The mosque in Cordoba has been declared a world heritage site.  According to the tourist office of Spain, "where the Mosque stands today, there used to be a basilica consecrated to San Vicente in Visigothic times. When the Arabs conquered Cordoba in 711, the building was shared and divided into two equal parts for Muslims and Christians. This odd arrangement lasted until 784 when Abd al-Rahman I decided to build a new mosque at the site, a mosque which was finished by his son Hisham I in 790.

The building was progressively enlarged, and it was Almanzor, Hisham II's favourite, who carried out the last extension by adding eight aisles to the eastern part of the building and who finished El Patio de los Naranjos (ie, of the Orange Trees), where four large ritual fountains were installed. After the reconquest of Cordoba in 1236, the mosque was consecrated to Christian worship and remained unchanged until 1384, when the chancel was enlarged by destroying arches and columns and replacing them with Gothic architecture. In 1523, part of the prayer hall was remodeled along Renaissance lines.

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