Giralda. Original Minaret, Great Mosque, Seville

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This was the original minaret for the Great Mosque of Seville in al-Andalus, Moorish Spain, during the reign of the Almohad dynasty. It was commissioned in 1171 by caliph Abu Ya’qub Yusuf. From the beginning, craftsmen from all over Al-Andalus and the Maghrib were enlisted in the mosque’s planning, construction, and decoration, and the caliph himself was highly invested in the process and was said to have visited the site daily. By 1176, the mosque was complete. On 10 March 1198, the tower was completed with the addition of four precious metal spheres (either gold or bronze) at the tower’s peak to commemorate al-Mansur’s victory over Alfonso VIII of Castile, which had taken place four years prior. After Seville was recovered by the Christians in 1248 during the Reconquista, the city’s mosque was converted into a cathedral.