7 wonders of spain building
1. Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba
The Mosque-cathedral of Córdoba (Spanish: Mezquita–catedral de Córdoba), known as the Mosque of Córdoba (Spanish: Mezquita de Córdoba), whose ecclesiastical name is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption (Spanish: Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción), is the Catholic Christian cathedral of the Diocese of Córdoba dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and located in the Spanish region of Andalusia. It originally was a Catholic Christian church built by the Visigoths,although it was later converted to an Islamic mosque in the Middle Ages; after the Reconquista, it was made a Catholic Christian church once again. The cathedral is regarded as one of the most accomplished monuments of Moorish architecture. Since the early 2000s, Spanish Muslims have lobbied the Roman Catholic Church to allow them to pray in the cathedral.This Muslim campaign has been rejected on multiple occasions, both by the church authorities in Spain and by the Vatican.
2. Seville Cathedral
The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See (Spanish: Catedral de Santa María de la Sede), better known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Seville (Andalusia, Spain). It is the largest Gothic cathedral and the third-largest church in the world. It is also the largest cathedral in the world, as the two larger churches, the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida and St Peter's Basilica, are not the seats of bishops. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along with the Alcázar palace complex and the General Archive of the Indies.
After its completion in the early 16th century, the Seville Cathedral supplanted Hagia Sophia
as the largest cathedral in the world, a title the Byzantine church had
held for nearly a thousand years. The cathedral is also the burial site
of Christopher Columbus. The Archbishop's Palace is located on the northeastern side of the cathedral.
3.Alhambra
Alhambra (/ælˈhæmbrə/; Spanish: [aˈlambɾa]; Arabic: الْحَمْرَاء, [ʔælħæmˈɾˠɑːʔ], Al-Ḥamrā', lit. "the red one"),[a] the complete form of which was Calat Alhambra, is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain.
It was originally constructed as a small fortress in 889 and then
largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the
mid-11th century by the Moorish emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada, who built its current palace and walls. It was converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada.
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| A room of the palace and a view of the Court of the Lions. |
Alhambra's Islamic palaces, as we know them today, were built for the last Muslim emirs in Spain and the court of the Nasrid dynasty. After the conquest of Granada by the Reyes Católicos ("Catholic Monarchs") in 1492, some portions were used by Christian rulers. The Palace of Charles V, built by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
in 1527, was inserted in the Alhambra within the Nasrid fortifications.
After being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the buildings
being occupied by squatters,
Alhambra was rediscovered in the 19th century by European scholars and
travelers, with restorations commencing. It is now one of Spain's major
tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most significant and well
known Islamic architecture, together with 16th-century and later Christian building and garden interventions. Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the inspiration for many songs and stories.
Moorish poets described it as "a pearl set in emeralds," an allusion to the colour of its buildings and the woods around them.
The palace complex was designed with the mountainous site in mind and
many forms of technology were considered. The park (Alameda de la
Alhambra), which is overgrown with wildflowers and grass in the spring,
was planted by the Moors with roses, oranges, and myrtles; its most characteristic feature, however, is the dense wood of English elms brought by the Duke of Wellington in 1812. The park has a multitude of nightingales
and is usually filled with the sound of running water from several
fountains and cascades. These are supplied through a conduit 8 km
(5.0 mi) long, which is connected with the Darro at the monastery of Jesus del Valle above Granada.
Despite long neglect, willful vandalism, and some ill-judged
restoration, Alhambra endures as an atypical example of Muslim art in
its final European stages, relatively uninfluenced by the direct Byzantine influences found in the Mezquita of Córdoba.
The majority of the palace buildings are quadrangular in plan, with all
the rooms opening on to a central court, and the whole reached its
present size simply by the gradual addition of new quadrangles, designed
on the same principle, though varying in dimensions, and connected with
each other by smaller rooms and passages. Alhambra was extended by the
different Muslim rulers who lived in the complex. However, each new
section that was added followed the consistent theme of "paradise on
earth". Column arcades, fountains with running water, and reflecting
pools were used to add to the aesthetic and functional complexity. In
every case, the exterior was left plain and austere. Sun and wind were
freely admitted. Blue, red, and a golden yellow, all somewhat faded
through lapse of time and exposure, are the colors chiefly employed.
"Detail of the script of the wall of the Mexuar Hall: "God is the only Victor.".
The decoration consists, as a rule, of Arabic inscriptions that are manipulated into geometrical patterns wrought into arabesques. Painted tiles are largely used as panelling for the walls. The palace complex is designed in the Mudéjar style, which is characteristic of western elements reinterpreted into Islamic forms and widely popular during the so-called Reconquista, the "reconquest" of the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslims by the Christian kingdoms.
4.Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar
The Basilica–Cathedral of Our Lady of the Pillar (Spanish: Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain. The Basilica venerates Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title Our Lady of the Pillar praised as Mother of the Hispanic Peoples by Pope John Paul II.[2] It is reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary in history.
Local traditions take the history of this basilica to the dawn of Christianity in Spain attributing to an apparition to Saint James the Great, the apostle who is believed by tradition to have brought Christianity to the country.[4] This is the only reported apparition of Mary to have occurred before her believed Assumption.
Many of the kings of Spain, many other foreign rulers and saints have paid their devotion before this statue of Mary. Saint John of the Cross, Saint Teresa of Ávila, Saint Ignatius of Loyola, and Blessed William Joseph Chaminade are among the foremost ones. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar is one of two minor basilicas in the city of Zaragoza, and is co-cathedral of the city alongside the nearby La Seo Cathedral. The architecture is of Baroque style, and the present building was predominantly built between 1681 and 1872.
5. Roman Theatre (Mérida)
The Roman Theatre of Mérida is a construction promoted by the consul Vipsanius Agrippa in the Roman city of Emerita Augusta, capital of Lusitania (current Mérida, Spain). It was constructed in the years 16 to 15 BCE.
The theater has undergone several renovations, notably at the end of
the 1st century or early 2nd century CE (possibly during the reign of
Emperor Trajan), when the current facade of the scaenae frons was erected, and another in the time of Constantine I
(between 330 and 340) which introduced new decorative-architectural
elements and a walkway around the monument. Following the theatre's
abandonment in Late Antiquity, it was slowly covered with earth, with only the upper tiers of seats (summa cavea)
remaining visible. In local folklore the site was referred to as "The
Seven Chairs", where, according to tradition, several Moorish kings sat
to decide the fate of the city.
6. Santiago de Compostela Cathedral
The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela (Galician: Catedral de Santiago de Compostela), a cathedral of the archdiocese is in the World Heritage Site of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in Spain. The cathedral is the reputed burial-place of Saint James the Great, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. The cathedral has historically been a place of pilgrimage on the Way of St. James, since the Early Middle Ages. The building is a Romanesque structure with later Gothic and Baroque additions.
7. Sagrada Família
Construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882 and Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style, combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms. Gaudí devoted his last years to the project, and at the time of his death at age 73 in 1926 less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família's construction progressed slowly, as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War, only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the midpoint in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026, the centenary of Gaudí's death.
The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona: over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona's cathedral, over Gaudí's design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí's death disregarded his design, and the recent proposal to build an underground tunnel of Spain's high-speed rail link to France which could disturb its stability.
Describing Sagrada Família, art critic Rainer Zerbst said, "It is probably impossible to find a church building anything like it in the entire history of art" and Paul Goldberger called it, "The most extraordinary personal interpretation of Gothic architecture since the Middle Ages."
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