SPAIN: Spain has asked Interpol to prevent the sale of five 10th-century wooden beams from the historic Great Mosque of Cordoba, due to go on sale next month at Christie's auction house in London.
The five larch beams were carved and painted by the Moorish craftsmen who helped to extend the famous mosque to its current size 10 centuries ago.
Spain wants the beams to be impounded until the legality of the sale can be clarified.
"The culture ministry has asked the world heritage brigade of the national police, via Interpol, to investigate the legal situation of the five beams from the Cordoba mosque," the ministry said, and "has asked for . . . British judicial authorities, if possible, take custody of them."
It said Spanish law from 1985 barred objects more than 100 years old from being exported without a permit. Christie's yesterday insisted it was not worried about the provenance of the beams. - (Guardian service)