Online Desk : A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in the Spanish city of Cordoba on Friday but it was quickly contained, firefighters said.

The spectacular blaze had broken out around 9:00 PM (1900 GMT) raising fears for the early medieval architectural gem.

ABC and other newspapers reported that a mechanical sweeping machine had caught fire in the site.

Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke coming from inside the major tourist attraction, which is visited by two million people per year.

“The fire is under control at this stage, but it is not extinguished,” the fire brigade said. There were no immediate reports on how much damage had been caused at the UNESCO-listed heritage site.

Considered a jewel of Islamic architecture, the site was built as a mosque — on the site of an earlier church — between the 8th and 10th centuries by the southern city’s then Muslim ruler, Abd ar-Rahman, an emir of the Umayyad dynasty.

After Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, it was converted into a cathedral and architectural alterations were made over following centuries.