On 8 July 2026, as part of the partnership with the BIBEL MUSEUM BAYERN, a lecture was held on the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba. The event was organised in collaboration with the Evangelical City Academy of Nuremberg and the Spiritual Centre at eckstein. Dr. Ekkehard Wohlleben, pastor and director of the City Academy, introduced the speaker.
In his lecture, Jan Gehm spoke about the eventful history of Islamic-Christian coexistence at this place of worship in Andalusia, which is over 1,200 years old and remains to this day a significant testament to the presence of Islam in the West. His talk focused not only on the architecture of the building itself, but also on the historical coexistence of Christians and Muslims during that era.
Furthermore, Jan Gehm shed light on the more recent history of the Mezquita, as well as the 21st-century debates surrounding the mosque-cathedral. Using these controversies as an example, he highlighted current dynamics in Christian-Islamic coexistence. It became clear that the building is far more than a monument of historical significance – rather, it serves as a lens through which social discourses that continue to have an impact to this day become visible: whilst, on the one hand, there are efforts to obscure the building’s Islamic history in favour of the Christian cathedral, on the other hand, the Mezquita functions as a central place of remembrance of the heyday of al-Andalus.
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3/3The subsequent discussion with the audience focused on the role of religious buildings in the present day. In particular, the discussion centred on just how closely emotions and identities can be linked to these stone monuments to history – a question that can equally be posed with regard to the sacred buildings here and throughout the Nuremberg region.