The breathtaking glories of the Alhambra
My fans amongst you may be wondering about my recent silence - I´ve nipped over for a few days to Granada in Spain to catch a glimpse of the Alhambra, a place that has been on my to-visit list for quite some time. I studiend Spanish at school and was at one time in my youth, fairly fluent. Both the language and the history of spain and its interconnections to the Muslim world mesmerised me. And so in the last few days I have found myself retracing some of the glories of Europe and of the Muslim world. It can only be a result of both that amazing creations like the Alhambra have come into being and stayed in existence.
Granada and Cordoba and the Alpujarras, all of which we have visited over the last few days have been fascinating and full of ironies, more of which in coming blogposts.
If you have comments about your own visits here, please post them up and share your thoughts...
Granada and Cordoba and the Alpujarras, all of which we have visited over the last few days have been fascinating and full of ironies, more of which in coming blogposts.
If you have comments about your own visits here, please post them up and share your thoughts...
posted by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at 22:46
5 Comments:
The Alhambra is quite amazing, even despite the rather antiseptic audio guide that skips over the genocidal history of its 'liberation' by the Christian monarchy. A real work of art. Did you get to see the lovely little musjid up in the hills?
Perhaps a little late but books worth reading are:
- Shadows of the pommogranite tree by Taqriq Ali
- Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving
- Leo the African by Amin Maalouf
I bought Tales of the Alhambra whilst I was in Granada, feeling quite excited. I think I made it through a chapter before i found wading through the turgid 19th century style just too much hard work. I may try to re-approach it.
Leo the African on the other hand I read a number of years ago, and thought it was one of the best books I have read - thoroughly enjoyed it. I may have to fish it out of my library and re-read the bits in Spain. Great recommendation!
I enjoy Maaloufs books more because of the time period they're set in rather than for any abilities he has constructing prose.
I forgot to mention the novel Granada by Radwa Ashour which though is rather poorly translated does serve as perhaps one of the better books depicitng what life was like just before the fall on Granada.
Taschen's are selling their books at a special price to mark their 25th year anniversery and their book on Moorish Architecture is not to be missed.
On a similar vein The Age of Sinan whilst dealing the opposite side of Europe (or if you're the French President I guess you call it Asia) is an amazing book exploring the architecture on Turkey but it also discusses Muslim architecture as a whole.
I do recall finding a Halal place to eat was a little tricky in Granada. In the end I saw a Hijabi and just followed her, no doubt she thought I was a stalker but after a week in Spain surviving on a combination of salad and ice cream my need for a sharwarma was great.
Whether in colour, or clay, or stone,
Whether by the harp, or a letter or sound,
The true miracle of art is shown when
nourished by the heart’s blood."
Allama Iqbal
saif_cl@yahoo.com
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