notes:
The Mosque of Cordova became century X in the most important sanctuary of the Western Islam, not only from the religious but also artistic point of view. It was the reference, the model of all the other mosques mosques of al-Andalus, and also arrived his influence at those from North Africa. By the fact of to be founded by ' Abd Is al-Rahman the Immigrant, had a special value between omeyas andalusнes.
That one is the reason that always the structure of the first building was respected and imitated, although their successors were extending it as he increased the population of Cordova. Almost all the Emirs and caliphs omeyas took part of some form in the mosque mosque of the capital, was a prestige sign and almost one obligation to leave their witness in the venerated building. The Cordovan mosque followed the model of the Mosque al-Aqsa, in Jerusalem, constructed at the beginning of century VIII, that is to say, perpendicular ships to alquibla, unlike which it happened in the one of Damascus, where they were parallel to that wall. Like these two mosques, the one of Cordova were oriented to the south, although the correct direction of Mecca in al-Andalus was the Southeastern.
This circumstance has several explanations, one is that the andalusнes Emirs wanted to follow the tradition of the mosques omeyas of Syria; another one could be that a computational error when using took place the same method that in its land of origin (methods that still in century VIII was not scientists). However, that direction always was respected: nobody dared to change it being the drawn up one by ' Abd al-Rahman I. the mosque is today a fundamental guide for the history of the Islamic art in general and the andalusн in individual. He is the referring one to which there is to go to study all the artistic and architectonic manifestations from end of century VIII in ahead and not only in al-Andalus, since there are saying, but also in North Africa. One is the older andalusн building and better conserved, of where its importance is deduced.
