[Gocamino] Readying to go

[Paul Newfield]

Rosina,
I wonder if this might be what you are thinking of...
Paul

                         
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Our_Lady_of_Peace_of_Yamoussoukro>




blaroli at aol.com wrote:

> Hi Chuck,
> 
>I haven't heard about it, but the request probablyt relates to the Great Mezquita in Cordoba which was, or may still be, the grandest Islamic temple ever built. After the reconquest of Cordoba from the Moors some religious authorities coinverted ( very unwisely, in my view, and with regrettable disregard of historic and artistic values) the structure into a Catholic church which is today the Cathedral of Cordoba. The site is very famous in Andalucia since, exceot for the Alhambra in Granada, it constitutes the greatest example of Moorish architecture still extant.  I would not casl it one of the great cathedrals in Spain, quite far from it.  It is a hybrid, fractured structure which tends to be disconcerting.  Nevertheless, the Mezquita/church has become the very core of Cordobese identification; the Cordobese are fiercely Christian and culturally super-Spaniards (Manolete was from Cordoba, as have been scores of noted, and wonderful, musicians, poets, paintors, etc.)  I dar!
> e say that we will sooner see the Sahara desert covered with snow than any changes in the use and appearance of the Mezquita/church.   
>When the Catholic Kings vanquished the Moors in Granada, tha last Muslim holding in Iberia, and entered the Alhambra on January 2, 1492, some religious and military people wanted to build a Cathedral on the site, but Queen Isabel (one of my most greatly admired historical figures) would not allow it. She had a small chapel refurbished in one of the existing halls and the Alhambra escaped being messed with.  A few years ago some Muslims wanted the right to build a "praying site" in the Alhambra; this was not allowed by the authorities  and, later, a small mosque was built in a different part of town.
>Most of us know that the largest church in Christendom, except for Saint Peter's in the Vatican, is the magnificent Cathedral of Seville. A couple of years ago I read that an Arab country was building a Christian church, grander, in opulence and size, than the Seville Cathedral somewhere in the Arabic peninsula.  Does anyone here know more about such project?
>Warm regards,
>Rosina  
> 
> 
>-----Original Message-----
>From: chasobrien at gmail.com
>To: blaroli at aol.com
>Sent: Thu, 3 Aug 2006 10:47 AM
>Subject: Re: [Gocamino] Readying to go
>
>
>
>Dear Rosina,
> 
>As you're intimately acquainted with Spain, I'd be most interested in your opinion on something I read in the paper (No, I'm afraid I can't quote my source . . . unforgiveable for a retired English teacher. Sometime ago some Spanish Muslims asked--demanded?--for a place to worship in one of the great cathedrals of Spain that had once been or been built on the site of a mosque. My first admittedly angry post-9/11 response was, "Just as soon as the Greeks can celebrate mass in Hagia Sophia." As I'm not a terribly religious person, I'm not certain if this is even worth discussing, but I am curious to learn the opinion of someone who regularly travels between Spain and the U.S.
> 
>Chuck O'Brien 
>Pamplona-Santiago '98
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Paul "Skip" Newfield III
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