MADRID: A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba on Friday but the monument was saved as firefighters quickly contained it, the Spanish city’s mayor said. A historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba in southern Spain reopened on Saturday, a day after a blaze that was quickly contained by firefighters, a spokesman for the site said.
Considered a jewel of Islamic architecture, the site opened at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) and will close at 7:00 p.m. — its regular hours — with only the area where the fire broke out cordoned off to the public, he told AFP by telephone.
Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke billowing from inside the major tourist attraction, visited by two million people per year.
“The monument is saved. There will be no spread, it will not be a catastrophe, let’s put it that way,” Mayor Jose Mara Bellido said on Cadena television.
Earlier, the fire brigade had said the fire was under control but not extinguished.
