba, Demetrio Fernández, publicly called
for the word “mosque” to be removed from tourist-related references to
the building, “to avoid confusing visitors”, a request that has been
obeyed.
Tourism brochures describe it as “Córdoba Cathedral”.
Its
website address contains the word “cathedral”, but not the word
“mosque”.
“Any attempt to wipe out the identity of the Mezquita is an attack on us Muslims,” Ms Romero said.
The Córdoba archbishop’s office would not comment on the issue when contacted by The Irish Times, nor would the Mezquita staff themselves.
However,
Ángel Luis González (20), a practising Catholic from the city who
regularly takes Mass in the building, said it made sense for the church
to take control of the building, “because it spent more time as a
cathedral than as a mosque”.
“I call it a ‘cathedral’ because I’m a Catholic and I pray in a cathedral, not in a mosque,” he said.
Mr González attributed the controversy to an attempt by the extreme left to stir up hostility against the church.
“The church is being persecuted in Spain – you just have to see the reaction to the new abortion reform,” he added.
The
Catholic Church supports the conservative government’s attempts to make
abortion less accessible for women, a move that faces stiff resistance.
Beacon of tolerance
All of this is a far cry from the period when Córdoba was a beacon of multi-faith tolerance, with Muslims living peacefully alongside Jews and Christians.
Yet the Mezquita has seen controversy
before.
In 2010, two Austrian Muslims were arrested there after
grappling with security guards who had stopped them from praying.
In
the early 1970s, Franco considered a plan to “transplant” the cathedral
brick by brick to another city, reportedly with financing from the
Saudi royal family, to separate the Catholic and Muslim temples.
The archbishop of Córdoba at the time vetoed the project.