Under the forest of columns, in the basement of the Mezquita-Catedral, lie the archaeological remains of the Visigothic Basilica of San Vicente.
When to Visit
Visit duration
15 – 20 minutes on top of your Mezquita visit
What survives
Two things are worth looking for. The first is the masonry: made of stone and brick, it carries a stamped inscription, "EX OFF[ICINA] LEONTI", which names the workshop that supplied the materials and dates the construction to the 6th century. The second is the mosaics. They lie in the basement under the Abd al-Rahman I chapel, not in the prayer-hall floor above, and the Mezquita's own description says they match the flooring of one of the rooms inside the original basilica. Some pieces recovered in the excavations are also exhibited in the Monumental Site.
Go down after the prayer hall, not before
The Visigothic floor reads better once you have walked the columns that reused its materials. Arrive at opening to have the lower level without a crowd.
Was it really San Vicente?
The name is the traditional one, and the Mezquita presents the remains under it. Whether a church stood exactly here when Abd al-Rahman I began his mosque is disputed. The case for and against is laid out in Córdoba before the Mezquita, which is the place to go for the argument.
What is not in doubt is that the mosque reused Roman and Visigothic material from earlier buildings, the basilica among them. That reuse is why the prayer hall's columns do not match, a story told in the Mezquita's mismatched columns. For the wider Visigothic city around the building, see Hermenegild and Leovigild in Córdoba, 584. The Visigothic king Leovigild retook rebel Córdoba in about 572.
