Al-Andalus: The Great Mosque of Córdoba and the Alhambra

For nearly eight centuries, parts of Spain and Portugal were under Muslim rule, a region known as al-Andalus. In 785 the Umayyad ruler Abd al-Rahman I began the Great Mosque of Córdoba, whose forest of columns supports double arches striped in red brick and white stone. Córdoba became one of Europe's largest and most cultured cities. Much later, in Granada, the Nasrid dynasty built the Alhambra, a palace-fortress whose Court of the Lions and honeycomb-like muqarnas ceilings are among the masterpieces of Islamic architecture.

Art in al-Andalus often combined Islamic, Christian and Jewish influences. Historians debate how peaceful relations among these communities really were: some emphasize coexistence (convivencia), while others stress periods of tension and inequality. After Christian rulers conquered Córdoba in 1236 and Granada in 1492, the buildings were adapted rather than destroyed.