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Chapter 3 approaches the notion of trophy through historical accounts of the Christianization of the Córdoba and Seville Islamic temples in the thirteenth-century and the late-fifteenth-century conquest of Granada. The first two examples on Córdoba and Seville are relevant to explore the way in which medieval chronicles (mainly Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada and his entourage) turned the narrative of the Christianization of mosques into one of the central topics of the restoration myth. The sixteenth-century narratives about the taking of the Alhambra in Granada explain the continuity of this triumphal reading within the humanist model of chorography and urban eulogy (Lucius Marineus Siculus, Luis de Mármol Carvajal, and Francisco Bermúdez de Pedraza).

Chapter 5 explores the codification of antiquarian writing in Spain in its original form as expressed by Ambrosio de Morales in Las Antigüedades de las ciudades de España (1575), and particularly it considers the consequences of the inclusion of Córdoba Mosque and Madinat al-Zahra in this commentary. The terms of the description and Morales’ use of antiquarian tools are analyzed. In addition, the chapter deals with the interesting methodological debate Morales’ writings gave rise (Pedro Díaz de Ribas, Gregorio López Madera, Alonso Morgado, among others) to around the use of antiquarian tools in formal historical research of Islamic monuments: literary sources, epigraphy, and archaeological analyses of the materials and building techniques (stones, bricks, and mortar). Finally, the chapter deals with the conflictive relationship between the narratives on the Islamic antiquities of Spain, the antiquarian vocabulary and the classical canon.

This introductory chapter opens with the case study of the amendments that the historian Ambrosio de Morales introduced in the manuscript version of his core book Las Antigüedades de las ciudades de España (1575) before sending it to print. The changes in the description of Córdoba Mosque reveal the conflictive status of Islamic architecture in the Spanish historical writing of the time. Upon this example the subject of Admiration and Awe is introduced through three angles: the connection of the topic of the interpretation of Islamic monuments to sixteenth and seventeenth historiographical building of Spanish national identity; a review of recent academic literature on the subject as well as on its possible connection to postcolonial theory; and a survey in the early modern historiographical distinction among medieval Islamic buildings and contemporary uses of Islamic architecture.

Chapter 6 focuses on three case studies: the appropriation of Córdoba Mosque as a classical edifice, the transformation of Seville Giralda into an antiquity, and, finally, the humanist reading of Toledo. Since in the latter the destruction of the Aljama Mosque had deprived the city of major Islamic buildings, it provides a useful example to explore the limits of antiquarian strategy (Francisco de Pisa, Pedro de Rojas, Cristóbal Lozano). Regarding Córdoba, Pablo de Céspedes’ theory about a section of the mosque actually being Roman is commented on. Regarding Seville, the common praise for the Giralda is analyzed upon its antiquarian description by Alonso Morgado, which was later copied and transformed by Rodrigo Caro.

Chapter 1 explores the discourse underlying the medieval interpretation of Islamic monumental architecture. The interaction between the idea of buildings as trophies and the tension surrounding their potential destruction, conservation, and transformation offers a convenient framework for subsequent analysis of the strategies behind the appropriation of the surviving edifices. The chapter sets out the general background by way of a review of the writings of Ambrosio de Morales in relation to the Christian architectonic transformation of Córdoba Mosque. Then, Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada and his medieval idea of restoration as applied to the Christian conquest of Islamic Spain, as well as its consequences in the Humanist interpretation of Islamic buildings, are explained.