The Sanctuary or Zeka has been spared to us. It is a little heptagonal recess, paved with white marble and roofed with a shell-like cupola of marble of a single block. The sides are formed by dentated horseshoe arches which interlace and enclose each other in a beautiful complication. Here in the southern wall is the recess which indicated the direction of Mecca, and towards which the worshippers turned; it is adorned with exquisite mosaic work and with inscriptions from the Koran and the names of the architects. In the Sanctuary was preserved for several centuries after the Reconquest the superb "mimbar" or pulpit of Al Hakem II. "It was of marble," says Señor de Madrazo, "and of the most precious woods, such as ebony, red sandal-wood, bakam, Julian aloe, etc.; it cost 35,000 dineros and 3 adirames. It had nine steps." We are told that it was composed of 36,000 pieces of wood, joined with pins of silver and gold, and encrusted with precious stones. Its construction lasted seven years, eight artificers being employed upon it daily. This tribune was reserved for the khalifa, and in it was deposited the principal object of the veneration of the Moslems of Andalusia and Al Moghreb--a copy of the Koran supposed to have been written by Othman and stained with his precious blood. This treasure was preserved in a binding of cloth-of-gold sewn with pearls and rubies, covered with the richest red silk, and placed on a lectern of aloe-wood with nails of gold. Its weight was extraordinary, and two men could carry it only with difficulty. It was placed in the mimbar, when the imam read from it the prayer of the Azulah, and was then placed in the treasury with the gold and silver vessels used in the ceremonies of the "Ramadan." The Maksurrah is now transformed into the chapel of Villa Viciosa. Here sat the khalifa when not officiating as imam. Little is visible of the original decoration, except the cupola, similar to that of the Sanctuary. Adjacent to this chapel another has been discovered which it is thought will prove to be the treasury to which Madrazo refers. [Illustration: CORDOVA--PATIO DE LOS NARANJOS]