Courtly Splendor in the Islamic World - The Metropolitan Museum of ...

the spanish umayyads (756–1031)
In 711, less than a century after the birth of Islam, an army of Arabs and
Berbers serving the Umayyad caliphs of Damascus (in Syria) landed in the
Iberian Peninsula, ushering in a new phase of art and culture in the region.
Within a period of seven years, most of the peninsula was under Muslim rule.
These new territories came to be known by their Arabic name, al-Andalus.
In 750, the Umayyad dynasty in Syria fell to the Abbasids. The one
surviving member, ‘Abd al-Rahman I (reigned 756–88), escaped to Spain and
established autonomous rule there. He rebuilt Córdoba, the capital city, to
reflect his Syrian heritage and the Byzantine roots of the Umayyad capital of
Damascus. This influence can be seen in the architecture and surface
ornamentation of the Great Mosque of Córdoba as well as other buildings
in the city. Under ‘Abd al-Rahman III (reigned 912–61), who proclaimed
himself caliph, al-Andalus grew into an empire with a diverse religious and
ethnic population.
Fig. 21. Interior of the Salon Rico (a reception hall), Madinat al-Zahra, Spain, 953–58
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