Islamic forces conquered a large part of the Iberian peninsula in the early 8th century. Although Arab armies crossed into what is now France, they were defeated; and both France and the northern tier of what is now Spain remained under Christian rule. After the fall of the Umayyad dynasty in Syria in 750, the sole surviving prince fled to the west, reached Iberia in 755, and established an Umayyad kingdom. This kingdom, although disturbed by conflicts with both Christians and North Africans, lasted into the 11th century. It was followed by a period of political fragmentation. In spite of these problems, however, Islamic Spain was at times an intellectual and cultural center.
The capital of Umayyad Spain was at Cordoba, a marvelous city described by Hillenbrand as follows:
...Cordoba in its prime has no peer in Europe for the amenities of civilized life. Its houses were bountifully supplied with hot and cold running water, its streets were lit at night, its royal library -- if one may trust the chroniclers -- had 400,000 volumes at a time when the major libraries in western Europe scarcely reached a thousand. (Hillenbrand, 1999, p. 175)
Many arts flourished, including metal work, textiles (especially silk), the making of illuminated Qur'ans, and calligraphy. In addition, ancient Greek and Arabic science and philosophy were studied. The city of Toledo was one center of Arab and Jewish culture under Islamic rule. Later, after reconquest by Christians, it was one of the places where Arab, Christian, and Jewish scholars translated scientific and philosophical texts into several languages. Many were translated into Latin for the first time and gradually became available to the philosophers of western Europe. The European renaissance of the 12th century depended in part on these translations.
For an overview of Islamic architecture in Spain, see Barrucand and Bednorz Moorish Architecture in Andalusia.
The Great Mosque at Cordoba
The early architecture of Islamic Spain was a mixture of many elements: Roman, Visigoth, Byzantine, North African, and Syrian. Of all these, perhaps the Syrian was the most important.
Many of the buildings of this period have been lost; but one of the grandest, the Great Mosque at Cordoba, remains partially intact. Begun in 784 and expanded over a two hundred year period, it was one of the largest mosques in the world.
The Great Mosque is essentially a hypostyle mosque with about 600 columns and an open courtyard planted with orange trees. The wooden roof was supported by a two-tiered system of arches. According to Ettinghausen and Grabar, the mosque's originality lies in three features. (Ettinghausen and Grabar, 1987, p. 132-134)
- A higher roof, achieved by using a two-tiered system of columns and arches.
- Polylobed arches
- Ribbed domes, which increased their decorative value
The picture shows the mosque as it exists today, with a Christian cathedral built into the prayer hall.
Historians and visitors have often focused on two features of the Great Mosque: the ribbed domes and the two-tiered system of arches.
The mosque has several ribbed domes, one of which is located just before the mihrab. This dome rises above an octagon and is supported by eight large intersecting ribs. The design greatly increases the visual complexity and decorative value of the dome. (See Ettinghausen and Grabar, 1987, p. 134.)
In addition, the mihrab itself, instead of being a niche in the wall, has become a small room. According to Hoag, "nearly all later Spanish and North African mihrabs assume this form." (Hoag, p. 44) The decoration around the entrance to this room is made up of Byzantine mosaics created by artists sent by the Byzantine emperor.
The two-tiered system of arches is reminiscent of Roman aqueducts. It was designed to allow the roof to be raised beyond the height of the available columns, many of which were taken from older buildings. The available columns were used for the lower level. Piers built above them allow for greater height.
The columns and piers are separated by two tiers of arches. The lower arches have a horseshoe shape and the upper arches are semi-circular. The horseshoe arch had been used by the Visigoths in Spain, but its use was greatly expanded by the Muslims.
Here is Stierlin's overall assessment of the Great Mosque:
All the elements of the hypostyle mosque at Cordoba combined to make it one of the most original creations of Islamic civilization, from the horizontal space, whose invisible limits accentuate its immensity, to the forest of columns and the constant lightness of the superimposed arches, whose bicolor arch stones seem to vibrate with the light. Never before had such a vast interior space been conceived, using such simple methods as columns supporting arches of limited dimensions.... With the Cordoba mosque, Islamic architecture had reached the apex of a system which had previously been illustrated by the Amr Mosque in Fustat (present-day Cairo) or the Great Mosque of the Aghlabids in Kairouan. (Stierlin, 1996, p. 92)
The Aljaferia
In the 11th century the Umayyad kingdom in Iberia disintegrated into smaller states. For a period in the middle of the century, sometimes called the Taifa period, these smaller states vied and battled with each other. They also fostered a great deal of building, especially fortresses, palaces, and city walls. Most of this building has not survived; but one lovely example, the Aljaferia palace at Saragossa, still exists. Some damaged portions have been restored.
The Aljaferia is a large complex that includes a courtyard, reception hall, throne room, arcades, gardens, pools, and a mosque. One of its striking features is the many polylobed arches. Another, considered by Barrucand and Bednorz to be its "most remarkable" feature, is the "interlocking arches which here reach a dazzling degree of complexity." (Barrucand and Bednorz, p. 121)
Barrucand and Bednorz describe the Aljaferia as follows:
"Dar al-Surur" ("House of Joy") was probably the original name of the summer palace of the Banu Hud, built by Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Sulayman al-Muqtadir billah (1046/47-1081/82) during the second half of the 11th century on the banks of the Ebro to the west of his capital, Saragossa. It is now known as the Aljaferia, which derives from al-Ja'fariyya, after the name of its founder.... The complex consists of a trapezoid surrounded by thick walls of cut stone, with round towers placed at intervals along them. The rectangular tower on the north side antedates the palace buildings, while the south-western tower, originally round, has been subsequently clad with stone to make it square. The entrance is situated between two round towers in the northeast. The residential and reception wing is on the north-south axis in the middle of the quadrangle; it consists of two blocks along the shorter sides of a large rectangular courtyard, in which are situated pools reflecting the porticos and arcades; these pools are connected by a channel. The arcades on the long walls are a later addition; originally there seems to have been nothing here but ancillary rooms. The northern block contains the reception rooms: a rectangular hall, considerably longer than broad - the throne room - is flanked by two approximately square rooms, accessible only from the hall, not from the portico.... On the east side of the north porch is the entrance to the mosque, a centrally-planned square space, with an inscribed octagon. It is a two-storeyed structure, whose entrance, like the mihrab niche, is framed by a horseshoe arch....The mihrab keeps strictly to the pattern of that in the Great Mosque in Cordova on which it was modelled. (Barrucand and Bednorz, p. 118-121)
The Alhambra
After the Taifa period, southern Iberia was ruled by a series of groups including the Almoravids, the Almohads, and the Nasrids. By the time the Nasrids came to power, most of the peninsula was in Christian hands and the Nasrids were the main Islamic power left. They survived until 1492, when the Reconquista was complete. Although the Nasrid kingdom was small and relatively weak, they left behind one of the finest pieces of Islamic architecture in Spain - the large complex at Granada called the Alhambra.
The Alhambra was a combination fortress and palace-city. Barrucand and Bednorz describe it as it once was:
The walls with their twenty-three towers and four gates once enclosed, alongside seven palaces, dwelling houses for a whole range of social classes, as well as offices of all kinds, the Royal Mint, public and private mosques, workshops, garrisons, prisons, public and private baths, the Royal Necropolis, gardens, a defensive structure (the Torres Bermejas), a summer residence (the Generalife), along with an 11th-century fortress erected by the Zirids on the western summit of the hill, the remains of which are still present in the Vela Tower. (Barrucand and Bednorz, p. 187)
Not all of the original complex has survived, but a great deal remains to be seen today. The picture offers an aerial view.
Blair and Bloom describe the Alhambra as follows:
The Alhambra, the royal city of the Nasrids, dominates Granada from the south. It comprises the most extensive remains of a medieval Islamic palace anywhere and is one of the most famous monuments in all Islamic art. Like all Nasrid buildings, those of the Alhambra are structurally simple, with trabeate [i.e., post and beam] construction and heavy stone walls supporting light wooden roofs, the whole concealed behind a glittering facade. A virtual encyclopedia of Nasrid architecture and decoration in glazed tile, carved and painted stucco, and carved and joined wood, the Alhambra is particularly notable for several superb muqarnas vaults.... The Alhambra is contained with a walled enclosure (740 by 220 meters) punctuated with twenty-three towers and gates. At its western end is the Alcazaba (Arab. al-qasaba, fortress); to the east are the remains of several palaces, a mosque, baths, and an industrial zone with a mint, tanneries, and ovens. Across a ravine to the east of the enclosure are the palace and gardens of the Generalife (Arab. jinan al-'arif, gardens of the overseer). The Alcazaba, the oldest part, is a double-walled fortress of solid and vaulted towers containing barracks, cisterns, baths, houses, storerooms, and a dungeon. (1994, p. 124, brackets added)