Note B — PICTURESQUE SPAIN
Reading edition
Cordova was taken soon after the battle of Jerez (711). Abd-ur-rahman I., the founder of the Omaijaden dynasty began to build the mosque in 785. The columns (their number is stated at between 1400 and 1500) were collected from buildings in all countries: Byzantium, Rome, Carthage, Nîmes, Narbonne, etc.; hence their variety of form and material (marble, porphyry, jasper, alabaster). In 1235 Cordova was taken by the Christians. The erection of the choir was begun in 1523.