Moorish architecture

Interior of the Mezquita, Córdoba

Moorish architecture is the articulated Islamic architecture of North Africa and parts of Spain and Portugal (Al Andalus), where the Moors were dominant between 711 and 1492. The best surviving examples are La Mezquita in Córdoba and the Alhambra palace in Granada (mainly 1338–1390),[1] as well as the Giralda in Seville (1184).[2] Other notable examples include the ruined palace city of Medina Azahara (936–1010), the church (former mosque) San Cristo de la Luz in Toledo, the Aljafería in Saragossa and baths at for example Ronda and Alhama de Granada.

Architecture

Paderne Castle, Portugal

Characteristic elements of Moorish architecture include muqarnas, horseshoe arches, voussoirs, domes, crenellated arches, lancet arches, ogee arches, courtyards, and decorative tile work known as zellij in Arabic or azulejo in Spanish. The architectural tradition is exemplified by mosques, fortifications, and other edifices such as the Mezquita in Córdoba (784–987, in four phases); the Alhambra (mainly 1338–1390[3]) and Generalife (1302–9 and 1313–24) in Granada and the Giralda in Seville in 1184;[4] Paderne Castle in the Algarve, Portugal; the mosque of Koutoubia and University of Al-Karaouine in Morocco; the Great Mosque of Algiers and the Great Mosque of Tlemcen in Algeria; and the Mosque of Uqba in Kairouan, Tunisia. Other notable buildings include the ruined palace city of Medina Azahara (936-1010), the church (former mosque) San Cristo de la Luz in Toledo, the Aljafería in Zaragoza and baths at for example Ronda and Alhama de Granada.

The term is sometimes used to include the products of the Islamic civilisation of Southern Italy.[5] The Palazzo dei Normanni in Sicily was begun in the 9th century by the Emir of Palermo.

There is archeological evidence of an eighth-century mosque in Narbonne, France.[6]

By country

Spain

Major monuments

Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031):

Period of Taifas (11th-13th century):

Nasrid Emirate of Granada (1212–1492):

Portugal

Church of Nossa Senhora da Anunciação (formerly a mosque), Mértola.

Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia

There is a high concentration of Moorish architecture in the Maghrebi states of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia mainly in the cities of Marrakesh, Rabat, Fez, Tlemcen, Algiers, Tunis, and Testour.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Curl p. 502.
  2. ↑ Pevsner, The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture.
  3. ↑ Curl p.502
  4. ↑ Pevsner, Niklaus. The Penguin Dictionary of Architecture
  5. ↑ The Industrial Geography of Italy, Russell King, Taylor & Francis, 1985, page 81
  6. ↑ Islam Outside the Arab World, David Westerlund, Ingvar Svanberg, Palgrave Macmillan, 1999, page 342

References

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