A Short History of the Middle Ages Fourth Edition

Plate 3.4: Great Mosque, Córdoba (785–787). The Great Mosque of Córdoba gave monumental identity to
the new Umayyad rulers in al-Andalus. Note the two tiers of arches, the first set on pre-Islamic columns
despoiled from Roman and Visigothic buildings, the second springing from high piers. With their alternating
red and white stones and repeated pattern, the arches suggest lively arcades leading from west to east.