The Catholic Church has lost a legal battle to claim legal ownership over a mosque-cathedral in Córdorba, Spain.

Local authorities have declared "religious consecration is not the way to acquire property," thus undermining the Catholic Church's claim on the site, which has been subject to a long-term dispute of ownership.

The building lies on a site which has been under ownership of both Muslims and Catholics in its history.

The site was originally a Catholic Basilica built by the Visigoths. However, when Muslims conquered Spain in 711, the church was divided into Christian and Muslim halves, until 784, when the Christian half was purchased by Emir 'Abd al-Rahman I. He demolished the entire structure, building the Grand mosque in 784 on the same site. Since 1236, the former mosque has been a cathedral, having been given to the local Bishop Fernando III when the city fell to Christians.

The local council has declared, despite the Catholic Church's protestations, that the building does not belong to the church – or any other organisation.

The building, which has been a Unesco world heritage site "of exceptional universal value" since 1984, cannot be owned by anyone.

In 2006, the Catholic Church paid 30 euros to register ownership of what they referred to as the cathedral-mosque (although the approved name by the government is the mosque-cathedral of Córdoba). However, the report, written by the city council's secretary general Valeriano Lavela, said that it did not have any legal basis and cannot confer ownership.

Instead, the site's true owners "are each and every citizen of the world from whatever epoch and regardless of people, nature, culture or race".

Currently Catholic mass is held in the mosque-cathedral, but Muslim prayer is banned, despite persistent lobbying.