Mezquita Catedral of Cordoba, Spain

Cordoba's Mezquita Catedral (Mosque/Cathedral) has to be one of the most unique religious buildings in the world. The Mosque of Cordoba was built by the Moors in 784. After a series of extensions the Mosque came to encompass 23,400 m² and was the 2nd largest middle in the world (at that time). After the Spanish "Reconquista" (the reconquering of Spain from the Moors) the Mosque was handed over to the archdiocese in 1238. Alterations continued, but basic conversion seems to have been completed in the 15th century.

When we visited the Mezquita Catedral, they had an exhibition of an excavation that occurred I the 1930s. A lower Christian church was discovered under the original Mosque. The "Basilica of Saint Vincent Martyr" would have been built sometime in the 6th Century. It seemed a little bit like a "see we were here first after all." The excavation in the 30s was largely forgotten into the 60s because the Spanish Civil War broke out around the same time.

Both Emily and Dave agreed this is a top 3 religious building we've ever seen.

One final note: just as we saw in the Cathedral of Toledo and the Cathedral in Seville, even this Mosque Cathedral had a giant mural of St. Christopher. Perhaps because of the famous Pilgrimage route, the Camino de Santiago, the patron saint of travelers is a bigger here in Spain than anywhere else we've seen.Read more