Integrating the Medieval Iberian Peninsula and North Africa in Islamic Architectural History

Abstract

How do Islamic art survey texts present the architecture of the Islamic West, and how does this presentation shape the perception of the Maghrib in university classrooms? Examining the Great Mosque of Qayrawan and the Great Mosque of Cordoba as they appear in four representative and widely used art history survey texts, this article argues that a common art historical narrative characterises the art of early medieval North Africa as ultimately derivative of and artistically inferior to the art of early Islamic Iraq, Egypt, and the Iberian Peninsula. The article points to a shared chronological moment, which witnessed the expansion of the Cordoba prayer hall during the reign of ‘Abd al-Ra man II and several building projects undertaken around the same time by the Aghlabid emirs of Ifriqiya. Examining these two building programmes in relation to one another leads to different conclusions about these monuments of the Islamic West than are offered in the art history texts, which...