Moorish Architecture In Spain

Part One:

A. Identify Altamira - Dating back anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 the Altamira is a cave which contains prehistoric cave paintings and is said to be the starting of Spain and its heritage and arguably the first form of art. The Altamira is located in Northern Spain and occurred around the time of the ice age before the area was called the Iberian Peninsula. These paintings came along due to the fact that the people had nowhere to travel because much of the land was frozen: the paintings depicted animals that were the diet of the cave people and that lived near the caves. The paintings consisted of natural materials like dried flowers or animal fat and measured about 18 feet.

B. Identify Toledo - Much like

the city of Jerusalem; Toledo is a city that has adapted around the influences of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Like Grenada it’s art is a blend of the different cultures into one, which can be seen in mosaic styles from the Muslims mixed in with the neoclassical style of the Christiana’s.
C. Identify the Cortes - The Cortes is the government of Spain made up of the Congress, which is the lower house, and the Senate, which is the upper house. The Congress is the stronger of the two and accepts or rejects laws proposed by the Prime Minister. The Senate’s job is to pass laws and execute the constitution into society.
D. Explain what the Reconquista was and when it was completed. - Unlike France, Spain had an early arrival of Islam in 610 A.D, which would become problematic towards an effort for a unified Spain. The problem with Spain was they had no absolute government so they were easier to invade. The Reconquista was when the Spaniards rose to expel, eliminate, and drive the Muslims out of Spain in 1492 leading to Spain becoming united as one.
E. What is a geographical area still disputed between Spain and England? - Still to this day the small country of Gibraltar located on the bottom of Spain and in Mediterranean Sea is greatly disputed between Spain and Britain and present day remains its own country independent from Spain. The two countries disputed over the land as a result from the Treaty of Utrecht, which made Spain give up the territory in 1713, both Spain and Britain claim to have history in the area. The British had always wanted Gibraltar to have a military presence in the Mediterranean and looked at Gibraltar as a military strong point.
F. Identify the ETA - Is a domestic separatist terrorist group in Spain originating from the Basque region located in Northern Spain along the border of France. Responsible for causing much terror and damage in Spain and in the Basque region ETA’s ideology is separatism and Basque nationalism and stands for the Basque people and region in the fight to separate from a united Spain to become its own country. At the time Prime Minister Jose Zapatero negotiated with ETA in an attempt for peace and cease-fire.
G. Name the current Monarch of Spain - The current Monarch of Spain is a Constitutional Monarchy that was brought back after demand from the people to transition from a democracy after the ruling of Francisco Franco. The current head of state is Felipe VI who took place of Juan Carlos I.
H. The Basques - Is a regional ethnicity within Spain with its own language dialect as well, located in the Basque region in Northern Spain along the border with France. The Basques are one of the oldest regional groups in Spain and the first to practice separatism to be its own country dating back to around 700 A.D, even before Catalan. The first sign of Basque nationalism and Basque terrorism can be seen around 785 A.D when the Basque people attacked the French pushing them out of Spain over the border into France; this attack is described in the famous French poem “The Song of Roland”. In recent times the Basques have caused chaos using the separatist group ETA in order to be heard for their ideology in separating from Spain.

Essays: (10 points each)

1. When did Spain become what could be called a unified country? (in what year)? Who accomplished this unification? How was it accomplished? - After the Reconquista in 1492 Spain was considered unified. This was accomplished by the King and Queen Isabella and Ferdinand who ruled at the time. They took action by driving out and expelling the Muslims in order to make Spain independent and unified under only Christianity.
2. In what specific ways can one speak, today, of a “new, Modern and progressive” Spain? - As of today Spain is economically unstable being the fifth largest economy in the E.U with an unemployment rate of 22.7 as well as budget and benefit problems. As for the good things Spain is “pro-European greatly favoring the current constitution of the E.U because they are a country that prefers to cooperate rather than to confront.
3. How did Franco use language and linguistic issues to tighten his political control over all of Spain? - Since Franco believed in one Spain he believed in one language. By this Franco suppressed all regional dialects and made the national dialect Catalan in which he thought was the most dominant language and people out of all of Spain. This tightened his control because everyone now had to follow under one roof and made it easier to keep track of everyone and everything.
4.

Write an essay on Moorish architecture in Spain, explaining the various materials used and the stylistic elements, giving the name of at least one city in Spain that is a center of this art. List the various cultural, ethnic and religious elements that are combined in this art. - One city greatly known for its Moorish art and architecture is Grenada. Grenada is special because its art is a result from a blend of Roman architecture and Muslim religious architecture. Some examples of this can be seen in its buildings and mosques that use arches and elaborate patterns and lines usually made of tile, ceramic, and paint because of the fact that in the Muslim religion images cannot be depicted to represent the religion or God; this Muslim influence is mixed in with the use of columns and mosaics from the

Romans.
5.

Discuss the Spanish Civil War, explaining the following: The dates of start and end, the names of the two opposing sides and what they stood for (or said that they stood for), the negative side of each party. Which side won and who emerged as the leader, at the time, of Spain? Describe the aftermath of the Civil War. - Starting in 1936 and ending in 1939 the Spanish Civil War, which devastated the country, was the result of the two largest political parties in Spain fighting one another for complete rule of the country. The two sides were the Royalist, which was an extreme right and fanciest party standing for Spanish nationalism and to fight as a united Spain as well as to devote and worship Christianity only, as to the Republicans, which was a left/liberal party that supported Communism and believed in Socialism that everyone should be equal. The negativities of the Royalist were that they believed in superiority over the people and were anti sematic as well as in favor of the monarchy. The negatives of the Republicans were that they believed in no one religion or dominating culture resulting in the dismembering of the Catholic church and the killing of Christians as well as lying to the people in the sense that they ran for the poor and disadvantaged. After years of fighting the Royalist led by Dictator Francisco Franco emerged as the winner in April of 1939. After the civil war ended Franco ruled Spain for about 40 years with an iron fist.

Franco suppressed the separatists and all regional dialects and cultures as well as set up the government to reinstate a monarchy.
6. List a Spanish painting of the 20th century, studied in class, that is a superior example of art as political propaganda. List the artist and the year of the painting, as well as its title. Explain the historical event being depicted, explaining what happened in that event. What style of painting, or movement, does the artiest use in this work of political propaganda? - The painting studied in class, which is an example of political propaganda, is the Guernica painted by Pablo Picasso around the 1930’s and takes the art form of Cubism. The Guernica is a historically special painting because it is the representation of the people of Guernica after a “dress rehearsal” bombing by the Nazi’s around WWII. The painting depicted the distress and chaos of innocent people as they shopped in the market; the painting is also used as an example for anti-war. Hitler used the bombings as an excuse that he helped get rid of the Republican party which was supported in Guernica that was the enemy of Franco’s Royalist party.
7. Explain Antonio Gaudi’s contribution to Catalan culture by discussing two of his buildings, their architecture style, materials used, and his own personal architectural style. In what city did he work? - Gaudi who was born in and also worked in Barcelona is arguably the face of Barcelona and Catalan culture. Two buildings in Barcelona that is a great representation of his art and architectural work are Sagrada Familia and Casa Mila. The Sagrada Familia uses the style of traditional Catalan and some Gothic with a creative abstract twist of Gaudi’s own imagination, as well as a small section in the back using Cubism. Gaudi built the Sagrada Familia with the thought of dedicating a church to the holy family and nature. To build the cathedral Gaudi used stone and depicted the holy family in an abstract way of his own more like a natural wave/earthy pattern taking no actual shape unlike cubism, used ceramic to decorate the top of the spires of the church with fruits representing that religion should lead to a joyous life, and used marble to build tree like columns representing life. The Casa Mila also uses the style of traditional Catalan with Gaudi’s own twist. Gaudi built the Casa Mila an upscale apartment building with the look of an ocean because Barcelona is a port city on the Mediterranean Sea. In building the Casa Mila Gaudi used stone but unlike traditional apartment building Gaudi gave it an abstract ocean look to with a twisting and turning wave like pattern; Gaudi also used ceramic to decorate the roof making it look like sea weed and the color of the ocean with also sculptures of imaginary ocean creatures on top.