When al-Hakam II (ruled 961-976) came to power in Spain, the dynasty of his Umayyad ancestors in Damascus was a distant memory. However, the prestige of their great mosque was such that he used it as inspiration to decorate the qiblah wall of the mosque he had enlarged in Córdoba (Spain). The base of the walls was therefore faced with veined marble above which was a shimmering decoration of plant motifs and multicoloured mosaic inscriptions on a gold background.