On March 11, 2004, bombs were detonated on Madrid commuter trains. It turned out to be the work of Islamic extemists, trying their hand at some Bin-Ladenesque tactics. Tension involving Muslims in Spain is frankly nothing new, though. The Moors were around ever since they were instrumental in pushing back the Roman Empire from the peninsula, and after that there were about 700 years of wars between Christian and Muslim rulers (though, to be fair, there was also plenty of intra-Christian and intra-Muslim fighting going on at that time too).

Muslim rule in Spain centered first in Cordoba, then Sevilla, and finally Granada. In Cordoba, the Moors built a vast mosque. The multitude of candycane-coloured arches create a canopy for the forest of columns within its walls.



A few hundred years after the city fell under Christian rule, the inhabitants decided to build a cathedral. The mosque already had a pretty sweet location, though. So why not just plop the cathedral amidst this already existing forest of a mosque? It wasn´t really in use anymore anyway. You can see in the photo below where the builders interrupted the arches and built the more ornamented walls for the Christian building.



In Sevilla, they built a cathedral that was quite a bit bigger than the one in Cordoba. To accomodate this one, they needed to tear down just about all of the mosque it was replacing. The only two elements surviving to today are (1) the courtyard which was originally used to wash ones feet before entering the mosque (now filled with orange trees):



and (2), the minaret, which was expanded upon and transformed into a belltower (now called the "Giralda"):



Granada held out the longest against the Christian reconquest, in no small part due to the strength of the Alhambra fortress, which you´ve already seen in previous posts. It was finally conquered by "the Christian Monarchs" Isabel in Fernando in 1492, just a few months before they sent Columbus across the Atlantic in search of a passage to India, and set up the Spanish Inquisition.

The Albaycin was historically the most Muslim of Granada neighbourhoods, and has gone through many changes over the centuries. Its first new mosque in 500 years, with a pleasant little courtyard garden, was just built there in recent years.