Panorama Photo

The church in the mosque. Something unique, something with a special touch. Doing indoor pictures - also something special although not unique in this forum. It was Guiseppe M. who presented us some Italian church interiors, here come my first one. I am astonished how well it worked out. More details later in the evening - one little detail: The young lady on the right is my nice.

Some details to the church: It was erected in the middle of the great mosque which gradually evolved over centuries on the place of a Visigothic church which was covering a Roman temple. About one-thousand columns of different material and beautiful capitels - some of Roman origin - form the unique hypostyle hall. After the reconquista (1236), the mosque was used as church again. It took until the Renaissance, that the nave which I depicted here was forced into the center of the hall. Disliked even by Carlos V at the time of its erection, it was saved over the centuries and preserved as a strange chimerical object. What is absolutely beautiful – besides the hypostyle hall itself, is the light. Not only by towering the hall but by the rather large window openings and by the artificial light sources, the church within the mosque is an unusual attraction point. The darkness of the ebony black choir, is in stark contrast to the well lit altar room – I hope I was able to catch this effect.

For reading I recommend:
islamic-arts.org/2012/mosque-of-cordova/ and
libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/45966/rec/1

Technical details:
Canon 550D, Sigma 17-70 mm @ 17 mm
10:22, 21 HF RAWs, f/2.8, 1/25-1/400, ISO400
DPP, Hugin, Gimp.