Picturesque Sketches in Spain: The Mosque, Cordova

This print shows the Mosque of Cordoba, in Andalusia, southern Spain, being used as a Catholic cathedral. The site was a mosque from 785 through 1236, when it was converted into a cathedral under the Christian kingdom of Castile. Today the building includes both Islamic and Christian architectural elements. The scalloped archway recalls the period in which the Moors, a Muslim cultural group, ruled parts of Spain and Portugal. An altar with a crucifix is visible, and the Christogram IHS (an abbreviation of the first three letters of Jesus’s name in Greek) can be seen on one priest’s shoulder.