Islamic Influence on the Toledo Cathedral

As stated in the introduction, Toledo Cathedral sits on the site of the now-destroyed Friday mosque. In fact, the city of Toledo contained centuries of Islamic monuments, and for some time there was little modification of the mosque. The process in which mosques were converted into cathedrals in Iberia “varied widely from almost complete preservation… to full substitution”. Immediately after conquest, most mosques were simply converted into cathedrals without much architectural change, but “in the course of time, many mosques were demolished to create sites for new cathedrals built in the Gothic style”. Justin E. A. Kroesen, author of the article From Mosques to Cathedrals: Converting Sacred Space During the Spanish Reconquest, offers an explanation: that “the Spanish church had been seriously reduced to poverty by the military campaign” of the Reconquista. The Friday mosque remained mostly intact for “about 130 years… until it was finally supplanted by [the Toledo Cathedral] from 1222 onward”. The cathedral, while obviously owing much of its construction to the Gothic influence of France, deviates greatly its width, due to “the construction of the cathedral on the foundations of the [Friday mosque] with its wide rectangular ground plan”.

            There are other theories about the influence of Islamic architecture on Toledo Cathedral. Tom Nickson, author of Copying Cordoba? Toledo and Beyond insists that the influence of Cordoba’s Great Mosque (built 784-786, widely praised for its beauty), (re)consecrated in 1236 is important “for understanding the Islamicate architecture of Toledo”. He says that “the combination of horseshoe arches, spolia columns, and white voussoirs in the Toledan mosque… of Bab al-Mardum or the nearby church of San Roman is clearly indebted… to similar features in Cordoba’s Great Mosque”. The Friday mosque was most likely inspired by Cordoba as well, and “may have constituted an important intermediary between [the] Great Mosque and these other Toledan buildings”, due to the lack of actual architectural sketches in the archaeological record. Traditionally, “Islamic elements in new buildings in Christian domains have… been attributed to Muslim craftsmen,” however in Toledo, few of these craftsmen were builders – and those who were worked “largely with brick”. The Toledo Cathedral is almost entirely stone. Other comparisons to Cordoba’s Great Mosque exist, including the “arrangement at Toledo – high alter, screen, and then funerary retrochapel/sacristy behind it – is markedly similar to that at Cordoba”.

            There are other factors that evidence Islamic influence on the cathedral. Marked differences in Toledo Cathedral from Cordoba can be seen as a reaction against Cordoba. For example, in Cordoba – even after its conversion to a cathedral – there was effectively no sculpture, which was “virtually a prerequisite for a great Gothic cathedral”. However, in Toledo “the… heads of prophets… that protrude from the ambulatory and presbytery triforia form part of the original design”. Nickson mentions that this was “somewhat unusual in a Gothic church”.

            Another potential Islamic influence is this: Spaniards connected their idea of the Reconquista with the Crusades in the Holy Land. Pope Urban II even encouraged this, directing Iberian knights “not to take part in the Crusade in Palestine”, but to conquer parts of Iberia. The spiritual rewards – the “remission of sins” – was to be the same as if they went to the Holy Land. Perhaps these ‘Islamic influences’ were to conjure up an image of Jerusalem, a city long occupied by Islamic polities, filled with structures that have served various religions in the past. Nickson brings up an interesting point in Copying Cordoba, that “the use of Islamicate forms could… be read as a gesture of triumphalism”, the victory of Christianity over Islam, but he also acknowledges that “the adoption of Islamicate architectural forms also [implies] wide-reaching authority… for Andalusi culture”. Whatever combination of answers is true, none can deny the effect of Islamic culture on the cathedral.