The work of Philibert Girault de Prangey, who was a draughtsman, pioneering photographer and an Islamic architecture scholar, has been the subject of recent exhibitions in his hometown (Langres, 2019), at the Metropolitan Museum (New York, 2019) and at the Musée d’Orsay (Paris, 2020). After visiting Andalusia between 1832 and 1833, Prangey completed the publication “Monuments arabes et moresques de Cordoue, Seville et Grenada in 1839”, based on his own drawings and measurements. For the first time, this research analyses his interior perspectives of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba (Spain). The novel methodology is based on its comparison with a digital model derived from the point cloud captured by a 3D laser scanner. After locating the different viewpoints, the geometric precision and the elaboration process are analysed, taking into account historic images by various authors, other details published by Prangey and the architectural transformations of the building. In this way, the veracity and documentary interest of some beautiful perspectives of a monument inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO is valued.
This research presents a dimensional analysis of the arcades of one of the most emblematic spaces of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba: its central nave, located besides the mihrab in the ambitious extension carried out by Al-Hakam II. In order to accomplish this survey, a digital model was created from the point cloud obtained with a 3D laser scanner. Subsequently, earlier theories of architectural proportions related to this monument have been reviewed. The comparison of these earlier drawings with the corresponding digital models allows the precision of their different hypotheses to be assessed. Architectonic deformations not considered by the scientific literature are also quantified here. Finally, this research indicates certain partial order relations close to the proportion 1.3, though it should be noted that not all the arcades share the same dimensions and thus no general theory applies to their proportions.
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