text:  In its present state as the cathedral of Cordova it still covers more ground than any church in Christendom; but the inner roof with its elaborate carving the _mihrab_ or shrine of minute inlaid work of ivory gems and precious woods and containing a copy of the Koran which had belonged to the Khalif Othman--the embossed plates of gold and silver which encrusted the doors and the apples of the same metals which surmounted the dome--have long since disappeared; and the thousand (or as some say thirteen hundred) columns of polished marble which it once boasted have been grievously reduced in number to make room for the shrines and chapels of Christian saints