Culture
Almohad universities continued the knowledge of Greek and Roman ancient writers, while contemporaries cultural figures included Averroes and the Jewish philosopher Maimonides.
The style of Almohad art was essentially an oriental one, although most of the workers were from al-Andalus. The main sites of Almohad architecture and art include Fes, Marrakech, Rabat and Seville. Figurative arts suffered somewhat from the orthdox interpretation of the Quran, which forbade human representation, and thus the genre of art which flourished mostly in the Almohad lands was architecture, although it also did not reach peaks of originality.
The Almohads reduced decorations, and introduced the use of geometrical holes, following in general the principle of expressing a certain degree of magnificence. As centuries passed, the buildings had increasingly oriental appearance and similar structures: mosques with rectangular plans, divided into naves with pillars, as well as a wide use of horseshoe-shaped arches. The most common building material was brickwork, followed by mortar. Foreign influence can be seen in domes of Egyptian origin and, in the civil sector, the triumphal arches inspired by those in the same country. The construction of fortifications with towers was also widespread.
The main Almohad structures include the Giralda of the former mosque of Seville (founded in 1171), the Koutoubia Mosque and the Kasbah of Marrakech, the Hassan Tower of Rabat and the Atalaya Castle in Andalusia.
-
La Giralda.
-
Koutoubia Mosque.
-
The Almohad minaret in Safi
Read more about this topic: Almohad Caliphate
Famous quotes containing the word culture:
“We belong to an age whose culture is in danger of perishing through the means to culture.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“Insolent youth rides, now, in the whirlwind. For those modern iconoclasts who are without culture possess, apparently, all the courage.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)
“Unthinking people will often try to teach you how to do the things which you can do better than you can be taught to do them. If you are sure of all this, you can start to add to your value as a mother by learning the things that can be taught, for the best of our civilization and culture offers much that is of value, if you can take it without loss of what comes to you naturally.”
—D.W. Winnicott (20th century)