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Christie's auction house said Monday it had withdrawn the controversial auction of five wooden beams from the Great Mosque of Cordoba in southern Spain from Tuesday's sale in order to negotiate with the Spanish authorities.
The Spanish government last month asked Britain to suspend the sale of the beams, which date from the second half of the 10th century.
"Christie's is in dialogue with the Spanish authorities with a view to negotiating a private sale for the five wooden beams from Cordoba," the auction house said in a statement.
"Therefore, Christie's has agreed to withdraw the beams from the Art of the Islamic and Indian Worlds sale in order to continue these discussions."
Legal representatives of the building threatened an injunction to prevent the sale as they fight to establish ownership of the artefacts.
The Umayyad Andalusian beams from the former Great Mosque, converted into a cathedral following the capture of the once Muslim-ruled city by King Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236, were to be a major highlight of the sale.
Each beam was expected to fetch between 100,000 and 300,000 pounds (175,000 and 520,000 dollars, 140,000 and 430,000 euros).
The cathedral had sent its top expert to London to check on the beams.
Lawyer Jonathan Wheeler, representing the cathedral, said the artefacts were of "great cultural and religious importance" to Spain.
He said: "The Cathedral of Cordoba has received great public support in their efforts to prevent their sale by auction in London and to recover them.
"I am delighted that we have been able to prevent their sale and we will be discussing with Christie's their true ownership and, if necessary, will no doubt be instructed to take steps to recover them."
The Great Mosque, built on a Visigoth site believed also to be the site of an earlier Roman temple, has emblematic architectural status in Spain.
Five centuries after the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the cathedral maintains the superlative forest of columns from the old Muslim prayer room.
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AFPLifestyle-Spain-Britain-architecture-religion-art
AFP 031733 GMT 04 06
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