Wonder: The Great Mosque at Córdoba, Andalucía

Architect: Various, including Hernán Ruiz the Younger, Hernan Ruiz the Elder, Hernan Ruiz III, Diego de Ochoa Praves, Juan de Ochoa Praves, 785 onwards

Nominator: Sir Terry Farrell

One of the most moving and beautiful buildings in the world is the Great Mosque at Córdoba – otherwise known as the Mezquita or, officially, as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption–in the Spanish region of Andalucía.

The current structure was built in several stages. Some say that a Roman temple sat on the site before being converted by the Visigoths to a Christian church and then subsequently to a mosque. It grew incrementally from a small to a very large place of worship in stages, and then in the 16th century became a cathedral which was woven into the earlier Roman and Muslim works – thus making it a complete triumph of the common culture of urban humanity.

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