The Great Mosque of Córdoba in al-Andalus (present-day Spain) was begun around 785-786 CE under the Umayyad Emir Abd al-Rahman I. Built on the site of a Christian Visigothic church, the mosque underwent numerous expansions over two centuries, becoming one of the largest and most magnificent mosques in the Islamic world. Its forest of double-tiered arches and richly decorated mihrab exemplify the distinctive architectural style of Islamic Spain.

The Great Mosque of Córdoba has inspired poets across the religious and cultural divides of Spanish history, from the Arabic poetry of the Umayyad court to the Spanish Golden Age verse that mourned its conversion to a cathedral. Federico García Lorca and other modern Spanish poets have invoked the mosque as a symbol of Andalusian identity and the layered religious history of the Iberian Peninsula.