Church steps in to unholy mosque row
SPAIN
FOR hundreds of years, the Great Mosque of Cordoba has been a symbol of religious tolerance and coexistence.
Built by the Caliph of Damascus in the 8th century, the inside was transformed into a cathedral in medieval times but its original features remain, making it a monument of magnificence to both the Christian and Muslim faiths.
However, its religious unity has been put in danger by moves from the Roman Catholic Church to wrest the Unesco World Heritage Site from public control, sparking fears that its Islamic architecture could be at risk.
The Archbishop of Cordoba, Demetrio Fernandez, used a legal loophole from the era of General Franco to register the cathedral in the name of the Church and change its name to Santa Iglesia de Cordoba. Unless the move is opposed, it will be irreversible by 2016. The decision has prompted a campaign calling on the local authorities to regain full control of the building, amid fears that the Church would erode its Islamic heritage.
The architect, Lord Foster of Thames Bank, is among 145,000 signatories to a petition demanding that the building remain in civic hands. ‘‘This building has for hundreds of years been seen as a symbol of living together between Islam and Christianity,’’ said Antonio Manuel Rodriguez, a law professor of the University of Cordoba. ‘‘But the Church is try- ing to take it over and Christianise it.’’ The row has also provoked the ire of Muslims to whom the building is an important cultural monument. ‘‘For us this has great symbolic value and it is for everyone. It should not be in private hands,’’ Isabel Romero, of the Junta Islamica de Espana, said.
However, a rival Catholic group, MasLibres, is campaigning for the Church to control the cathedral. It presented a petition with 85,000 signatures from around the world to the Junta of Cordoba, the regional authorities.
‘‘The authorities cannot eradicate hundreds of years of history and suddenly pretend that the Church should not have some right to the cathedral,’’ Nicolas de Cardenas, of MasLibres, said.