The Cathedral-Mosque of Cordoba, has been suject to a series of expansions and according to the richness of the materials used during the same, one can clearly distinguish that the first extensions were the most richly ornamented. In 822 Abderrahman II expanded the prayer hall into eight sections to the south, with a clear Abbasid influence in its decoration, the product of political contacts with the Eastern Caliphate and the arrival of individuals from the East to the Peninsula.
The last major expansion took place in the late tenth century. The fall of the Caliphate was noted in the poor materials used in this area. Faced with the impossibility of a further expansion to the south, due to its location near the river Guadalquivir, Almanzor choose to add eight naves to the East.