Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz

Toledo

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On the northern slopes of town you'll find a modest, yet beautiful, mosque (the only one remaining of Toledo's 10) where architectural traces of Toledo's medieval Muslim conquerors are still in evidence. Built around AD 1000, it suffered the usual fate of being converted into a church (hence the religious frescoes), but the original vaulting and arches survived.

According to local legend (which explains the mosque's unusual name), when Alfonso VI conquered Toledo for the Christians in 1085, his horse stopped outside the mosque and refused to continue. Closer investigations revealed a statue of Christ with its oil lamp apparently still burning more than three centuries after it was left there…

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