The living, the dead and the unborn

摘要

In 1523 the young heir to Burgundy, Spain and Austria, Emperor Charles V, sanctioned the construction of a new cathedral nave in the magnificent Great Mosque at Cordoba, already then nearly three quarters of a millennium old. After many discussions between the emperor, Bishop Manrique and architect Hernan Ruiz, it was decided to place the cathedral almost in the centre of the great forest of columns and arches blocking the critical view to the mihrab and cutting the aisles that directed Muslim worshippers to the qibla. It rose through the mosque's low wide roof to dominate the skyline.