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HISTORY, ART & ARCHITECTURE
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Andalucía, transfigured in 19th-century guidebooks as “Europe’s Orient,” has a uniqueness in its art and culture incomparable to anywhere else on earth. This uniqueness results from it being located where several very different civilizations meet.
From earliest times Andalucía has always been the gateway through which conquerors from many different countries have reached Spain. Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, Celts, Romans, Visigoths, Berbers and Arabs all at one time or another invaded the country.
This is where several prehistoric cultures originated and where the legendary realm of Tartessos was located, and where the Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians set up centres of trade.
But it was under the Romans that this province (called Baetica) was first governed as a unified whole and civilization and infrastructure were set up. These influences are still felt today.
Andalucía has the Vandals to thank for its name. The Vandals roamed the country plundering and laying waste. Al-(V)andaluz (land of the Vandals) was what the Arabs later called it.
Under the Visigoths, Christianity became the state religion.
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The greatest impact on the country, however, was made by the almost 800 years of Arab rule, during which Andalucía experienced not only its political and cultural high-points but also its most lasting influence.
In the cities of Andalucía the Moslem conquerors established great mosques and universities, as well as schools and libraries open to the public, all of which helped Andalucía develop into one of the great intellectual centres of Europe.
It is thanks to Arab scholars that classical philosophy and culture were preserved and developed. Here also were laid the foundations of modern scientific disciplines, such as medicine, physics, geography, mathematics, and astronomy. Music and poetry were regarded highly at royal courts. Arts and handicrafts, all of which can still point to Arabic or Islamic origins, were strongly encouraged.
Thanks to a complex method of irrigation, a variety of canal-systems, windmills, water wheels, and recently introduced varieties of crops, agriculture expanded rapidly.
While Europe was languishing in the depths of the Middle Ages, a far superior culture was thriving in Andalucía.With its climate of total tolerance, it enabled Moslems, Christians and Jews to live peacefully together; and by transmitting classical and oriental knowledge it prepared Europe’s passage into the modern world.
Andalusía’s most famous structures date from these centuries — the Mezquita, the city of palaces Medina al-Zahara, the Giralda, and the Alhambra, as well as the numerous Arab bathhouses.
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THE RECONQUEST AND THE GOLDEN AGE
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However, Christians from the North continually kept invading the country — the dense network of defensive strongholds is only partial evidence of the constant conflicts between Moors and Christians.
After the successful outcome of the Reconquista (Reconquest) in 1492 Andalusia turned Catholic and became part of the Spanish empire. Neither Jews nor Moors had any further place in this state, which finally extinguished their cultures completely.
Thus the period of great cathedral building began, extending into the 18th century, but starting much later than in the rest of Europe. These cathedrals can be seen in all major cities — a monumental sign of Christian victory over an erstwhile Moorish empire.
Those nobles who took part in the Reconquista settled in Andalucian cities, founded churches and built imposing palaces. The Christians contrasted the splendid style of Moorish architecture, featuring ornate, ornamental decoration, with the “European” Renaissance style.
The palace of Charles V in the Alhambra, with its clearly laid-out façade, the Casa Pilatos in Seville, and the cathedrals of Jaén and Granada are exquisite examples of this period.
Yet Seville architecture proves at the same time that the period of Christian conquest, seen from the viewpoint of cultural history, did not mark a complete break.
Arabic traditions of architecture and decoration were continued and merged with new Christian forms by Moorish craftspeople, now employed by Christian patrons.
Azulejos (colored glazed tiles), stucco-decoration and artesonado (ornamented wood) ceilings are to be found in many churches and aristocratic residences of that period.
The most famous example of this Mudéjar style, is the magnificent palace of King Pedro I, the Cruel, in Seville.
As the Gothic style was being replaced with the Renaissance style, stylistic anomalies such as the Isabellesque and Plateresque styles began emerging. These continue the tradition of stylistic pluralism within Spanish art.
Under the Hapsburgs (1516-1700) Spain grew into a world-empire, and during the Conquista, as the American continents were being discovered and conquered, it ruled an enormous colonial area and had untold wealth at its disposal.
Conflicts with other European powers increased. From the late 16th century on, defeats and territorial losses contributed to a gradual dwindling of power. World economic crises and plague epidemics worsened the situation.
Quite independently, however, in the 17th century art and literature thrived splendidly, allowing Andalucia to experience the Siqlo de Oro (Golden Age). The Baroque era marked the region’s final period of glory.
In the course of the Counter-Reformation, many monasteries and churches were built and provided with magnificent reredos (alterpieces), numerous oil-paintings and life-size pasos (figures from the Passion).
In the cities of Seville and Granada important schools for painters and sculptors were established.
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The decline began in the 19th century - with wars, disputes about who should succeed to the throne, and the loss of the colonies.
In the 20th century, the Civil War (1936-1939) and Franco’s dictatorship (1936-1975) made Andalucia deteriorate into the poorhouse of Spain, with underdeveloped industry and high unemployment. The virtual absence of an architectural or artistic legacy speaks volumes.
Although tourism and a flourishing agriculture give present-day Andalucia important economic strengths, they are not sufficient to resolve the problems of unemployment.
An almost feudal social structure, which has persisted since the Reconquista - almost half the land is owned by only about four percent of the population — and an immense number of poverty-stricken day-labourers characterize Andalucia’s economic problems today.
The lack of mineral resources in the southeast and the Sierra Morena, areas which have few industrial or technological centres, exacerbates the problem.
As a result, the 1950s and 1970s saw huge waves of emigration. Nearly two million Andalucians left the country in order to work in the North or abroad.
Nevertheless, for some time now Andalucia has not been a poor region. Nowadays it is a politically self-confident and economically thriving region, which was given fresh economic impetus by the Universal Exhibition of 1992 in Seville.
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Bolonia
