Mudéjar architecture: another example of "Convivencia"

  
La Alhambra, Granada, 800s           Mudéjar architecture in Zaragoza, 1300s

Ragaeh Omaar speaks about the era of “Convivencia”, as the period of religious tolerance that existed between Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars who worked together in schools of translation, as well as the exchange in art and culture that took place between peoples of these three faiths during the 8^th to the 14^th centuries in the Iberian Peninsula. He also speaks of how advanced Córdoba, the capital of the Umayyad Al-Andalus, was in comparison to other cities in Northern Europe during the Middle Ages. The streetlights, running water, paved streets, baths and libraries attracted many scholars and artists to Córdoba. One such scholar who lived in Córdoba during the 10^th century was the Muslim physician, Albucasis, who developed many surgical tools that are used to this day.  

I found the Islamic architecture of La Alhambra, constructed during the late 800’s in Granada, very interesting, especially the symmetry of the central courtyard as well as the repetitive and intricate geometric patterns in the motifs of the tiles that decorated the walls there.

It is this style of architecture that has influenced Christian Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance styles up until the 16^th century throughout the Iberian Peninsula as far north as the province of Aragón. An example of this “Mudéjar” architecture is the Church of Santa María de Tobed in Zaragoza, which was constructed in the late 1300’s. The intricately decorated brick panels of its outer walls form motifs that are similar to those seen in the Alhambra that was constructed several centuries beforehand. Well after the Reconquista was completed in 1492, this Mudéjar architecture left an imprint throughout Christian Spain of the Convivencia that had existed between Christian and Muslim tradespeople and artists for many centuries.