ONLY - intact minaret in Qurtuba - Córdoba, Andalucía, España
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Ariberna
N 37° 52.969 W 004° 46.897
30S E 343323 N 4194309
The minaret of San Juan is a tower belonging to an old mosque from the Emiral-Califal era, located in the Plaza de San Juan in Córdoba , Spain .
Waymark Code: WM1808B
Location: Andalucía, Spain
Date Posted: 05/01/2023
Views: 0
It is one of the four minarets in Spain declared an Asset of Cultural Interest , framed as a Historic-Artistic Monument belonging to the National Artistic Treasure by decree of June 3, 1931. In addition, it is located in the historic center of Córdoba , declared World Heritage Site by Unesco.
History
The minaret would have been built in the middle of the 9th century or beginning of the 10th century , ending the Emirate of Córdoba and beginning the Caliphate , and served as a call to prayer for the mosque to which it would be attached. According to a plaque found and preserved in the Archaeological Museum of Córdoba , the mosque would have been built by the cadi Umar ben Hadabas during the government of Emir Abderramán II . Its height must have been higher than the one it currently presents and it would be crowned with a crenellated terrace , in the style of Islamic constructions.
After the conquest of the city by Ferdinand III 's Castilian troops in 1236, it was ceded to the knights of the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem , also known as Saint John of the Knights, who built a church over the mosque. This would explain the name of both the minaret and the attached church. It is currently integrated into said ecclesiastical complex and since 1880 in the school that the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus have in the Cordovan capital, since it was ceded by Bishop Ceferino González .
Although it was already identified as a minaret by Teodomiro Ramírez de Arellano in his work Paseos por Córdoba (1873-75), it would not be investigated until 1927 after some reforms of the church by the architect Félix Hernández , who classified it as a califal and also modified the second body and built the upper part with two waters. In 1997, a fence was placed to prevent landslides, which was removed during the first restoration phase between October and December 2018 during an exterior restoration that avoided slowing down its deterioration and illuminating the monument.? In April 2020, the Ministry of Culture of the Junta de Andalucíagave the green light to the second phase, in which the interior part will be consolidated and the roof made at the beginning of the 20th century will be removed . 3 The works began on November 18 of that year with a budget of 68,000 euros and must be completed before December 31.
Architecture
In the Emiral and Caliphate style , it has a square plan of 3.70 m on each side and a height of 10.92 meters, a single body of ashlars arranged in a rope and brand with twin horseshoe arches on marble columns with Visigothic shafts . . This first body was topped by a row of blind Caliphal arches, which are not noticeable except for the three small columns that are still visible. The tower had a second body that was dismantled and replaced by the four-sided roof that it currently has.
Despite its deterioration, it is, after the Mosque, the best exponent of Caliphate art preserved in the city. It is also the only intact minaret in Qurtuba; the rest, such as that of Santa Clara or San Lorenzo or that of the aljama mosque itself , were so modified over time that it is difficult to ascribe them to Emiral or Caliphate art.
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