An Embarrassing Legacy and a Booty of Luxury: Christian Attitudes towards Islamic Art and Architecture in the Medieval Kingdom of Valencia
By Amadeo Serra Desfilis
Global Encounters European Identities, edited by Mary N. Harris with Anna Agnarsdóttir and Csaba Lévai (Pisa University Press, 2010)
Abstract: This chapter examines the relationship between Islam and Christianity in medieval Spain as far as art and architecture are concerned, bearing in mind the length and variability of cross-cultural contact in this historical territory. Christian attitudes towards Islamic art and architecture are interpreted as a peculiar blend of admiration, reactive adaptation, rivalry, emulation and positive transfer of knowledge between two cultures living together in medieval Iberia for eight centuries. In the light of recent research, the role of art and architecture in the process of self-differentiation and self-adscription within both communities must be reconsidered. An imaginary boundary appeared between the two societies, regulating social life and, therefore, conditioning attitudes about objects, buildings and their uses, but this never prevented cultural or technical exchange. From the study of the art and architecture in the kingdom of Valencia (1232- 1500), we have come to the conclusion that ethnic and religious differences were not the most relevant factors in the filtering of artistic exchange and assigning new functions to forms, objects or techniques. Finally, the chapter analyses how Spanish historiography has developed narratives, including the appropriation of the Islamic legacy, to construct a national identity in modern times.
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