Part 5

From the eighth to the eleventh century the style in Spain is known as the Arab-Spanish, and is sometimes called the Estilo Califato. This style is ‘Saracenic,’ with Jewish features. In the next period, from the twelfth to the thirteenth century, we have the Almohade development of Arabian architecture, whose examples may be seen in most of the Moorish cities of Spain. The last period--from the fourteenth to the fifteenth century--which marks the decline of the pure Morisco designs, is sometimes described as the Alhamares.

The salient characteristics of Moorish architecture are the groves of slender columns, the interlacing horseshoe arches in bewildering profusion, the minaret, with its gradually inclined path in lieu of steps for the ascent, the gorgeous colouring of flat surfaces, the mosaics, dazzling gildings, and decorations of precious stones and jewels. It was the Moor who discovered the art of preserving colour and rendering his adornments imperishable. The flat illuminations were probably imitations of Egyptian decoration, but it is not certain that the secret of preserving the lavish and brilliant colours was derived from Egypt.

In selecting his woods for the purposes of decorating the Mosque of Cordova, the Moor employed those of the most durable texture, so durable, indeed, that age has scarcely left its mark upon them. The bricks and stones are equally lasting, as may be proved by an inspection of the walls of the Mezquita. There was no hasty work in the construction of the temple of Allah. Nothing was used except material of a permanent quality. The treasure of the earth, its forests and its mountains, was employed in the great labour of duty and devotion.

It has been suggested that the horseshoe arch has a very ancient symbolic meaning of a Phallic origin. This is, perhaps, not the occasion for discussing this theory. It is apparent that the Moors employed this form of decoration upon every opportunity and complicated it in a variety of styles. They used it in their doorways, aisles, cloisters, and windows. The Ajimez window is typically Morisco. It has usually from two to three arches, supported on fine columns, and is exceedingly graceful in design. Ajimez signifies a window through which the sun or light shines. For effects of light in the interiors of their fanes the Morisco architects designed several ingenious apertures, such as the star-shaped window, through which the daylight peers with singular weirdness.

The defect of the Mosque of Cordova is in a want of space above the naves. We lack the grandeur of height within the building. Loftiness does not seem to have appealed to the designers. The average height of the columns is about sixteen feet. Length and breadth have, however, been carefully considered in the construction of the temple, and the long arched aisles are like forest avenues. There were once one thousand and twelve columns in the building, but many of these were removed when San Fernando commanded that the Mezquita should be adapted as a Christian cathedral.

The Vizier, Almanzor, removed the eastern wall of the Mosque and extended the building in order to add eight new naves. These naves had the same number of arches as those already standing, and they were intersected at right angles with lesser naves, thirty-five in number. At this period a lack of space necessitated a narrowing of some of the arches, and the curves were made more pointed. Every conceivable ornamentation was introduced in the beautifying of these arches.

The _foseyfasa_, or enamel-work of the Moors, is seen in its brilliant examples in the Mosque. This enamel, called _foseyfasa_ by the Arabs, is composed of crushed glass and small pebbles baked together with gorgeous colours, and sometimes containing an admixture of gold and silver. It was used at Damascus, in the great Mosque, and at Constantinople. According to Gayangos, this mosaic enamel was set in its place by Greek mechanics imported by Abd-er-Rahman. This work is finely exampled upon the entrance to the sanctuary, and throughout the Mosque there are specimens of this wondrous art of embellishment.

The principal nave of the Mezquita has huge arches on stone columns, with finely carved capitals, and a large number of minor arches in the Estilo del Califato. Most of these columns were made from the stone of Spanish quarries. They are of jasper, marble, and other stone, and number nearly nine hundred. Narrow avenues run transversely through the grand aisles. We are lost in them; these passages appear interminable, and their ribbon decorations bewilder the eyes.

We approach the sacred mih-rab, the receptacle of the Koran, the holiest of holies of the temple. The façade is exceedingly beautiful, in the later style of decoration, and the arcades of the vestibule of the sanctuary have fine triple arches and interlacing curves of exquisite design. The dome is cone-shaped.

The door is in the Estilo del Califato, dazzling in the wealth of its colouring, marvellous in the grace and symmetry of its main arch, trefoil arches, and delicate frets. The mih-rab is seven-sided, with a cupola of extraordinary richness of hue, and details of the greatest interest. One is baffled in attempting to describe this sanctuary. The technical terms of architecture do not convey a conception of its beauty to the lay mind. In the days of its glory, the mih-rab was illuminated by an enormous lamp and huge candles. El-Makkari, the Arab, says that the great lantern had nearly fifteen hundred lights, and that the total number of lights was over ten thousand. The enamels shone with their brilliant hues in the rays of these lamp-lights and candles until the eye could scarcely rest upon the walls and the cupola. Here the khalifs came in pomp to worship, and to scan reverently the pages of the costly Koran.

The hollowed roof of the mih-rab and the floor are of white marble. We may see the marks worn by the knees of the faithful who came hither to pay their devotions to the Father of Islam. The mosaics of the walls exhibit the finest designs and richest tones of the _foseyfasa_ work. This is the third mih-rab, the production of Hakem, and it is a retreat that speaks eloquently of that piety which seeks to glorify a deity by the erection and adornment of a temple. It is resplendent beyond compare.

This chamber was the repository of the famous _nimbar_, a pulpit on wheels, which had seven steps, and could be moved to any part of the Mosque. When the Christians regained power in the city, this highly ornamented pulpit was cut into pieces, and portions of it were used in the construction of the altar. The superb copy of the Koran, to which we have referred before, was kept in a golden case, mounted with precious stones. It was so heavy that two men were required to carry it.

Upon the ceiling of the Mezquita there were formerly inscriptions. Among them were the command: ‘Be not one of the negligent,’ and the dictum: ‘There is no God but Allah, to whom all beings address themselves in their need.’ The Christians effaced these inscriptions when the Mosque was purified and consecrated to the Virgin Mother.

In the Capilla de Villaviciosa we shall see the Arab-Byzantine crossed arches on decorated columns. This was the retreat of the Khalif, and it was once lined with silver. The chapel is the only one of Moorish interest. There are forty-five Christian chapels, but these scarcely demand inspection. In front of the Capilla of San Pablo is the tomb of Pablo de Céspedes, the Cordovese painter. This chapel has a horseshoe arch with sharp points. The Capilla de la Cena contains ‘The Last Supper,’ painted by Céspedes. And in the Sala Capitular were statues by Alonso Cano and de Mora.

The chapels were constructed from the side aisles of the Mezquita when the building was dedicated to the Christian faith. After the capture of Cordova by San Fernando, the original work of the Moorish builders was spoiled in many parts of the Mezquita. Large surfaces, beautifully designed and coloured, were removed by the innovators, columns were pulled down, and screens destroyed. ‘The gold lavished on the panelled ceilings,’ so praised by an Arab poet, was obliterated in many places; the Christian architects wrought havoc in almost every part of the structure. No doubt the pious reconstructors were unconscious of their vandalism. They sought to improve upon the art of the Mohammedans, and to build a worthier edifice. But their failure is only too apparent, and it has been admitted by Spanish writers. Charles V. expressed sorrow at the garish and meagre innovations, saying that the designers and craftsmen had destroyed a great and unique work of art in their endeavour to improve upon the design of the Moriscos.

VII

THE CATHEDRAL AND CHURCHES

From the time of the taking of Cordova by the sainted King Ferdinand, Spanish architects and artificers designed and constructed additions to the interior and exterior of the beautiful Mezquita. We have already described these additions as often incongruous and for a great part unlovely. San Fernando caused the erection of the first Christian chapel within the Mosque, and it occupied a position by the south wall, covering three naves from east to west, and four transverse naves from north to south. The chapel, which was dedicated to St. Clement, enclosed two Moorish arches.

Following the example of the sovereign, several noblemen erected chapels in the Mezquita. In 1250 Don Diaz de Haro built the chapel of Santa Inez, and later Domingo Muñoz erected that of San Bartolomé. Enriched by donations from the pious, the Chapter of the Cathedral undertook to transform the building, and even sought to improve upon the work of the Mohammedans. They removed the apartment of the Kadi, destroyed the chamber of the Khalif, known as the _maksurrah_, and in its place reared the Grand Chapel. The chapels of St. John and of Santiago were built between 1260 and 1265.

At this time four Mudejares, or reconciled Moors, were employed upon the work of altering the Mosque. It was evidently the wish of the improvers that the Arabic tradition should be followed in the construction of the arches and the plan of the decorations; but already the Moorish art was declining, and these latest examples of Morisco design and ornamentation do not display that wealth of imagination and high skill which characterised the Omeyyad craftsmanship. Hence the work in the Cathedral became more ‘Gothic’ and less Arab-Byzantine, as piece by piece the chapels were added to the structure of Abd-er-Rahman, Hakem II., and Almanzor.

The worst vandalism was wrought when the great Choir was made under the sanction of Charles V., who afterwards regretted that he had consented to the alterations. In order to erect the Coro, with its high roof, the old Moorish ceiling was destroyed. The architect originally employed upon the Grand Chapel and Choir was the celebrated Hernan Ruiz, who achieved some notable designs in the Plateresque style. The retablo, or high altar, is by Alonso Matias, and the painting is the work of Palomino.

In the Coro the seats are beautifully carved by Pedro Cornejo. The Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Villaviciosa is perhaps the most interesting of the many Christian chapels erected within the Mezquita. It is in the later Moorish style. Céspedes’ painting of ‘The Last Supper’ is in the Capilla de la Cena; and the tomb of this artist, who was a native of the city, is near the Capilla de San Pablo.

In the Christian Cathedral there are many examples of the composite Moorish and Gothic architecture, which is known in Spain as the Estilo Mudejar. Portraits of saints and paintings of living things were introduced later, in contravention of the Mohammedan law forbidding such representations in the decoration of holy buildings. Statues were also placed in the Cathedral. The brilliant Plateresque style eventually succeeded the later Mudejar work; the decorations were fanciful and flamboyant, and not always inspired by the highest æsthetic sense. Finally, in the seventeenth century, the Baroque style became the fashion of the hour, and the arts of pictorial embellishment and of carving degenerated often into the bizarre and the theatrical. Wood was used in place of stone for statuary, and many of the fine old altar-pieces in the Spanish churches were destroyed to give place to grotesque and more ‘realistic’ conceptions.

As early as 1278 the minaret of Abd-er-Rahman III. was crowned with the Christian figure of Saint Raphael, and at the time of the alterations under the direction of Hernan Ruiz the bulk of the Moorish praying-tower was removed, and the much loftier belfry erected. Most of the beautiful doors of the Mosque were blocked up during the progress of the reconstruction. The door of the Gate of Pardon was decorated by Henry II., and is in the later Mudejar style, with Christian images above it. Such are among the many examples of the curious blending of Moorish and Christian forms of design and styles of ornamentation within and without the Mosque.

For further examples of Mudejar architecture we may visit the Hospital del Cardinal, where there is a fine chapel dedicated to San Bartolomé. The Church of Santa Marina was originally Moorish, but it is now modern. Relatives of the Gran Capitan Gonsalvo are buried in the San Hipolito.

VIII

THE PALACE OF THE KHALIFS AND THE MOORISH BRIDGE

Very little of the ancient Moorish Alcazar remains. On the south side there are a bath and some towers, and the plot by the river is beautifully shady with semi-tropical foliage and fruit-trees. The old Alcazar was originally the Palace of the Khalifs, and it covered a large area. It contained huge and sumptuous chambers and several handsome baths, which were destroyed during the reign of Isabella. The northern part of the building was erected in the time of Alfonso XI., about a century after the recapture of Cordova by San Fernando.

The gate leading to the bridge is no longer Moorish. It was designed by a Christian architect. We gain a glimpse of the sierras through the portal, and passing through, reach the many-arched bridge, leading to the Campo de la Verdad. The foundations are Roman, and it was probably built in the time of Cæsar. At the far end is the Calahorra, a picturesque tower. In the centre stands the shrine of the patron saint of Cordova, St. Raphael, the archangel.

This bridge was the scene of many conflicts during the Moorish occupancy of the city. Long before it was built, when Cæsar came to attack Cordova, he constructed a temporary bridge across the Guadalquivir, by placing large baskets of stones in the river and laying timber upon them.

The Moorish water-mills, which can be seen from the bridge, are interesting relics. The river, the mills, the bell-tower of the Mosque, and the walls form a picture which lives in the memory. The view lacks the stern grandeur of that from the Bridge of Toledo, but it is nevertheless beautiful. In flood-time the river seethes by the buttresses, and tumbles through the arches to spend itself below in a wide and imposing stream. And at night, when the moon gleams on the Guadalquivir, and lights the Mosque, and lingers upon the ancient walls and towers, the scene is one of fairy-like enchantment.

Men fish above and below the bridge, employing curious lever nets and other quaint tackle for the capture of shad and eels. Along the verge of the swirling stream busy women kneel to rinse and wring their linen, and to spread the garments upon the green banks to dry in the hot sun. The devout pause before the shrine in the centre of the bridge, and pay their reverence to St. Raphael. Here, too, loiter the idlers of Cordova; they lounge and blink at the water, and smoke their cigarettes in the sunshine. And on market-days there is a stream of pack-mules and asses, heavy wains with teams of horses, and droves of cattle across the long Puente.

The spell of Cordova holds one long after leaving the city. One recalls the white, tortuous alleys, and the luminous blue shadows of the Mosque at noonday. The odours of orange-bloom and of roses are wafted to the nostrils, as one thinks of the silent patios, where the footstep echoes, and the huerta by the river, where there are trees and plants of the tropics. One hears the rattle of the mule-wagon upon the stony thoroughfares, the first streets that were ever paved in Spain; the nightly cry of the watchman, in his mediæval garb; the jangling of church bells the call of the water-seller, carrying his tall Oriental jar; the rich liquid tones of the nightingales in the gardens and the thickets of the Guadalquivir; the early morning scream of the hawk floating over the bell-tower, and the bleating of the wandering herds of goats. Cordova is Moorish, Spanish, Andalusian, but, still more than all, Oriental. Wonderful Moors! Marvellous city of light, colour, beauty, and romantic memories!

IX

ILLUSTRIOUS NATIVES OF CORDOVA

The ‘holy and learned’ city of Cordova has ever produced sons worthy of its renown. There were, no doubt, many philosophers, teachers, and poets during the Mohammedan dominion, whose names have not been preserved, and whose works have perished. Corduba was the birthplace of Seneca, the relative and the contemporary of Lucan, and one of the greatest men that the city produced.

The moralist and philosopher was a delicate, ailing child, and throughout his life he suffered from ill-health, which was increased by his severe studies, and possibly by his asceticism. Seneca was one of the first strenuous advocates of the vegetarian diet and ‘the simple life.’ It is said that he subsisted upon the plainest fare and practised rigorous self-denial.

There is much that is admirable in the character of Seneca, but there are also traits that appear extremely incompatible with his constant insistence upon right conduct and purity of life.

The genius of Seneca was soon recognised by the rulers in Cordova, and his fame reached Rome, whither he went, and where he was received with the respect that his deep learning merited. His career was, however, checked by his unfortunate intrigue with Julia, the married sister of the Emperor Caligula. As a punishment for his adultery he was sent to Corsica, where he lived in banishment for eight years.

During this long spell of solitude Seneca mused and studied, and found the period of exile one of fruitfulness to the mind. Yet when he was recalled to Rome, at the intercession of Agrippina, the philosopher exhibited a keen desire for wealth, which is scarcely reconcilable with his affirmations concerning the life of simplicity and self-denial. In order to make money, he did not hesitate to lend sums at an exorbitant interest. He became a courtier, and was the confidential tutor of Nero; but at the height of his fortune he conspired against the emperor. His condonation of Nero’s murder of his mother was an elaborate piece of casuistry, devised for no other reason than the desire to retain the royal patronage. In this and in other episodes, the career of Seneca bewilders us, and provides matter for reflection upon the inconsistency of human nature and the fallibility of even the greatest ethicists.

The last pages in the life of the philosopher are sad. He was condemned to death as a traitor, and he had married a young wife. When he heard that the guards were on their way to arrest him, Seneca resolved to open one of his veins and to bleed to death. His loyal and loving wife begged to share his fate, and at her request he cut one of her veins. But Seneca was old, seventy years of age, and his blood flowed so slowly that he could not die. In his desperation he drank a cup of hemlock, hoping to poison himself, and by that means put an end to his anguish. Yet even the hemlock potion failed. Asphyxiation in a heated chamber at last brought death to the aged sage, and by timely attention the life of his young wife was saved.

Marcus Annæus Lucanus, or Lucan, was born in Cordova in the year A.D. 38 or 39. He was the nephew of Seneca, and his father was a public servant held in esteem in the city. Our data for a biography of Lucanus are very scanty. He wrote poems before he left Cordova, and encouraged the writing of Latin verse among the Spanish residents. His great work, the _Pharsalia_, was left unfinished.

Lucan was lauded by Tacitus as a poet. He went to Rome, and it is recorded that he vanquished Nero in one of the poetical tournaments in which that monarch delighted. The egotistic emperor never forgave Lucan for beating him in this literary contest. He vindictively forbade the poet to write any more poems or to recite to audiences. We need not be surprised that the aggrieved poet rebelled against this attempt to utterly silence his song, to deprive him of the exercise of his art, and to crush him. Lucan was aroused. He became one of the conspirators of Piso, and plotted against the power of Nero.

When he was arrested, and offered pardon if he would name his accomplices in the plot, Lucan falsely accused his mother Atilia of complicity. This cowardly resort was, however, of no avail. He was not spared by the vengeful Nero, who gave the poet his choice of death. Lucan chose the usual Roman mode of opening a vein in a bath. He is said to have recited one of his poems as he died.

Ibn-Roshid Averroes, the most renowned of the Arabian philosophers, was born in Cordova in A.D. 1120. He came of a high-born family held in honour in the city. His grandfather was a Kadi of Cordova. In his youth Averroes learned law, mathematics, theology, and the practice of medicine. His reputation as a man of erudition and of force of intellect caused Almanzor to grant him privileges. He was appointed Kadi of the city of Seville.

The story of the life of Averroes is an example of the eternal conflict between the reformer of thought and morals and the mass of the people of his age. Averroes was misunderstood, impeached as a dangerous heretic, and condemned as an enemy of humanity. The Moors, in spite of their culture, could manifest rank fanaticism when they encountered any teaching that seemed to contradict the writings of the Koran, or the traditional piety. Averroes was a follower of Aristotle, although he remained a Mohammedan, and as the Greek philosophy did not accord completely with the dogmas of Mohammed, the teacher was arraigned as an assailant of religion and a foe to morality. His ostracism was thorough. The noble man was pelted with stones by boys in the street, and scorned by the whole city.

Shrinking from this terrible spectacle of the humiliation and cruelty heaped upon the innocent head of his revered tutor, the young Maimonides, a diligent pupil of Averroes, fled from Cordova. Averroes soon after left the city, and wandered in Morocco. But he was not allowed to roam unmolested. At Fez the populace treated him with gross inhumanity. He was forced to stand on the step of the mosque, and every one who passed into the House of Allah spat in the philosopher’s face. Hunted, despised, and bereft of the opportunity for using his learning for the good of humanity, Averroes dissembled and professed to repent of his heresies. We can hardly experience surprise at this. His humiliation and his trials had been such that few men could endure without a loss of reason or a total paralysis of aspiration.

Averroes returned to Cordova. But he was still avoided and looked upon as a felon, and his poverty and miserable state continued. Eventually he was reinstated. There was a reaction of feeling; bigotry was wearing out, and the virtues and attainments of the great thinker were recognised at their worth. The chief work of Averroes was his philosophy, compounded of Aristotle and the teaching of Neo-Platonism. His writings upon Aristotle are not of the highest value, for he was unversed in the Greek language.