Early Christian(?) Carved Panel
The Chi-Rho design in the center of this carving implies its Christian origins. The Chi-Rho is an early Christogram that superimposes the first two letters of the Greek form of Christ (ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ) to form an easily reproduced and recognizable motif. This infusion of early Christian origins within an Islamic space speaks to the Mosque’s complicated history. The existence of a Visigothic church and monastery dedicated to St Vincent on the site on which the Great Mosque was later built has been challenged. Some accounts say that after the conquest, Christians and Muslims shared this space, but that the Christian space was demolished to construct the earliest 8th-century mosque.