City with a rich Islamic tradition

Cordoba and Granada

Islamic civilization in Spain represents a true phenomenon of European history, as it extends from the context of an ordinary opinion about the Old continent as untouchable world of Christianity. Further, the existance of the Muslim state for many centuries in the area of the Pyrenean peninsula, should be viewed as positive notion that ennobled European civilization.

That presence ofcourse, didn’t represent the weak spot or the stolen history of the people of that time, regardless of the fact that Spain was taken over by military conquest. Compared with the Christian presence in Palestina and Syria, where a rigid military occupation took place, and where apart from the military fortificational architecture, the Crusaders didn’t leave anything else, the presence of Muslims in Spain was a positive civilizational jump in history of Europe. The proof of this are numerous cultural facts which speak that the conquerer became the constructor, and that he began to treat a new territory as the own homeland. There are but a few such examples in history. Islamic Andalusia with its prosperity influenced the notion of Renaissance, what is rarely pointed out, while Spanish culture of today can’t be imagined without such contribution.

In the period of prosperity of this Islamic state, a large contrast between towns in Spain and those in the rest of Europe could have been noticed. Until the appearance of Renaissance, the notion of a town in Europe could hardly correspond to what today we can comprehend as developed urbane area. The Middle century European towns resembled more to semi-towns, small towns, defined conglomerations or a rage villages then to open cosmpolit centres with a developed infrastructure. The largest problem was that the holy area of church and monastery was strongly divided from “sinful” area of town streets and houses, which due to its idea deflection were, sanitary, constructively and in terms of town-planning neglected. Apart from this, there was no awareness of a town as cultural centre, but only as trade and commercial one.

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