Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-04-17
@i5tFllanGons,
A CONVERTED sQUE:
The Cathedral of Cordoya.

The wonder Of Cordova is also one of the
wonders of the world Its Cathedral has
been a Mosque of the Moors. Too see it
once IS al adequate reward for all one has
endured in travelling thus far through the
most c0mfortless country in Europe. Tosee
1t often, and study it 10 the minute details
OF Its extraordinary plan and finish, is to lay
up store OF imagery for dreams of memory
through the rest Of life time. At least 50
1t seems to me now, when but few weeks
have passed since entering its magnificent
Gate OF Pardon, and suddenly standing in
the midst CT a thousand variOusly cOlored
columns-marbe, jesper, porphyry, granite
all surmounted by Corinthian capitals,
forest IN temple, a petrifed grove Of
trunks OF majestic trees, enclosed in walls.
Perhaps the memory Of it will fade, so that
a year OF two hence the impressions Of won
der, OF subhulty, Of vastness, Will not be so
strong as they arc now. But at the moment
when the interior first broke upon my sight,
II was as strange 20 me that the art Of men
cOlfkd construct such an e-Tfoa a. that fha
great Architect should bDl5 ttiu waiis over
which the Niagara Characteristics forever.
But you are waiting TO h,ar what there
Is about it so wonderful atte' all Stepping
ont of the street through agate IN a solid
wall, we are in the midst d a courtyard
some 400 feet long an oraIge grove, yener-
able trees that have been barring fruit, as
now, a century or more, anl three fountains
send up jets Of waters thaf fall back into
large marble basins filed with gold fish
which groups Of children ae feeding. Near
the gate, on benches, eldeay men are sit
ting, smoking, Of course, md enjoying the
genial sunshine. The eldes sat in the gate
in the Scripture times, anddo now in East
ern towns, and here also, where Oriental
manners still obtain. In forncr years this
court became a great resort. for the people
who made mart, or exchage, as in all ages
men have been tempted tomake the house
Of prayer a market place, aid so il often be-
comes q den of thieves low, this Court
Of.0rauges, as it is called, S the resort of
old men and children, Wh0enjoy the warmth
aud shade and waters Of ihe holy precincts
Passing through this court we come to the
sacred edifice itself LIS history is as event
ful as that Of Spain. L was built BY the
Moors as a Mosque, andwhen the Christians
conquered CordOva, they converted the
Mosque into a church, though they could
not convert the Aoors into Christians. And
this now called Cathedral is the one that
Abdurhaman began TO build 4 ID. 7S6, and
his son completed in rs, pushing on the
work with such TREMENDOUS energy that in
ten years he constructed one Of the most
remarkable edifices il the world. His
father idea was to sureass every temple on
earth in extent aud strength and splendor
1t was TO be the Mecca in Europe and
when the Western word was sabdued to
Islam, as he and all the believers believed
it would be, the holy phce to which pill
gTimages from all these lands would be
made was Cordova. Il is, therefore, the
finest example that Spain possesses of that
peculiar style of architecture and ornamen-
tation which the Moos introduced, and
which have been gradually disappearing
with the lapse OF centuries Ii doubtless
has symbolism behind as uatprial forms
and the student OF arudnd religious thought
will read in the plan auda thousand details,
a meaning that does not meet the unanoint-
ed eye Of the simple traveller But we viii
see it as it is, and leave the unseen TO those
who can see through a stone wall and read
what to Us is invisible.
The Gate of Pardon is so called because,
under the Roman Catholic dispensation, in
dulgences we're granted to those who entered
by it into the temple There is one gate of
the same name in each Of the cathedrals that
have visited in this country. The bronze
ornaments upon the doors are very curious,
the royal arms are displayed, and while the
Christian inscription, in Gothic letters, of
the word DEUS, proclains the true God, the
Arabic letters also testify that the Mahom-
etans worshipped him, for they write, The
Empire belongs to God.
Within the temple there is at first a sense
Of gloom, almost of oppression, arising from
the vastness Of the area aud the want of
height The roof cannot be more than 40
or so feet high, while the floor stretches
away GAO feet in length and 400 feet in
breadth A thousand columns in long lines,
ike trees planted in the garden Of the Lord,
are each Of one single stone-the spoils of
temples in the East and the West, and some
Of them Imperial gifts, and hence a variety
of colors and size, showing all sorts Of mar
bles, the green and red jasper, black, white
and rose, emerald and porphyry. Crossing
each other, at right angles, these rows of
pillars from nineteen naves one way and
twenty nine the other; long-drawn aisles,
over which the horse shoe-shaped arches,
standing one upon the other and supporting
the roof, produce a marvellous effect.
The Holy of HOLES in the Mosque was
the Mihrab, and it has been preserved in the
converted temple, with religious care, as at