"Moros Y Cristianos": A Paired Architectural Walkthrough of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba

Joseph Doyague and Olivia Bowness employ the Cuban dish "moros y cristianos" (or Moors and Christians) as a metaphor to describe the cross-cultural character of religious architecture in Spain. Their case study, the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, began as an eight century Islamic structure that incorporated Christian architectural elements into its floor plan. It was later transformed into a Cathedral in the 13th century. This episode brilliantly orchestrates a paired architectural walkthrough of the Mosque-Cathedral to demonstrate the ways that Spanish material culture was purposefully structured to demonstrate the mutual respect and trust that developed between Islamic and Christian adherents during the Umayyad empire. It also demonstrates the ways that architecture operates as a palimpsest that records its cultural influences in many layers over time.