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Most of the earliest new churches built in Andalusia (southern Spain) following the thirteenth-century Christian Reconquista occupied the sites of former mosques. In some cases, these churches incorporated pre-existing architectonic elements - particularly minarets, which were converted into bell towers - or took some inspiration from Islamic architecture, creating a combination of Gothic style and elements from Muslim architecture known as Gothic-Mudéjar. This paper analyses the orientation pattern of a group of 68 Gothic-Mudéjar churches built in the cities of re-conquered Andalusia up to the early fifteenth century, and the normalised frequency distribution of azimuths is compared with published data for the qibla (the direction toward which Muslims turn to pray) observed at a group of 82 Andalusian mosques. Results confirm that a large number of churches were oriented via a 90° anticlockwise rotation from orientation to the qibla after placing the apse in the former eastern wall of the mosque. It is further argued, based on the histogram and a distinctive peak around 84°, that the architects aligned these churches to sunrise over the local horizon for 25th March according to the Julian calendar, the date of the canonical equinox. This practice reflects Church teaching and a medieval foundation-stone rite involving a dawn vigil, and the built structures reflect the limited technical capacity of the church builders. The method of orientation would also have created a precedent for the alignment of some later churches in southern Spain dedicated to the Virgin of the Assumption to sunrise on 15th August, the Feast of the Assumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on British architects and architectural historians' gradual discovery of Spanish Romanesque and Gothic architecture in the nineteenth century. Topics covered include the important role played by Swiss artist Johann Heinrich Müntz in prompting British curiosity for Spanish Islamic and Gothic art and British writings about Iberian architecture. A parallel interest in Spain's Christian architectural heritage is also cited.

The lantern of the cathedral of Zamora is a very unique work in the history of Western architecture. It combines very diverse influences such as the Byzantine, the Islamic and the French Romanesque integrated in a unitary and coherent whole where each part maintains its singularity. As its most outstanding elements, we can mention the construction on pendentives, the circular drum pierced by windows, the ribbed dome, the gored spaces between the ribs, the angle turrets and the central gables. However, it has not been a much portrayed monument with the exception of the drawings made by the restoration architects. This essay aims at analysing minutely the architectural composition of the lantern and showing its elements by means of the drawings and photos of the lantern that the author himself has made together with some panoramic views of the city of Zamora, where the lantern appears as a visual reference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the first time, Hispano-Moresque glazed tiles from Portuguese and Spanish collections were studied together and compared. This work is included in a wider study tackling the technology of Hispano-Moresque tile production from several collections in the Iberian Peninsula. While showing many similarities, differences were identified between collections, regarding both chemical and morphological characteristics. The collection from the Mosteiro de Santa Clara-a-Velha (Coimbra) stands out from the other collections, with higher SnO2 content (up to 14 wt%), the highest Fe2O3 contents in amber glazes and a Ca-rich interface layer (mostly comprised of wollastonite, CaSiO3). Samples from Palácio Nacional de Sintra (near Lisbon) and Seville-attributed samples (from the Instituto Valencia de Don Juan) are chemically similar, except that most Sintra's samples display a K-rich glaze/ceramic interface, whereas the ones from Seville exhibit both K-rich and Ca-rich inclusions. The samples attributed to Toledo show glazes with many inclusions, contrasting with the homogeneous glazes in most Hispano-Moresque tiles. From these results, we identify differences that can be used as markers in future studies on Hispano-Moresque tiles . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vault of Villaviciosa is one of the oldest existing examples of a true ribbed vault, and is the first of the crossed-arch type. Although its perfection suggests earlier trials, none has been found so far. It predates the oldest Romanesque ribbed vaults by more than a century. Notwithstanding its importance, no construction and structural study has ever been done; neither has an accurate survey been published. The purpose of this article is to fill this gap in the history of vault construction. A detailed survey has been made, providing the first accurate drawings of the vault. A close inspection of the extrados, completed with a visual inspection of interior damages, has allowed ascertaining the main construction features. With the geometry and the material data a structural analysis has been carried out. This analysis explains the fundamental structural behavior of the vault and throws new light into some historical issues; for example, it leads to discarding the widespread belief that the ribs are decorative: they are supporting the weight of the vault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mosques are the most obvious materialization of Islam. They are a clear sign of its presence in a particular territory, the building where the history and influence of Islamic governments is reflected through their artistic elements and architectural variants. However, they are also essential for the everyday life of the neighborhoods they belong to, because their inhabitants usually make use of them for daily prayers. Despite this importance, mosques have received very uneven treatment by researchers. This has resulted in a strong weighting of scholarly interest towards Friday mosques, while smaller mosques have been largely forgotten by traditional historiography. This paper purposes to challenge the traditional way of researching religious spaces in al-Andalus. Focusing attention on Córdoba, this paper examines the role and impact of minor mosques in Madinat Qurtuba, the capital of al-Andalus, by exploring the part they played in the urban development and growth of the Islamic city. The present study focuses on the emiral period (when the first examples of these buildings start to appear, in the 8th century) to the Christian conquest in the 13th Century, as after this event no new mosques were erected in the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bofilla tower (Valencia, Spain), at 800 years old one of the oldest buildings still standing in the whole region, is a rubble-reinforced rammed earth construction almost 20 m high. Its precarious condition called for preservation works and the enhancement of the surrounding archaeological site. However, these works involved a serious risk that the original construction might lose its hallmarks and its history, which had great narrative potential, due to the plasticity of the earth. Furthermore, as often happens, a great deal of the character and antiquity of the tower were linked to the erosion and abrasion of its rammed earth surfaces, so it was necessary for the preservation to try to alleviate or stop the degradation that threatened the tower's survival and, at the same time, conserve its narrative potential, its aura and its ancestral character. After performing a comprehensive preliminary study of the construction and its state of repair, a large number of preservation tasks were carried out, from cleaning the façades by hand to reconstructing the structure of the tower in several spots, such as the south-western corner and, especially, the entrance in the northern façade, which was on the verge of collapse. Other operations included filling in the lacunae in the fabric both inside and outside the tower, micro-pointing the rubble filling in the most degraded areas of the southern façade and protecting and consolidating the crowning. In addition, new floors and a staircase leading up to the top of the tower were inserted in the places where their traces were still visible to avoid damaging the fabrics and to perform the most faithful archaeological reconstruction possible. The article addresses the study, reflections and technical operations carried out on the tower during the works on site, with the objective of maintaining the original materiality of the rammed earth fabric and the traces of its construction and life as a testimony of its history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The church at Castielfabib was originally a Moorish castle. After the Christian conquest of Spain it was modified and converted into a tower which paid homage to the conquerors. Later the tower was altered and extended and turned into a Christian church. There are no existing documents concerning these changes. A graphical survey and analysis^ of the measurement systems used in its construction have allowed us to determine the constructive evolution of the building I [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the Arab monuments existing in the cities occupied by the Muslims in the Middle Ages, the thermal baths at Gerona, in Eastern Spain, are the most interesting buildings for their unique typology which derives from a suggestive elaboration of Christian and Islamic elements. This paper analyses the typological evolution and definition of these baths. The building, which is actually inserted in the 16th century Capucin monastery, could have originated during the Muslim occupation in the 8th century, but it also shows evident connections with the baptistery and could have been constructed during the Visigothic conquest in the early 5th century A.D., or during the Reconquista Cristiana in the 13th century A.D.. It will also show the problem of dating, owing to the lack of extant Islamic architecture in Gerona, and some considerations regarding the most recent theories concerning the origins of the structure. This paper also refers to comparisons with historical baths in Spain and Maghreb built in the Middle Ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explaining Islamic architecture was a challenge for early modern Spanish historians. Although many of the buildings were highly valued, they nonetheless represented a defeat and 700 years of Muslim presence in the Peninsula. Consequently, the Islamic legacy was sometimes viewed with a wide range of aesthetic, moral and religious prejudices. This paper aims to analyse the role of these unfavourable narratives of Islamic architecture in the negotiation of the memory of the so-called 'loss of the Iberian Peninsula'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo presenta un estudio arquitectónico de las principales iglesias de la ciudad de Córdoba, España, entre los siglos XIV y XIX, a partir de tres documentos gráficos. Según los autores las iglesias fueron un elemento clave en la organización del conjunto urbano de la ciudad de Córdoba, especialmente con relación a la herencia arquitectónica islámica, dado que la ciudad fue capital del Califato.

The article presents a study which explored various influences employed on the architecture of the monastery of Santa Maria la Real de Sigena in 2009 in Spain. It states that the monastery was originally a cemetery for the Spanish kingdom of Aragon. Despite the appearance of some Gothic styles in the architecture, the founder of the monastery also applied several forms of Romanesque styles. It cites that there are various local and imported traditions that molded the monastery, including Islamic and Sicilian-Byzantine styles.

The article highlights the development of the Moorish cultural landscapes of Las Alpujarras in Spain. The authors have stated that the landscape has been a reminder of the extraordinary power of relocation diffusion to transplant geographic thoughts to new lands. In addition, the landscape has been crafted by the Berbers/Moors and has foresighted that Christian conquerors made few structural changes. Moreover, the Las Alpujarras has been maintained by the government and by Spanish villagers.

The legacy of Arab-Muslim architecture in Spain is one of the most valuable parts of the wealthy Spanish heritage. The application of new concepts and practices to the conservation of this architecture has led to numerous examples of restoration which respect historical values, while using the most modern techniques and principles at the same time. Nowadays, virtual reconstruction of buildings that have been destroyed or severely changed, carried out using computer graphics, enables the analysis of such important aspects as visual perception, character given to space by colour and material textures, light effects, etc. Using these means it is also possible to present and study different alternatives or hypotheses without having to make physical alterations to the original elements. These new instruments, with their capacity to transmit knowledge and research results, also offer new ways of understanding the spreading of heritage. Several case studies of the use of these tools applied to al-Andalus architecture are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Seville Alcazar was an Islamic foundation that received significant additions and renovations in the fourteenth century by Alfonso XI and again by Pedro the Cruel. In both cases the changes were realized in a Mudejar style, reflecting the demographic and cultural continuity of Seville and especially of the artisanal class. But the motivations underlying the selection of this style were different for each monarch. Alfonso celebrated the triumph of his Christian coalition over an Islamic coalition, and commissioning a work of Mudejar architecture allowed him to seize and appropriate a subject Islamic culture in much the same way as he had seized Islamic territory. But Pedro's use of the Mudejar style was less antagonistic, for he was advised by Muhammad V of Granada, who was living in exile under his protection. Pedro had grown up in Seville surrounded by Islamic culture. Thus, his decision to adopt the Mudejar style expressed an important aspect of his own identity that emphasized his Andalusian roots and transcended religious associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Santa María de Melque has been dated variously from 650 to 930, a broad span of time encompassing periods of both Visigothic and Muslim rule. The earlier date would make Melque a prototype for churches built late in the Visigothic period. The later date would have it be a unique, surviving, freestanding church built under the Muslim emirate of Spain. It is argued here that Melque is an eighth-century church built during the reign of the first Umayyad emir of Spain, Abd al-Rahman I (756-788). This is indicated by structural and decorative features at Melque that evince Syro-Umayyad influence, the closest analogies being with the Umayyad palace of Khirbet al-Mafjar (739-743). In terms of both style and atelier tradition, Melque represents close affiliation with the Visigothic past in conjunction with receptivity to ideas that must have been introduced with the Syrians in the court of Abd al-Rahman. Thus, Santa María de Melque indicates an accommodating attitude on the part of the recently conquered Christian populace. It also bears witness to a circumstance that, contrary to some recent supposition, was uncommon in Spain: legal church construction under Muslim rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]