Mezquita (Detail of Ceiling)
After the Spanish had completed the reconquest of Spain, and driven out the last of the Muslims, they took over the old Moorish palaces, castles and mosques. In order to make manifest the Christian conquest of Islam the head of the Roman Catholic church ordered that a cathedral be built at the heart of the mosque in Cordoba. Even at the time, opinions differed widely as to whether this imposition improved the place.
This photograph shows the finely sculpted figurines in part of the cathedral ceiling.