The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-04-22

during his lifetime. at enormous cost. The
| plans of its founder were faithfully copied,
except that it soon became necessary to
| more than double the original size. as the
! immense mosque proved too small TO &C
| commodate the ever-increasing multitudes
| of pilgrims Al-Haken II constructed the
| Mahrab. or Hottest of Holes" wherein
| was deposited the richly illuminated manu-
| script of the Koran. This priceless rene
was torn in pieces by Don Alfonsos CHRIST
| ian soldiers in the year 1146, when ben
! Sagiah delivered up Cordoya- This Mos
| lem Holy of Holes called by the
| Spaniaris del Zancarron." in derision Of
! the foethone of Mahomet- All pilgrims
| walked seven times around the sacred
! place as was done at Mecca; hence the
| footworn pavement, which today shows a
| deep hollow, circular in form, surrounding
| the point of devotion.
Abdu-r-rahman III built the beautiful
minaret, and Al-Mansur added the eight
naves on the Eastern side The last named
monarch was gathered to his fathers in the
year 1902; and after his death nothing more
was done to the mosque until the thir-
teenth century, when it seized by bar
barian Spaniards-who have ever since
been destroying its symmetry and effacing
its original character by repeated muta-
tions. Roman Catholic choirs and affairs
of Charles V and stall, pulpits. shrines,
confessionals. images, and other church
paraphernalia scattered all over 1t.
You may travel the wide world over and
find no sanctuary. of any faith, so impress
sive at this temple of Allah-none which
seems to fit dwelling place for Him who
| fills all space. above the petty creeds ana
dogmas of men. Perhaps it is the immense
width and depth OF the interior. its mimi
4 TnnF
tives combined with the ancient traditions
of the place, that transport the visitor at
| once to days of the Caliphs and render the
commonplace world of the twentieth cen
tury illusory and unreal The whole
place seems peoped with shadowy forms,
standing with supplicating hands and faces
turned toward Mecca. or PROSTATE upon
their prayer-rugs: while from the minaret.
far overhead. sounds the Muezzin's cry,
Come to prayer. Prayer is better than
sleep
Its Marvellous Interior.
The most beautiful feature OF the inte
rior is its dense forest of many colored
marble columns, supporting the Moorish
arches of the roof, which broods over all
alike the sense of Gods benefcence-not
affair off, but near and tangible. Original
ly there were 1900 of these shafts, and
upward of thousand yet remain. II is
marble labyrinth, of endless vistas and
mystifying space. One is astonished at
the infinite varieties of stone, and the
many tints 1t can assume-from black to
purest white. malachite green as emerald,
crimson bloodstone, black yeined and mot
tied with chrome, ultra-marine, purple,
porphyry, jasper, lapis lazuli, white
streaked with carnelian. snakely notified
serpentine, and innumerable other COM
sinations of color.
The principal entrance is through the
beautiful Court of Oranges, with its
stately palms and quaint old Moorish
fountain, its groups of idlers and charac-
teristic Spanish scenes. 1t was built by
Said Ben Azub, in 93T, and its rows of
trees originally correspondent with the
lines of columns In the mosque. Passing |
under the high-peaked doorway. which is
surmounted by softly tinted azuelos, Moor |
ish tiles). spelling out texts from the Ko- |
ran, you are. at once in the marble for
est where countless magnificent naves |
stretch away and intersect, and shining |
pillars, of every tint in the rainbow, |
spring up to the delicate horseshoe arches. |
In some sections the ceiling is dazzling |
with arabesques and crystals, in others it |
is richly paneled and giIded; and here and |
there vandal Spaniards have painted it red |
and yellow, AS the external walls en- |
close an area of four acres. minute de- |
scription is impossible in the limits of a |
newspaper letter.
Among the special sights" to which the
guide will lead you is the Puerta del Per
don. so called because built with money |
raised by the sale of indulgences. 1t is |
an arched entrance of purely Oriental type, |
embellished with the arms of CASTLE and |
Leon. Its doors. usually closed, are COW !
cred with bronze plating, with Gothic and |
Arabic inscriptions. and the words Tin /
SPANISH The Empire belongs to God and I
all is His" ----
You will be shown a pale-yellow column !
flushed with pink, a species of marble of /
which no quarries now exist, near the base |
of which a rude crucifix may be dimly trac- |
ed The story goes. but nobody believes I
it. that Christian captive was chained to |
this pillar in the time of Haken III. He |
would have been released unpublished had |
he not desecrated Allah's temple by |
scratching with his nails the Christian |
emblem upon the pillar For that crime !
he was garroted on the spot. !
Some of the doorways are maryelously |
rich in Moorish spandrels and lattieed OPP |
enings with fine Oriental ornamentations |
and Cufic inscriptions. and others set |
round with a multitude Of statues and !
images. One of the first mentioned, flank |
ed with ancient mosaics and surmounted /
by a queer aZmiel window. is pointed cut |
as the private door by which the Sultan |
always entered the mosque: and the low |
crypt may be SEEN called the Maksurah. |
where he prayed on Fridays. Near II |
white marble slab and a padlocked urn |
mark the resting place of five bishops OF |
Christian Cordova- Their tomb was re-
stored in la57 by Bishop Leopold, brother |
of the Emperor of Austria, who himself |
lies between the high altar and the choir
FANNIE B. WARD.