Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - IV. Córdoba
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
80 DAYS IN THE SUN
face, with a ground of gold, purple and blue, to this
day produces the effect of an airy tent made of deli-
cate laces, with the sky shining through. You face a
wanton excess of vitality—even in the most inaccessible
corner, every square inch is covered with decoration;
and every capital, every tile has an ornamentation of
its own, differing from all the others.
The Mosque of Cordoba was said in its day to have
excelled all other buildings in rich imaginative decora-
tion. To-day it bears the marks of rude acts of
vandalism, particularly those perpetrated by Charles
V, who also destroyed portions of the Alhambra and
the Alcazar. In the middle of the Mosque lies a large
Catholic chapel, with a truly terrifying altar that has
been thrown together out of units of marble and metal;
the original wooden frame-work of the building, made
of inlaid cedar, has yielded in many places to plaster
of Paris; the red and white color of the arches is no
longer produced by an alternation of vari-colored
blocks of stone, but by bricks covered with paint, or
white-washed; the neat stuccoes of the walls have been
obliterated by the use of kalsomine.
Lately a beginning has been made at the restoration
of the Mosque, and after some years it may again look
like its original self.
But in its present form, the Mosque is a sadly
mutilated temple, fascinating details visible only here
or there, such as the Mirab Chapel, with the niche in
which the Koran had its place.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
