August 10, 2025 | 07:02 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The historic Cordoba Cathedral in Southern Spain reopened on Saturday, August 9, 2025, a day after a fire broke out. The former mosque, now a Catholic church, opened for normal operating hours from 10:00 to 19:00, but the fire-damaged area remained closed.
According to Euronews, the fire at the Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral was caused by an electrical short circuit by a sweeper in the Almanzor chapel. The fire started in the Patio de los Naranjos, near the Puerta de San Jose. Residents of Magistral Gonzlez Frances Street nearby had to be evacuated to allow the firefighters to work. Fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished.
Five fire trucks, a tow truck, and officers from the National Police were at the scene. However, access to the monument remained closed. The fire and smoke, visible from various parts of the city, attracted the attention of many residents, some of whom shared videos of the incident on social media.
History of Cordoba Cathedral
The Puerta de San Jose is part of a World Heritage site. After being converted into a cathedral in 1236, the building became an iconic blend of Islamic art and Christian architecture.
The site was originally built as a mosque on the site of an old church between the 8th and 10th centuries by the Muslim ruler of the southern Spanish city, Abd ar-Rahman. He was an emir of the Umayyad dynasty. After the Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, the site was converted into a cathedral.
According to Britannica, the original structure of the building was constructed from 784 to 786, and it was expanded in the ninth and tenth centuries, doubling its size. The completed building's layout formed a rectangular shape measuring 180 x 130 meters, slightly smaller than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. About a third of this area was occupied by the Patio de los Naranjos and the monasteries surrounding it to the north, east, and west.
The most beautiful decorations in the entire complex can be found in the third mihrab, or niche of prayer, a small octagonal niche with a roof made of a single block of white marble carved in the shape of a scallop shell and walls covered with Byzantine-style mosaic and gold.
Since 1236, the former mosque has functioned as a cathedral. Its Moorish character was altered in the 16th century with the construction of a high altar in the center, a choir in the shape of a cross, several chapels along the sides of the spacious courtyard, and a bell tower reaching 300 feet (90 meters) in place of the old minaret.
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