Secondary Mosques in Madinat Qurtuba: Islamization and Suburban Development through Minor Religious Spaces

Abstract

Mosques are the most obvious materialization of Islam. They are a clear sign of its presence in a particular territory, the building where the history and inluence of Islamic governments is relected through their artistic elements and architectural variants. However, they are also essential for the everyday life of the neighborhoods they belong to, because their inhabitants usually make use of them for daily prayers. Despite this importance, mosques have received very uneven treatment by researchers. This has resulted in a strong weighting of scholarly interest towards Friday mosques, while smaller mosques have been largely forgotten by traditional historiography. This paper purposes to challenge the traditional way of researching religious spaces in al-Andalus. Focusing attention on Córdoba, this paper examines the role and impact of minor mosques in Madinat Qurtuba, the capital of al-Andalus, by exploring the part they played in the urban development and growth of the Islamic city. The present study focuses on the emiral period (when the irst examples of these buildings start to appear, in the 8th century) to the Christian conquest in the 13th Century, as after this event no new mosques were erected in the city.