Stock Photo - The Mezquita, Córdoba, Spain, 1849. The Mezquita was originally built to be a warehouse/temple/lighthouse. It later became the second-largest mosque in the world. Construction of the Mezquita started in approximately the sixth century BC. Later, the Mezquita (originally the Aljama Mosque) was reworked for over two centuries to refashion it as a mosque, starting in AD784, under the supervision of the first Muslim Emir Abd ar-Rahman I, who used it as an adjunct to his palace and named it to honour his wife. The land was bought by the Emir from the previous owners. It is believed that the site included the Visigothic cathedral of St Vincent. When the forces of Tariq ibn-Ziyad first occupied Córdoba in 711, the Christian cathedral was suppressed. From Le Moyen Age et la Renaissance, by Paul Lacroix, Ferdinand Séré and A Rivaud, volume V (Paris, 1849).