Music and poetry in southern al-Andalus
1st April – 15th July, 1995
Real Alcázar of Seville
No. of exhibits: 57
No. of visitors: 315.654
Exhibition Curators: Mr. Emilio de Santiago (University of Granada) and Mr. Reynaldo Fernández (Center of Musical Documentation of Andalusia)
This exhibition revolved around the figure of the poet king al-Mutamid, whose literary production filled the entire 11th century. With this exhibition, the city of Seville paid a fair tribute to this king, who integrated poetry and literature in the political and private life, so much that reality and fiction sometimes melt together.
This exhibition unveiled musical instruments such as the lute, the qitara, the rebec, the harp or the flute, along with important literary editions and many other exhibition resources: archaeological, reproductions, manuscripts, modern editions, didactic panels and graphic material…, that relate, somehow or other, two capital manifestations of the art of al-Andalus: music and poetry.
This exhibition was unprecedented at national or international levels. Among the pieces on display, the visitor could contemplate editions by the capital poets of al-Andalus, illustrated literary texts, ancient and contemporary musical instruments, the so-called Capital of the Four Musicians, dating from the Caliphal period or the reproduction of the lute depicted in the Cantigas, by Alphonso X The Wise.
