Toledo, Spain
Coordinates: 39.858477, -4.022665
The Mosque of Las Tornerías (Arabic: al-Mustimim) is a Islamic Moorish mosque in Toledo.
It was built in the middle of the 11th century.
Located in the old Muslim neighborhood Arrabal de Francos. Currently it houses the “Center Foundation of Promotion of the Crafts”, that can be visited and hosts temporary exhibitions.
The building continued maintaining the Islamic faith in Spain well beyond the fall of the city to the Christian troops of Alfonso VI of León and Castile in 1085, until the period of 1498–1505, when it was desacralizated (deprive someone of sacred qualities, rites or status) by the Catholic Monarchs.
Already as a building for civil use, it went through various transformation, first as an inn in 1505 and then as the headquarters of different businesses and small factories or as a simple home.
Its history was lost until the late 19th century, when historians investigating its origins didn’t know whether it was a synagogue or a mosque.
After the studies, on the 15 of March 1905, the finding of an Arab mosque in the street of the Tornerías was officially communicated to the Real Academia de la Historia.
As one of only two surviving Mosques in the City of Three Cultures, it is such a shame that this hidden gem has not been restored or opened to the public.
Features of the Mosque
The mosque was built on the walls of Roman drinking water tanks for distribution of drinking water throughout the city.
Its construction was made based on one of the main mosques of the city of Toledo, the Mosque of Cristo de la Luz or of Bab al-Mardum of the 10th century.
Its plan is irregular square and the interior spaces are organized like the former in a plan of nine square compartments, covered by sail-vault domes of brick, except the central one, with special relevance of its ribbed dome.
The building has horseshoe arches on low columns with large capitals.
