Saints and romerías in the Maghreb and Andalusia< MORE ARTICLES Neither the soul, nor popular religiosity understand particular religions and borders. They have more to do with the paths that Ortega y Gasset called “Intrahistory” and those of life itself..When I...

Madjrit, al-Andalus’ Madrid (Part II)< MORE ARTICLES Madrid once belonged to al-Andalus. Scarcely 150 years after Tarik disembarked on the Iberian Peninsula, Muhammad Ibn Abd-er-Rahman al-Awsat, emir of Córdoba, decided to build a wall around Madjri t . From then...

Ronda, the city of a hundred views< MORE ARTICLES Let’s take a journey toward Takurunna, the Hispano-Muslim city that wavered between the domination of the Marinids from Morocco and the Nasrids from Granada. Now called Ronda, its charms are inscribed along the...

Priego in its labyrinth  < MORE ARTICLES Priego de Córdoba counts its history over the course of centuries among Caliphal, Nasrid and Baroque traits, and it still remains there. Gracefully showing its castle to the traveller, its Carnicerías Reales (Royal...

Madjrit, al-Andalus’ Madrid (Part I)< MORE ARTICLES Madrid once belonged to al-Andalus. Scarcely 150 years after Tarik disembarked on the Iberian Peninsula, Muhammad Ibn Abd-er-Rahman al-Awsat, emir of Córdoba, decided to build a wall around Madjri t . From then...

Lanjarón: A poet’s dream < MORE ARTICLESThe history of La Alpujarra had already appeared in texts of the classical authors of old. Lanjarón is famous in our days for its medicinal waters, for being the threshold of this Granadan region and the obligatory way for...

Glorious tiles  < MORE ARTICLES Appearing in parks, squares, bars and homes, tiles—azulejos-- have for centuries accompanied the decoration in many regions of the Mediterranean. Today, they are as alive as ever; in fact, their designs are new and...

Ziryab, the amazing story of the singer from Baghdad< MORE ARTICLESThe importance of the figure of Ziryab in the court of the Cordoban Umayyad king Abd-er-Rahman II is credited for the innovations he introduced in the court and Cordoban society in several fields....

The awareness of landscape in al-Andalus< MORE ARTICLES For the civilization of al-Andalus, landscape constituted the image of a reality in which its values are preserved and granted symbolic dimension.The renowned historian Ibn al-Khatib, stateman, philosopher,...

Qusayr 'Amra. The umayyad palace of the desert (Part II)< More articles     By Antonio Almagro Gorbea   The originality of the architecture of this monument, including its poetic frame of desert solitude, makes it a major milestone in the history of Arab...

Qusayr 'Amra. The umayyad palace of the desert (Part I)< More articles By Antonio Almagro Gorbea   The originality of the architecture of this monument, including its poetic frame of desert solitude, makes it a major milestone in the history of Arab art....

Orchards of al-Andalus. The development of domestic agriculture< More articles The cultural legacy of al-Andalus is, without doubt, a constant element in the villages, towns and cities included in the Routes of El legado andalusí. In the Route of the Caliphate, in...

Venice, the temptation of the Orient (Part II) < More articles An eternally luminous showcase where fragility and excess play together with grace, in Venice everything distils artifice. The most magnificent of urban events, as Le Corbusier pointed out, is a city...

  Venice, the temptation of the Orient (Part I)< More articles An eternally luminous showcase where fragility and excess play together with grace, in Venice everything distils artifice. The most magnificent of urban events, as Le Corbusier pointed out, is a city...

  Ifriqiya, a cultural and commercial center in Northern Africa< More articles The great strategic importance of the city of Carthage made it an impregnable stronghold for the Arab armies in their attempt to penetrate the North of Africa. Hence, it was...

  The silk from Granada  < More articlesThe development of the silk industry in Nasrid Granada represented a significant economic boom, and hence social growth; merchants from different parts of the world came to the city to purchase the precious Granadan...

  Sicily’s Mediterranean Heritage < More articlesIn the middle of the Mare Nostrum, where the coastal lands of East and West meet, the island of Sicily represents a sort of omphalós of the ancient world, a point of transit and, at the same time, of belonging.In the...

  The Music of Al-Andalus, a Shared Heritage< More articlesThanks to oral tradition, Arab-Andalusian music has survived through generations until todayUntil the past few decades, the music from Al-Andalus was hardly known to any but specialists, or by curious...

  The aquatic gardens< More articles“What a beautiful pool! Its view, its beauty Illuminate the mansions. Its beauty is such that, might it be categorized, must take the first place, and the sea the second. The immense gardens can do without clouds stripping off...

Dar al-Horra, the story of a house of noble lineage< More articlesThe property is located in Granada’s historic district of the Albaicín, and it is an exquisite example of the domestic architecture of Al-Andalus dating from the Nasrid period, the last stage of the...

Al-Mutamid: a politician behind the poet< More articlesLegend wraps in mist the life of al-Mutamid, the king-poet of Seville, a man whose story has remained hidden under a thick layer of romanticism. He was a sensible monarch who nurtured his court with the most...