This Special Interest Day consists of three lectures:

1. Experiencing the Mysterious: The Great Mosque of Cordoba

The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba, as it is now known, is a World Heritage Site and is considered to be one of the most beautiful mosques in the world. Built in four stages between 785AD and 987AD, it is also the prototype for most of the Moorish and also Mudejar (hybrid Islamic-Christian-Jewish) architecture on the Iberian peninsula and beyond. The experience of entering into this hypnotic space can be breath-taking. Its structure and significance can be understood by examining the influences of classical architecture. Understanding why this iconic building has the impactit does and discovering the secrets hidden in its architecture and its decorative program is an exploratory journey that amply rewards the curious mind.

2. Walls that Speak: The Alhambra Palace-Fortress

The beauty of the Alhambra of Granada, built by the Nasrid dynasty in the 13th and 14th Centuries, speaks for itself – or does it? Many visitors, while stunned by the exquisite architecture, are unaware that the walls, covered in Kufic script, are talking directly to them. This lecture begins with an overview of the structure of the monument and the way in which it was used, as well as the broad decorative programme of the interior of the two principal remaining Nasrid palaces within the complex. It explains the hidden meanings in the complex geometry of the glazed tilework and the stalactite-like muqarnas plasterwork, and takes a look at the fascinating inscriptions.

3. A Christian Palace in the Moorish style: The Alcazar of Seville

Seville was the medieval capital of both the Almohad Muslims and the resurgent Catholic Kings. The spectacular Alcazar palace and gardens, built over many centuries, contain traces of early Almohad palace architecture in the Patio del Yesso. Later, in the 14th Century, the Christian King Pedro I built his palace there, in the Moorish style known as Mudejar, just after Muhammad V, the deposed Sultan of Granada, spent three years in exile at Pedro’s court. Renaissance and baroque additions were built following the reconquest of Spain by the ‘Catholic Kings’, Ferdinand and Isabella. The extensive adjoining gardens are amongst the most beaur=tiful you will finid anywhere in Spain.