CLEP Western Civ I

Answer: C - The building is the Mezquita of Córdoba, Spain, a present cathedral and former mosque in a part of Spain once dominated by the Moors (Medieval Muslims from Northern Africa and Spain). The building has a couple of qualities (visible in the image) that make its hybrid aesthetic easy to pinpoint. First, that type of column was a hallmark of Greek-influenced design from Europe, specifically the Roman Empire: they are polished rock, relatively narrow and have ornamental caps made of carved rock at the top. Second, the capitals have a leafy design in the Corinthian style, another connection to Greco-Roman design. When the building was reconstructed after the Muslims took hold of the city, they used the columns from the Roman temple already at the site and from other Roman-constructed sites around the city to place over 850 columns throughout the mosque. Third, the dramatic bands on the arches are a hallmark of Islamic architecture. The mix between Greco-Roman elements and Islamic elements means that the building has to be somewhere where both cultures lived for various extended periods of time- Moorish Spain.