MOORISH CULTURE IN SPAIN

MOORISH CULTURE IN SPAIN Titus Burckhardt This is a unique study of the spirit and radiance of the eight hundred years of Muslim dominance of Southern Spain, from the time of the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in 711 until the Renaissance. It examines the manner of life and the achievements: in architecture, poetry, philosophy, religion and music that developed in Andalusia, the center of the North African Arab Empire on the European continent. The Arab contribution to human progress: astronomy, mathematics, cosmology, the variety and magnificent wealth of architectural form could fully develop in Spain and is a remarkable legacy of a people who entered the land as conquerors and became peaceful masters. From the establishment of the first mosque in Cordova in 785 until the time of their expulsion by the Catholic Kings in 1492, the Moors dominated the intellectual life of the area and had a profound impact on European civilization which assimilated many of their ideas. In this beautifully illustrated volume, Burckhardt unites the brilliant artistic florescence of Moorish culture with the spiritual and poetic expressions into a wonderfully comprehensive landscape, which no lover of art, no visitor to Spain, no one halfway interested in Spanish art and culture should be without. The volume contains nine colour plates, eighty-one monochrome plates and over hundred engravings, line drawings, and maps.