'The Moor's Last Sigh'
Visit to Spain September 2005
The first ISCAR (International Society for Cultural and Activity Research) conference was held in Spain in September 2005. And what better place for an international conference than Sevillla in Andalucía.
On the way to Spain, I spent a few days visiting my family in England and then flew to Barcelona. Unfortunately, Mari had already started teaching and so she couldn't go with me on this trip, but I was fortunate to have the company of Tamara. a doctoral student with whom I was to present a paper on our work together in teaching a large undergraduate class at UC Santa Cruz. We were met in Barcelona by Marta Soler, who acted as my interpreter and guide on my previous visit in 2003. Marta helped us with organizing the car rental and showed us round the old center of Barcelona and the area with many Gaudi houses. At the end of a busy day we found a good tapas bar for dinner.
Next morning Tamara and I set off down the coast autopista toward Valencia. In the afternoon we decided to make a detour to Guadalest, a village in the Sierra north of Benidorm. A thunderstorm started just as we arrived so we had to shelter for a while in a cafe souvenir shop. Eventually the rain stopped and we climbed up a steep path to the C18th Casa Orduña, now a museum, from where we climbed up to the ruined castle. On the way, we visited the ancient prison. It was certainly worth a visit, particularly for the view over the Sierra from the castle walls.
The main reason for driving to Sevilla was to visit Granada en route. I remembered paying a brief visit on a previous holiday many years ago and wanted to see it again. And, as this was Tamara's first visit to Europe, I thought it would be a good introduction to the history and culture of Spain. It was at Granada that the Catholic Monarchs, Fernando and Isabel finally completed the reconquest of Spain from the Moors in 1492 (see below). It was also in that year that they sent Columbus off on his search for the western route to India.
We arrived in Granada around noon on the following day and made our way directly to the Alhambra. Unfortunately, because it was a Sunday and very busy, we could not obtain tickets to visit the Nasrid palaces until the following morning. However, after lunch in a restaurant under the walls, we went in for a walk around the rest of the site. We visited the Palace of Carlos V, a heavy baroque building and climbed up the mountain, from where we got a good view over the site and bey ond to Granada.
In the early evening, having found somewhere to stay, we explored the centre of the city. There was much to see of typical Andalucian life, open air markets, stalls selling the local pottery, guitar manufacturies, coffee bars and, of course, tapas and coffee bars. Most colorful was the bazaar in the passageways of the ancient Jewish quarter, where everything a tourist could want was for sale.
We also visited the cathedral, a fine example of High Renaissance baroque gothic. The interior was rather more austere than most Spanish cathedrals, but full of light light. I was particularly impressed by the organs which are built on either side of the choir.
We were up at the Alhambra early next morning, entering through one of the gates theough the defensive walls. Arriving inside, we were in an open area, with the Alcazaba above us to the left and the Palace of Carlos V in front. The map below, taken from the guide book, gives a good idea of the layout of this area.
As we had already visited the Alcabazar, the original fortified tower and related buildings, we went straight to the entrance to the Nasrid palaces and through the first small courtyard into the Court of the Myrtles, which is part of the Comares Palace.
On either side of the courtyard were living quarters and, on the ground floor of the Comares Tower at the end was the Throne Room, also known as the Hall of the Ambassadors. With its rich decoration, this a splendid room, light and airy and pleasantly cool.
One of the most remarkable features of the Throne Room is its ceiling. It is made of layers of wood in a pyramidal structure. According to the guide, this represents "a stepping sequence in which figure the seven heavens of the cosmos, through which, according to Islamic eschatology, the soul travels until reaching, at the peak, the eighth (represented in the ceiling by the small cupola of mocarabes) wherein resides Allah and whence radiates His power. The heavens are represented by successive bands of stars, set in different planes, made up of geometric pieces, multicoloured in various tones."
Unfortunately the picture below is only a reconstruction as the ceiling has lost its colors, as can be seen from my own photo alongside.
From the Comares Palace, the visit moves on to the Palace of the Lions. This is considered to be the pinnacle of artistic development in Islamic Spain. This palace is built in cruciform layout around a central courtyard, which contains the Fountain of the Lions. Accordong to the guide, "It is a symbolic representation of Paradise which, according to the Christian and Islamic religions, is divided symetrically into four parts separated by rivers or channels which meet at the central fountain."
Along both sides of the courtyard are residential areas, with a large room in the centre on each side. Each of these rooms has only one large door which, when opened allows a view of the Lions fountain. Each contains a marble fountain and a magnificent cupola ceiling. The picture alongside is of the Sala del los Abencejarres. This cupola is in the form of an eight-pointed star with lantern windows at the base to light the room and a pyramidal stucture of plaster mocárabes which hang down like stalactites.
The main reception room in this palace, the Sala de los Reyes, runs the full length of the eastern side of the courtyard. On one side it opens out to the portico in the courtyard and on the other there are large richly decorated alcoves behind wide arches. Lengthwise, the hall is divided into three sections by double arches. All the arches are in mocárabe style and have the effect of dividing the hall into a number of separate spaces.
Throughout the palaces there are many small alcoves in which cool drinks were kept. Originally these would have been multicolored but now they are simply a pale stucco color. Below are two good examples.
A good idea of the general decorative style of the various rooms can be gained from the picture of the interior of theTorre de la Cautiva (the lady prisoner), which is one of a series of towers built along the fortified wall. The walls are stucco covered and inscribed in the Islamic style with verses of the Koran, poems and geometric designs based on the Arabic script.
Somewhat removed from the palaces is an area known as El Partal. Here is the Palacio del Pórtico, which is considered to be the oldest palace in the Alhambra. All that now remains is the tower and portico and the pool in front. Viewed from the ascending terraces of gardens and pools, it has a very tranquil air. Until 1891, the riooms in this palace were the property of a German, who had the richly decorated ceiling removed for display in a museum in Berlin.
Higher up the mountain is the Generalife. This was both the home farm and a place for relaxation. Over the centuries it has been substantially remodeled, particularly during the last 100 years during which it has been restored and the gardens remade.
This was the only part of the Alhambra that I saw on my previous brief visit and it left a strong and lasting impression.
As with the other palaces, it was built round a courtyard with a tower at one end. Down the center runs a water channel fed by spouting fountains on both sides. The rooms that once ran down both sides of the courtyard have been removed and one can now look over the wall to the palaces below and the city beyond.
At the end of the courtyard there is a magnificent five arched portico, through which can be seen the three ached entrance to the tower and the delicate windows above.The portico entrance to the tower is through a triple arch which can be seen through the central arch of the portico.
Inside the Torre de Ismail the principal room was remodeled to commemorate the defeat of the Castilians at the battle of the Vega in 1319. The result is a marvel of light and delicacy. Through the large arches, there are magnificent views. The walls are decorated with inscriptions on stucco, of which an example can be seen on the right below.
Two views from the upper level of the tower: to another courtyard and to the city below.
Returning to the city at midday, we just had time for a light lunch before setting off on the last stage of our journey to Sevilla. We arrived in the late afternoon and set about looking for the hotel we had booked. This was no easy matter because of the size of the city, the density of the traffic and the many one-way streets. Finally, after numerous stops to ask directions and what seemed like a complete circuit of the peripheral boulevard, we found the hotel and had a late dinner at a nearby tapas bar with tables on the sidewalk outside.
By comparison with Granada, Sevilla is much bigger and more of a commercial center. There are important sites to visit, but they are more spread out and the conference left little time for site-seeing. On the return trip, however, we stopped overnight at Córdoba, which was also the center of a Muslim caliphate. We arrived too late to visit the palace, but we did manage to see the cathedral, which is unique in having been built around an earlier mosque. In the photos below, the evidence of the earlier building is easy to see in the rounded arches, which are painted in red and white.
The evening ended with a visit to a flamenco show.
And just to prove that we did actually attend the conference, here is a photo of the members of the symposium I organized, having lunch just before the session. Martal Soler is standing; seated, from left to right, are Ignasi Puidellívol , myself, Tamara Ball, and Neil Mercer.
