Mosque of Cordoba: A Cathedral Now?

Is the Catholic Church trying to erase traces of Islamic heritage from its most famous icon of the medieval period, the Mosque of Cordoba?

That’s what this fascinating article from Foreign Affairs suggests. It notes that last year Google Maps deleted reference to the Mosque of Cordoba. It was reinstated after a petition with 55,000 names was submitted to Google.

In addition Foreign Policy notes that since 2006 the Catholic Church “has slowly wiped away the word “mosque” from the monument’s title and from print and online publications about the site, where it is now officially called the “Cathedral of Córdoba.””

And tourist literature now emphasizes the mosque’s Christian identity.

Many people oppose this “assault on the monument’s name and Muslim heritage.” Last year a group called “Platform for the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba” made the outcry an “international cause célèbre” and demanded that name be changed back.

The Mosque at Cordoba, notes Foreign Policy, was “the symbol of Umayyad power and also the center of the city’s intellectual life in medieval Spain.

The Umayyads conquered southern Spain in the 8th century. Cordoba, with its mosque at the center, became what one writer called, “the ornament of the world” because of its beauty and intellectual life.

Paved streets, shops, booksellers, universities,  running water, fountains and restaurants characterized this once great city. Religious tolerance was also a hallmark.

This is the heritage that some say the Catholic Church is trying to erase.