The Mezquita

We saw the famous Mezquita in Cordoba.   It was begun as a mosque in the 9th century, and with the Christian conquest of Cordoba in 1236, it was gradually converted into a cathedral.   It is a enormously beautiful building, but also quite a strange experience, because the Christian conversion left parts of the mosque intact, but the Church essentially built a large cathedral right in the middle of the mosque, seamlessly blending the two together in a way that is disconcerting.   It reminds me of many other churches I have seen (like St. Mark's in Venice), where stylistic elements from different eras are blended together, but in this case the blend of mosque and cathedral is particularly strange.   In addition, because the conversion process was gradual, starting in 1236 and lasting hundreds of years, you have parts of the church which were done by Christians, but using the same Moorish traditions.

Pictures:
The original mosque part, built in the 9th century:

Ceiling detail:

The cathedral in the middle: