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Christians razed an Almohad mosque to clear space for Seville’s cathedral in 1401, leaving only the famed La Giralda minaret. The tower and its twins in Marrakech and Rabat are the oldest and largest surviving Almohad minarets. The cathedral took over a century to complete and stands as the largest Gothic edifice in the world. To demonstrate their religious fervor, the conquerors constructed a church so great that, in their own words, “those who come after us will take us for madmen”. The retalbo mayor (altarpiece), the largest in the world, is a golden wall of intricately wrought figurines; depicting 36 biblical scenes. The black and gold coffin-bearers of Christopher Columbus’s tomb represent the eternally grateful kings of Castilla, León, Aragón, and Narvarra. Patio de les Naranjos (orange trees) evokes the bygone days of the Arab Caliphate. You can see the irrigation canals running off the fountain, which is typical of Arabic architecture.