The Alambra And The Alhambra

Two buildings, the Hagia Sophia and the Great Mosque of Cordoba, can show us two separate peoples and their approach to constructing architecture that was devoted to their religions. However, while religion played a huge role, there are similarities as well between the two that show that the rulers who commissioned these buildings were interested in mimicking beauty and showing the world that their building was the most beautiful and perhaps the most elite of its time as well as proving their divinity as a ruler of a great nation.

Kacie Lee Tomasetti AP World P.6 11/11/17 AP World ID #10 1. Charlemagne (252-254) Charlemagne became the the ruler of the Franks in 768.

Before the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Moors were in control of much of the Iberian Peninsula. They desperately wanted to unite Spain and turn it into a

The mosque can be identified by its elaborate squinch-supported domes. The Great Mosque of Cordoba is one of the finest surviving examples of Umayyad architecture in Spain. The mosque has marble capitals and columns in the hypostyle prayer hall. A person enters the hall through an open courtyard called a sahn. Its famous horseshoe arches have an alternated pattern of pale stone and red brick voussoirs

-The long struggle (ending in 1492) during which Spanish Christians reoccurred the Iberian peninsula from Muslim occupiers.

When Muhammad died, Muslims faced the challenge of creating institutions to preserve the community. This is the Middle period of Islam. Muslims believe that the revelation was completed with the work of Muhammad, who is described as the seal of the prophets. The leaders after Muhammad were described only as caliphs, or successors to the Prophet, and not as prophets themselves. The first four caliphs were companions of the Prophet and their period of rule (632-661) is described by the majority of Muslims as the age of the Rightly Guided Caliphate. This was an era of expansion during which Muslims conquered the Sasanid (Persian) Empire and took control of the North African and Syrian territories of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The Muslim community was transformed from a small city-state controlling much of the Arabian Peninsula into a major world empire, in this case the Umayyad empire, extending from northwest Africa to central Asia. The emphasis

Comparing this palace with the Alhambra palace, they both show wealth in symbolism to the community. In their different ways, they both portray little glimpse of paradise on earth. The designs and patterns used to beautify these palaces show repetition in their styles. One difference between this palace and the Alhambra palace is the presence of a human-like figure. In Islam, it is forbidden to have any human figurine present in the premises but in this palace it is allowed.

During this long-lasting Reconquista, there were long periods of war and peace. Over time, the Christian kingdoms gradually defeated the Moors and took back all of Moorish Spain. After several centuries, the Moors were at their weakest moment. No other caliph from North Africa, or the Middle East could save the Moors. In 1469, the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon were united by the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. Soon, the Moors only had control of the Kingdom of Granada. The Moors were extremely economically, politically and militarily weak. In 1492, the last outpost of the Moors had fallen. Spain had captured Granada and finally brought an end to the reconquest of Spain. During this period of time, there was more than a reconquering of lands. There was an an inquisition and an expulsion of Jews and Moors from Spain. In 1478, Pope Sixtus IV issued a bull that authorized Isabella and Ferdinand to appoint inquisitors in Castile for the purpose of combating heresy. The Spanish Inquisition

The Alhambra is considered to be one of the most important buildings constructed in its time. The palace city gained its status as an international monument in the 1870s, and is now the most visited tourist attraction in Spain, surpassing both La Sagrada Familia and El Prado, with 2.4 million people visited Granada’s Moorish palace in 2014. However its popularity and beauty were hard fought as it survived wars, takeovers, destruction and disrepair. It is this history that gives the complex its significance beyond the superficial beauty that made it famous.

Ever since man began building structures and settling land, art has manifested itself in our architectural creations. Whether it be to celebrate or worship a God or Gods, a grand sculpture to bury a powerful leader or remember them by, or to show a culture’s dedication to specific values, our architectural constructions have led to some of the finest art this Earth has ever seen. The Taj Mahal and Palace of Versailles are two great examples of such art. By examining each of these individually, and then comparing and contrasting them, it will become clear that no matter how different looking these buildings may be, they still serve the same purpose to the civilizations that erected them.

In 711 the Muslims quickly invaded and conquered Visigothic Spain. This battle lasted for several years and was a bloodbath, just like the Battle of Yarmuk. This battle was not as important to the Muslims as it was for the Westerners of that area. After seven years of fighting, the conquest of the peninsula was finished. However, as the Muslims continued on their journey to France they were halted ending any further advances. This was unlike the Battle of Yarmuk because the Muslims had never once been stopped. The Muslims had always overpowered anyone who got in their

In 711, groups from Eastern and Northern Africa (Arab, Syrian and Berber), of Muslim religion, under the command of Tarik, defeated the Visigoth king Don Rodrigo in the battle of Guadalete. Thus began the Arab domination of the Iberian Peninsula which lasted for eight centuries, until 1492, when the last Nasrid king surrendered Granada to the Catholic Monarchs.

While the Abbasids seized power on the Arabian Peninsula, the Umayyad leader Abd al-Rahman fled to the Iberian Peninsula and built a magnificent kingdom. When he reached Spain, he made it Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain. He gained power by uniting the factions that were already there and defeating the ruling factions. Al-Andalus became a glorious kingdom in the Muslim empire because they had powerful leaders, a stable government, and effective tactics for expansion. The reasons for their decline will also be mentioned in this essay.

For a time, the area that is today Spain and Portugal was one of the great Muslim civilizations, reaching its summitwith the Umayyad Caliphate in the 10th century.Muslim Spain was not a single period, but a succession of different rules.

th caliphs and became the caliphate after the assassination of the last rightly guided Caliph Ali.