0:00:03 > 0:00:06MUSIC: "Y Viva Espana" by Sylvia
0:00:08 > 0:00:12# Oh this year I'm off to sunny Spain
0:00:12 > 0:00:16# Y viva Espana... #
0:00:16 > 0:00:20Too often we think of Spain as two weeks on the beach.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22# ..Y viva Espana... #
0:00:22 > 0:00:24But there's another Spain.
0:00:39 > 0:00:45Spain has produced some of the most startling and original art ever created.
0:00:47 > 0:00:52Art that has been unfairly overshadowed by the rest of Europe.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Art that we know little about.
0:00:55 > 0:00:58But Spanish art is the art that we need to know about...
0:00:58 > 0:01:03because it holds the key to understanding all of Europe and its culture.
0:01:03 > 0:01:08It was in Spain and its empire that so many of Europe's great battles were played out.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Christianity versus Islam...
0:01:11 > 0:01:15Catholic versus Protestant...
0:01:15 > 0:01:18Fascist versus Socialist.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25In this series, I'm going to travel this country of extremes,
0:01:25 > 0:01:30exploring its turbulent past and discovering its extraordinary art.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42I'm starting in the South.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46For many visitors, this IS Spain.
0:01:48 > 0:01:52But away from the beaches there are magnificent sights.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58Grand palaces...
0:01:58 > 0:02:00castles...
0:02:00 > 0:02:01and mosques...
0:02:02 > 0:02:06reminders of a different culture from a distant time,
0:02:06 > 0:02:12a time when Spain was called Al Andalus.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16What's often forgotten is that for over 700 years
0:02:16 > 0:02:21much of Spain was ruled by Muslims and the South was its beating heart.
0:02:21 > 0:02:27Southern Spain was a unique frontier, where east met west with explosive results.
0:02:27 > 0:02:33This is the story of how Islamic Spain became one of the most remarkable civilisations ever seen.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38One that's shaped Spain and the rest of Europe ever since.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41FLAMENCO MUSIC
0:02:54 > 0:02:59Right at the tip of Southern Spain, a huge rock explodes out of the Mediterranean.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07But the rock isn't Spanish.
0:03:07 > 0:03:08It's British.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11And long before Britain owned it,
0:03:11 > 0:03:14the Rock of Gibraltar belonged to another foreign power,
0:03:14 > 0:03:18a power that ruled it for nearly 800 years.
0:03:19 > 0:03:22On 30th April in the year 711,
0:03:22 > 0:03:26an Arab general named Tariq ibn Ziyad
0:03:26 > 0:03:29sailed across these waters from North Africa
0:03:29 > 0:03:32with an army of 5,000 Arab and North African soldiers
0:03:32 > 0:03:34and invaded Gibraltar.
0:03:34 > 0:03:39He gave the rock its name, Jabal Al Tariq - Tariq's Mountain.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44He used it as the launch pad for the Islamic conquest of Christian Spain.
0:03:48 > 0:03:52Just 25,000 troops marched across the country,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55building fortifications as they went.
0:03:57 > 0:04:02After just three years, the invasion was complete.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Only the far-flung provinces of the extreme North resisted,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10protected by impassable mountains.
0:04:10 > 0:04:13But the rest of Spain was now
0:04:13 > 0:04:19part of a vast Islamic empire which reached as far as India.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Even its name was changed, from Spain to Al Andalus,
0:04:22 > 0:04:27and its new rulers were an assortment of Arabs, North Africans,
0:04:27 > 0:04:29Egyptians and Syrians...
0:04:30 > 0:04:32the Moors.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Now Spain was pretty much used to being conquered by foreign invaders over the centuries.
0:04:38 > 0:04:43The Romans, the Celts and the Visigoths had all had a go at ruling this vast land
0:04:44 > 0:04:49and, by all accounts, the primitive peoples of Spain had been a bit of a soft touch.
0:04:49 > 0:04:51But you might have been forgiven for thinking
0:04:51 > 0:04:55the collision between Muslim invaders and a Christian people
0:04:55 > 0:04:57would have had some fairly explosive results
0:04:57 > 0:05:01and there was an explosion but not of the kind you might expect.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04It was an explosion of art and culture.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11The story of this art and culture remains shockingly neglected
0:05:11 > 0:05:14but I think it's the key to understanding
0:05:14 > 0:05:15the whole of Spanish art
0:05:15 > 0:05:19and its unique intensity.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22The first great flowering of Moorish culture
0:05:22 > 0:05:25took place in the new capital city of Cordoba.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34By the late eighth century, the Moors had turned Cordoba
0:05:34 > 0:05:39into the brightest, wealthiest and busiest city in Europe.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46Its fame reached as far as a quiet cloister in Saxony,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49where a Christian nun described the city
0:05:49 > 0:05:51as "the brilliant ornament of the world".
0:05:56 > 0:06:02This glittering city was all the work of one young man.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05His name was Abd al-Rahman and he was an exile.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09His family had ruled Damascus in Syria
0:06:09 > 0:06:15but in the year 750 they were all killed in a brutal civil war.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18Abd al-Rahman was the sole survivor of the massacre
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and he fled all the way from Syria to Cordoba,
0:06:21 > 0:06:23where he quickly established himself
0:06:23 > 0:06:26as the Caliph, or ruler, of Al Andalus.
0:06:26 > 0:06:28His passage through life had hardly been easy
0:06:28 > 0:06:33but he was to turn out to be one of the most influential figures in world history,
0:06:33 > 0:06:37someone who kick-started a complete revolution in Western society.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42He did so by attempting to recreate the splendours of his native Damascus here in Cordoba.
0:06:43 > 0:06:47He wanted to turn this place into a kind of paradise on earth.
0:06:51 > 0:06:57Under Abd al-Rahman, a great civilisation would be born here on Spanish soil.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Hashim.
0:06:59 > 0:07:05I'm here really to try and find out about Cordoba as it was in the Golden Age.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08There were many, many philosophers and artists...
0:07:10 > 0:07:13that was coming to Cordoba for learning.
0:07:13 > 0:07:18Modern science have many roots in this time, in Cordoba.
0:07:18 > 0:07:25In astronomy and philosophy, in physic, in all the knowledge.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Can be like a revolution, you know, like a cultural revolution.
0:07:29 > 0:07:36So if somebody say around 900 came from Paris or London
0:07:36 > 0:07:39and arrived in Cordoba,
0:07:39 > 0:07:42what impression do you think it would have made on them?
0:07:42 > 0:07:47It's like when if now the people who are living
0:07:47 > 0:07:52in the poor countries go to New York now, or Paris, or London,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56or Madrid. I think this can be the same impression.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05At the heart of Abd al-Rahman's paradise on earth
0:08:05 > 0:08:07was the Great Mosque of Cordoba.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11When work began here in the 8th century,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14Islam was only a century old,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17which makes this one of the first mosques ever built.
0:08:40 > 0:08:44The Great Mosque is a forest of stone columns
0:08:44 > 0:08:48which seem to go on forever - as far as the eye can see.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53The effect is a bit like being in a hall of mirrors.
0:08:53 > 0:08:57You actually feel lost in here, truly disorientated
0:08:57 > 0:08:59and that's the point.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04The worshipper feels in the presence of something mysterious and infinite...
0:09:04 > 0:09:06perhaps God himself.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16In Islam, the direct representation of God
0:09:16 > 0:09:19or any living being is forbidden.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24The designers couldn't use pictures or statues to inspire religious awe,
0:09:24 > 0:09:27just the forms of architecture itself.
0:09:29 > 0:09:32And the design of the mosque is uniform throughout,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35so wherever you stand
0:09:35 > 0:09:38in this amazing never-ending forest of stone,
0:09:38 > 0:09:40you feel the same connection to God.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47Early Islam was a religion without hierarchy,
0:09:47 > 0:09:49without clergy and liturgy.
0:09:49 > 0:09:52You just entered the space and prayed.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56So it was vital for the architects to create a building
0:09:56 > 0:09:58in which everyone felt equal.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01This is spiritually democratic architecture.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12I found the experience of visiting the Great Mosque really powerful.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16I think it's all the more moving when you think about the man who created it, Abd al-Rahman.
0:10:16 > 0:10:21Now we don't know a great deal about him but we do know that he left us one poem.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25It's a poem about a palm tree that he found
0:10:25 > 0:10:30that had seeded itself somewhere out on the plains of Al Andalus.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33He saw it as a symbol of himself.
0:10:33 > 0:10:37He wrote an ode to it. The palm, he said, was like me, it's an exile.
0:10:37 > 0:10:43It reminded him of his family. It was a very important symbol to any Arab living in Spain.
0:10:43 > 0:10:47It symbolised water, shelter, nourishment.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50Now, of course, that palm-tree has gone forever but I wonder if this mosque
0:10:50 > 0:10:54with its endlessly repeated columns,
0:10:54 > 0:10:58isn't a thousand palm trees planted here,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01preserved forever in stone.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10But slap bang in the middle of the prayer hall
0:11:10 > 0:11:13is something profoundly un-Islamic...
0:11:32 > 0:11:34..a Catholic cathedral.
0:11:36 > 0:11:42In the 16th century, long after the fall of the Moors, Cordoba's Christian rulers
0:11:43 > 0:11:46demolished the central columns of the mosque
0:11:46 > 0:11:49and erected this vast temple to Christianity.
0:12:01 > 0:12:05A cathedral planted in the centre of a mosque.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08It's like a great parasite in its belly.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17Even the great Catholic Emperor Charles V, who authorised the construction of the cathedral,
0:12:17 > 0:12:22realised he'd made a terrible mistake. When it was complete he rounded on the architects,
0:12:22 > 0:12:26saying, "You've taken something unique and turned it into something mundane."
0:12:26 > 0:12:30Now, I think you can still appreciate the beauty of the mosque,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34but as an act of cultural vandalism, I've never seen anything like it.
0:12:34 > 0:12:37It's like a sort of dagger plunged into the heart of the mosque.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40It represents a really heavy-handed imposition
0:12:40 > 0:12:42of one set of religious values on another
0:12:42 > 0:12:45and there's something quite ugly about that.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52So much of the later story of Spain would be dominated by religious conflict.
0:12:54 > 0:12:57But during the Golden Age of Al Andalus,
0:12:57 > 0:13:00back in its 9th and 10th century heyday,
0:13:00 > 0:13:03the religious realities were quite different.
0:13:03 > 0:13:07The extraordinary fact is that here in Al Andalus,
0:13:07 > 0:13:10uniquely the three religions lived together in relative harmony.
0:13:10 > 0:13:14Now, Islam regarded Jews and Christians as "People of the Book"
0:13:14 > 0:13:17whose holy writings were to be respected
0:13:17 > 0:13:20as forerunners of the Prophet Muhammed's final revelation.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23So the conquering Moors made no effort
0:13:23 > 0:13:26to convince the Christians and the Jews to convert
0:13:26 > 0:13:30and they even, as the Koran commanded, gave them freedom of worship.
0:13:33 > 0:13:38For over 200 years the three religions rubbed along surprisingly well.
0:13:38 > 0:13:42Friendships and marriages flourished across the faiths.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47Many Christians and Jews held prominent positions in the Islamic state.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56Antonio Manuel, how fully integrated really
0:13:56 > 0:13:59were these three different religious groups in Cordoba -
0:13:59 > 0:14:03the Jews, the Christians, the Muslims?
0:14:03 > 0:14:06TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH:
0:14:32 > 0:14:35So was this society a kind of paradise on earth?
0:15:10 > 0:15:12In the heart of the old town of Cordoba
0:15:12 > 0:15:14stands an extraordinary testament
0:15:14 > 0:15:17to the interplay between the three religions
0:15:17 > 0:15:20during the Golden Age of Al Andalus.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37At first sight everything about this space seems 100% Islamic.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40Look at that fantastic elaborate arch,
0:15:40 > 0:15:44look at those beautiful shapes like flames cut from stone.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47But everything here isn't quite as it seems.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Because that writing,
0:15:49 > 0:15:52it's not Arabic... it's Hebrew.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54This isn't a mosque.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56It's a synagogue.
0:16:03 > 0:16:09The Jewish population of Al Andalus fared particularly well under Arab rule.
0:16:09 > 0:16:13Under the Christians in the sixth and seventh centuries they'd been persecuted.
0:16:13 > 0:16:15Under Islam they prospered,
0:16:15 > 0:16:18becoming successful merchants,
0:16:18 > 0:16:20reaching the highest positions in government.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26Nowadays we tend to think of these two great religions,
0:16:26 > 0:16:30Judaism and Islam, as naturally opposed to one another,
0:16:30 > 0:16:34but this space is a reminder that it wasn't always so,
0:16:34 > 0:16:37that here in Cordoba, once upon a time,
0:16:37 > 0:16:42Jews and Muslims lived not as enemies but as brothers.
0:16:42 > 0:16:44So I think this small unassuming space
0:16:44 > 0:16:49actually contains rather a large lesson for the modern world.
0:17:00 > 0:17:06The Christians of Al Andalus were just as keen to embrace Arab culture.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09Many even converted to Islam.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12After 300 years of Islamic occupation,
0:17:12 > 0:17:1775% of the population had become Muslim.
0:17:17 > 0:17:22But even those who didn't convert were profoundly affected by the Arab way of life.
0:17:24 > 0:17:28They were known Mozarabs, meaning "Arabised",
0:17:28 > 0:17:33and they adopted the dress, language and customs of their rulers.
0:17:36 > 0:17:39It's hardly surprising that the peoples of medieval Spain
0:17:39 > 0:17:42should have been so seduced by Arab civilisation.
0:17:42 > 0:17:45After all, this was a cultural desert.
0:17:45 > 0:17:49They were leading dour, simple lives and suddenly along comes
0:17:49 > 0:17:54this vibrant, colourful, sophisticated, but, above all, sensual culture.
0:17:54 > 0:17:58And, for me, almost its greatest symbol
0:17:58 > 0:18:03is the beautiful Arab bath house, a kind of temple of sensual delight.
0:18:05 > 0:18:08As well as luxuriating in the bath house,
0:18:08 > 0:18:13the Moors introduced new fashions, hairstyles and perfumes.
0:18:13 > 0:18:19They also brought toothpaste and underarm deodorant to the West for the first time.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24The Moors treated every aspect of life as if it were a work of art -
0:18:24 > 0:18:29whether it was clothes, or cosmetics, or food.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35The Moors also introduced to Spain a whole new world of culinary delights.
0:18:35 > 0:18:37They brought in the idea of eating in courses
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and they brought with them a whole new range of ingredients
0:18:41 > 0:18:44that transformed Western European cookery -
0:18:44 > 0:18:49rice, coffee, sugar, citrus fruits, coriander, basil.
0:18:49 > 0:18:52And they turned cooking into an art form.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02'For the last 40 years Don Pepe has run a restaurant in Cordoba
0:19:02 > 0:19:04'that specialises in Moorish cuisine.'
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Muy bueno.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11What are we eating? Is this a typical Moorish influenced dish?
0:19:11 > 0:19:14TRANSLATED FROM SPANISH:
0:19:26 > 0:19:29Why do you think food was so important to the Moors?
0:19:54 > 0:19:57And if you had to choose just one thing
0:19:57 > 0:20:01that the Moors did for world cooking, what would it be?
0:20:34 > 0:20:39But for the Moors, food wasn't the only part of the dining experience,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43surprisingly they also enjoyed a drink.
0:20:43 > 0:20:45The Koran forbids the consumption of alcohol,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49but we know that it was produced in large quantities throughout Islamic Spain.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52Alcohol itself is an Arabic word.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57Now they used it in cosmetics and in medicine, but they also drank it,
0:20:57 > 0:21:00and they even introduced a distillation process
0:21:00 > 0:21:03that would result in that most Spanish of drinks - sherry.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06Como es usted.How are you?
0:21:06 > 0:21:11You're the man with the secret way of getting the sherry from the casks!OK.
0:21:11 > 0:21:12I'll believe it when I see it.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15In there...OK.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19One, two...
0:21:21 > 0:21:23OK?Can I have a go?Yes.
0:21:24 > 0:21:26OK.
0:21:26 > 0:21:30So I just sort of swing it? One, two.One, two...
0:21:32 > 0:21:35THEY CHORTLE
0:21:35 > 0:21:39Yeah, it's easy to get it all over the floor...Very good. Oh, that's good?!
0:21:39 > 0:21:42I'd say that's about two out of ten.
0:21:44 > 0:21:50But as well as indulging the senses, the Moors were also intent on developing the mind.
0:21:50 > 0:21:57Reading was so valued that they turned script itself into a coiling, ornate form of art.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03The Koran encouraged learning, saying that it brought you closer to God.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05And the Moors took this decree to heart.
0:22:07 > 0:22:14Cordoba was full of libraries, one of which was reputed to contain over 400,000 books -
0:22:14 > 0:22:19ten times more than the contents of the libraries of the rest of Europe put together.
0:22:21 > 0:22:27The Moors made great advances in philosophy, literature, science and mathematics.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36The Arab contribution to Western thought was truly enormous.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39Among other things it was through Al Andalus
0:22:39 > 0:22:43that the West re-discovered virtually all of ancient Greek philosophy,
0:22:43 > 0:22:48through Al Andalus that we got the Hindu-Arabic number system, our number system.
0:22:48 > 0:22:51The development of logical thought, how we count and calculate -
0:22:51 > 0:22:55it's fair to say that the foundations for all of these things were laid
0:22:55 > 0:22:59in the great centres of Spanish-Islamic learning, like Cordoba.
0:23:12 > 0:23:18As you drive round the landscape of Southern Spain, it's full of a sense of the Moorish past.
0:23:18 > 0:23:22There are these little castles everywhere,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26surrounded by tiny, little white villages.
0:23:26 > 0:23:31But I think it was the landscape that they altered most of all, because whereas for the Romans,
0:23:31 > 0:23:35Spain had just been the arse-end of Empire, a dry and barren place,
0:23:35 > 0:23:39to these people from the desert, this was a land full of agricultural possibility,
0:23:39 > 0:23:43and they brought with them a whole range of techniques for farming dry land -
0:23:43 > 0:23:47systems of irrigation, canals. They planted out olives and vineyards.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51And, as a result, there was a huge population explosion.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56Suddenly people had more than enough to eat, they had more than enough water to drink.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59Spain really had never had it so good.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05And in the countryside outside Cordoba, the greatest symbol
0:24:05 > 0:24:10of Islamic power and influence in Spain rose out of the ground.
0:24:20 > 0:24:25These ruins are all that's left of the most splendid palace ever built by the Moors -
0:24:26 > 0:24:27Madinat al Zahra.
0:24:30 > 0:24:32It was built in the 10th century to celebrate
0:24:32 > 0:24:37the might of Abd al-Rahman III, descendant of the great exile
0:24:37 > 0:24:39who'd founded the Golden Age.
0:24:39 > 0:24:43In the year 929, al-Rahman proclaimed himself
0:24:43 > 0:24:49not only Caliph of Al Andalus, but ruler of the entire Islamic empire.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53And to celebrate this audacious act of self-promotion,
0:24:53 > 0:24:59he built this vast palace complex, the size of a city.
0:24:59 > 0:25:06It was to become the Versailles of Spain, the epitome of the Islamic palace.
0:25:06 > 0:25:11Wow. It is fantastically impressive but just think how much more impressive it must have been
0:25:12 > 0:25:18when this place was in its heyday, and gold and silver and magnificent textiles decorated every surface.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23Apparently one room even contained a vast, suspended vat full of mercury,
0:25:23 > 0:25:26and at the caliph's command a servant would bang it
0:25:26 > 0:25:27and the mercury would ripple,
0:25:27 > 0:25:30and light would dance and sparkle on every surface.
0:25:30 > 0:25:35It must have been a bit like some medieval, Islamic glitter ball.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39And the guests would reel backwards in awe and terror.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52But this city was also meant to touch the soul.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56In the Koran, the words of Muhammed dictated in the desert,
0:25:56 > 0:26:01paradise is described as "a garden flowing with streams"
0:26:01 > 0:26:06and Madinat al Zahra was built around gardens and water.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10This was an attempt to create a paradise on earth,
0:26:10 > 0:26:15a tantalising glimpse of the eternal garden that awaits the righteous.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28These arches are the same as in Cordoba's Mosque.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Even the colours are the same, red and white -
0:26:31 > 0:26:34the colours of the al-Rahman dynasty.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40But here, power politics are blended with spirituality.
0:26:40 > 0:26:45And running through it all is the idea of Paradise.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49This is the most impressive of all of the rooms in Madinat al Zahra.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54It's the nerve centre of the entire complex, the throne room of Caliph Abd al-Rahman III,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59and here it's as if the idea of Paradise has been set in stone.
0:26:59 > 0:27:01It's been allowed to take over the architecture.
0:27:01 > 0:27:04Look at that great wall of ornamental carving.
0:27:04 > 0:27:08It's as if stone itself has been made to go against its own nature
0:27:08 > 0:27:14and been turned into a kind of plant life. These tendrils and shoots that grow up the wall.
0:27:14 > 0:27:17You really do feel that you are in a kind of paradise.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25Plant motifs aren't the only decoration in this room.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28The walls are also covered in patterns made from geometry
0:27:28 > 0:27:33and Arab writing, both loaded with religious significance.
0:27:33 > 0:27:36In a world in which the depiction of real figures,
0:27:36 > 0:27:39real life was forbidden,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43the Muslim artist had to turn to pattern and elevate it to an art form.
0:27:44 > 0:27:51And these stunningly intricate forests of decoration are the pinnacle of early Islamic art.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Nothing like them survives anywhere else in the world.
0:27:55 > 0:28:01They're the Islamic equivalent of the greatest Christian frescoes, but without a human figure in sight.
0:28:03 > 0:28:09What you really notice about this space is the way in which every square inch has been decorated.
0:28:09 > 0:28:15Now that's unique and it would become one of the hallmarks of Spanish Islamic art.
0:28:15 > 0:28:20It's almost as if they developed a terror of empty space.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35But the glory of Madinat al Zahra was to be short-lived.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Less than 100 years after work on the palace began,
0:28:39 > 0:28:42it lay in ruins.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47In the 11th century, civil war engulfed Al Andalus.
0:28:47 > 0:28:52The dynasty of Abd al-Rahman, rulers for nearly 300 years, was overthrown.
0:28:52 > 0:28:58Madinat al Zahra was sacked and looted.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02The Golden Age was over.
0:29:02 > 0:29:04So why did this golden moment come to an end?
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Well, some blame fierce political rivalry between
0:29:07 > 0:29:11the various Islamic tribes that made up Muslim Spain from the start.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14Others say it was due to corruption within the Caliphate itself.
0:29:14 > 0:29:20But my own favourite explanation was given by the greatest Spanish Arab historian of the time.
0:29:20 > 0:29:23It's wonderful, it's the Orange Grove Theory of History.
0:29:23 > 0:29:27He said that any society is doomed once it's becomes wealthy enough,
0:29:27 > 0:29:31and therefore sedentary enough, to plant orange trees.
0:29:31 > 0:29:36Maybe in the end they were just undone by their own success.
0:29:51 > 0:29:55In 1031, Al Andalus split into dozens of self-governing city states,
0:29:55 > 0:30:00fighting amongst each other for territory and power.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05But things were to get far worse.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14I've come to the city of Seville, two hours' drive to the west of Cordoba.
0:30:14 > 0:30:19In the 11th century, this became the most important city in Spain,
0:30:19 > 0:30:21home to a new set of Arab rulers.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32For the best part of 200 years, Al Andalus was to be ruled
0:30:32 > 0:30:37by a much more hardline, fundamentalist Islamic regime.
0:30:37 > 0:30:44Two successive generations of Muslims from North Africa who invaded and took control.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48Not only were they much more oppressive to Christians and Jews in Al Andalus,
0:30:48 > 0:30:53but they also embarked on regular jihads into the Christian north.
0:30:55 > 0:31:00The aggressive behaviour of the new regime would soon provoke a mighty confrontation
0:31:00 > 0:31:06which would explode onto the streets of Seville and engulf the whole of Al Andalus.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14The stones of this great building have their own vivid story to tell
0:31:14 > 0:31:17about the epic struggle that took place in Seville.
0:31:17 > 0:31:20This was originally a minaret,
0:31:20 > 0:31:23part of the great mosque that stood in the heart of the city.
0:31:23 > 0:31:27From its summit, the Muslim faithful were called to prayer.
0:31:27 > 0:31:33Now it's topped by a renaissance bell-tower pealing out the message that it's time for mass.
0:31:33 > 0:31:35BELL TOLLS
0:31:37 > 0:31:41The tower's a great symbol of the battle that was to convulse Spain
0:31:41 > 0:31:45for hundreds of years, reaching Seville in the mid-13th century.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05It was from here in 1248 that the Moors watched as
0:32:05 > 0:32:11a new enemy laid siege to Seville, an enemy that threatened the Spanish Muslims' power and their religion.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15One so feared that the Moors wanted to destroy this beautiful minaret
0:32:15 > 0:32:19rather than let it fall into their enemy's hands.
0:32:37 > 0:32:42The enemy at the city gates was the Christians and they were on the warpath.
0:32:42 > 0:32:46For 300 years, the independent Christian kingdoms of the North
0:32:46 > 0:32:50had existed in an uneasy truce with the Moors of Al Andalus.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55But the Christians were getting hungry for power and territory.
0:32:55 > 0:33:01'Provoked by the rise of Islamic militancy, they decided to crusade against the infidel.'
0:33:05 > 0:33:10And so, the reconquest began - a crusade that was to last more than 400 years -
0:33:10 > 0:33:14a monumentally long and bloody campaign.
0:33:14 > 0:33:19This conflict would establish a peculiarly fervent form of Catholicism
0:33:19 > 0:33:19as the Spanish national religion.
0:33:19 > 0:33:21as the Spanish national religion.
0:33:21 > 0:33:26It was also the conflict from which modern Spain would emerge.
0:33:30 > 0:33:34During the 12th century, the Christians
0:33:34 > 0:33:39painfully edged into Al Andalus and, one by one, the Islamic cities fell.
0:33:39 > 0:33:45Then, Seville itself was captured in 1248 after two years' siege.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52The Christian conquerors of medieval Seville proclaimed,
0:33:52 > 0:33:59"Let us create such a building that future generations will take us for lunatics." Some statement of intent.
0:33:59 > 0:34:04So they demolished the great mosque and they put up in its place what the Guinness Book of Records
0:34:04 > 0:34:09tells me is still the single largest Christian cathedral in the world.
0:34:09 > 0:34:14A great, crushing symbol of the triumph of militant Christianity.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28The cathedral's built in a North European style.
0:34:28 > 0:34:31Gothic in design, complete with high, vaulting ceiling,
0:34:31 > 0:34:36flying buttresses and Christian symbols everywhere.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52This might be the last place you'd expect to find traces of Islamic design.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57But if you look closely enough, it becomes clear that old habits die hard.
0:35:04 > 0:35:09What's extraordinary about the Gothic style as done by the Spanish,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12especially the Spanish in the South,
0:35:12 > 0:35:16is this incredible sense of over-decoration.
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Look at this altarpiece.
0:35:20 > 0:35:26It's almost as if every inch of space has to be decorated.
0:35:26 > 0:35:27It makes me think of
0:35:27 > 0:35:31the Moorish terror of empty space.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35That absolute covering of every inch.
0:35:35 > 0:35:41Look at this through half-closed eyes and you might almost be in some Moorish palace.
0:35:41 > 0:35:46I wonder whether the experience of Spanish Christians, especially in the South,
0:35:46 > 0:35:52wasn't so permeated by a sense of Moorish pattern and design,
0:35:53 > 0:35:57that this worked itself into the very soul of Spanish art.
0:35:57 > 0:36:01So that, although this great altarpiece represents
0:36:01 > 0:36:06the grand triumph of Christianity over the forces of Islam,
0:36:06 > 0:36:11at the same time it completely expresses a kind of Moorish aesthetic.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15It's deeply Spanish, deeply Moorish and Christian all at the same time.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18There's nothing like it anywhere else in the world.
0:36:29 > 0:36:33'The cathedral isn't the only building in Seville to bear the imprint of the Moors.'
0:36:40 > 0:36:44This is the Alcazar, a palace fit for a Moorish king.
0:36:44 > 0:36:47But this building wasn't meant for Muslims.
0:36:47 > 0:36:53Instead, it was built for one of Seville's new Christian kings in 1364.
0:36:54 > 0:36:58So, what kind of self-respecting Christian monarch
0:36:58 > 0:37:01would build himself a palace that looks like this?
0:37:01 > 0:37:06Well, his name was Pedro the Cruel and, boy, did you have to be cruel
0:37:06 > 0:37:12in the bloody world of medieval Spain to earn yourself a stand-alone nickname like that.
0:37:12 > 0:37:16Among other things, Pedro was a rapist and a mass murderer.
0:37:16 > 0:37:21He murdered his own brother in this room and he also murdered a visiting Arab dignitary who
0:37:21 > 0:37:26was foolish enough to come here with the largest ruby in the known world.
0:37:26 > 0:37:30Having nicked it from the corpse, Pedro then gave it to Edward, the Black Prince
0:37:30 > 0:37:33and it's now part of the British crown jewels.
0:37:33 > 0:37:36I like the thought that every time there's a coronation in Britain,
0:37:36 > 0:37:41the ritual is stained by a drop of blood shed in this room.
0:37:45 > 0:37:48Although he was keen on murdering Moorish kings,
0:37:48 > 0:37:53Pedro was a massive fan of Moorish architecture and decoration.
0:37:53 > 0:37:58When he decided to build his own Moorish palace, no expense was spared.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05The best Moorish craftsmen were employed to create an architectural jewel
0:38:05 > 0:38:08complete with intricate marble and wood carving,
0:38:08 > 0:38:14cool, shaded courtyards and tile work in almost hallucinogenic patterns.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20But why would a Christian conqueror
0:38:20 > 0:38:24dress up his palace in the style of the Islamic foe?
0:38:24 > 0:38:30You have to put yourself in Pedro the Cruel's shoes and think back to 14th century Europe.
0:38:30 > 0:38:33What else is going on in architectural terms?
0:38:33 > 0:38:35There's the Gothic, but that's for churches.
0:38:35 > 0:38:38When it comes to palace architecture,
0:38:38 > 0:38:43there's nothing to compare with this for colour, richness, pattern, sensuality.
0:38:43 > 0:38:43The whole place feels as if it's made of icing sugar. I almost feel I want to eat it.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48The whole place feels as if it's made of icing sugar. I almost feel I want to eat it.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52It's the ultimate Arabian Knights fantasy architecture.
0:38:52 > 0:38:57If I had my own little Aladdin genie in a bottle and I could wish for
0:38:57 > 0:39:01anything in the world, I might just choose this palace.
0:39:05 > 0:39:09Because the Alcazar was a palace, not a mosque,
0:39:09 > 0:39:13it didn't arouse the usual suspicions of Muslim worship.
0:39:13 > 0:39:19And the Christian kings of Spain clearly felt free to love this place, too.
0:39:19 > 0:39:25Later monarchs preserved it and made any additions with surprising sensitivity.
0:39:34 > 0:39:39Sometimes, the greatest compliments are those paid to you by your enemy.
0:39:39 > 0:39:44It's a pretty astonishing tribute to the power and grandeur of Islamic art and architecture
0:39:44 > 0:39:49that generation after generation of Spanish Catholic monarchs
0:39:49 > 0:39:51should have allowed this place to remain,
0:39:51 > 0:39:56to stand as a great, shimmering ghost of a culture they were determined to eradicate
0:39:56 > 0:40:00but could never quite bring themselves to stop loving.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16Moorish styles remained fashionable in Christian Spain.
0:40:16 > 0:40:21So much so that if you were a craftsman, you were given special treatment.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26But life for other Moors was getting a lot harder.
0:40:26 > 0:40:32Most fled to the extreme south of Spain, where the last bastion of Moorish might clung on to power.
0:40:33 > 0:40:35Those who remained were forced to convert
0:40:35 > 0:40:43or go underground, where they mixed with other outcast cultures, like the Jews and the gypsies.
0:40:43 > 0:40:48These different groups of outsiders - Moors, Jews, gypsies -
0:40:48 > 0:40:52came together in down-at-heel parts of town like Triana in Seville.
0:40:52 > 0:40:56Here, their different musical traditions fused together
0:40:56 > 0:41:02to create a style that would eventually resurface, so it's said, as flamenco.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05SINGING FROM BAR
0:41:16 > 0:41:23Nobody knows for sure which parts of flamenco come from the Moors, though there are many theories.
0:41:23 > 0:41:29They brought the guitar to Spain, destined to become the nation's favourite musical instrument.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33And the distinctive dance style of flamenco,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37in which dramatic arm and hand movements are favoured over the legs,
0:41:37 > 0:41:39is similar to Moorish dancing,
0:41:39 > 0:41:43which forbade women from drawing attention to their legs.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50The singing style is similar to the wailing Arabic style.
0:42:01 > 0:42:05Even the word flamenco itself comes from an Arab word -
0:42:05 > 0:42:10felagmengu, meaning fugitive peasant.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14And flamenco is, above all, the music of the dispossessed.
0:42:15 > 0:42:19What's the feeling, the essential spirit of flamenco?
0:42:28 > 0:42:30Where does it come from?
0:42:38 > 0:42:43How long does it take to learn to sing flamenco?
0:42:54 > 0:42:56Is that Spanish for I've got no chance?
0:42:58 > 0:43:01Is it possible for you to teach me some very simple flamenco?
0:43:01 > 0:43:03SHE SINGS
0:43:10 > 0:43:14HE SINGS FLAMENCO
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Lo siento!
0:43:32 > 0:43:34HE SINGS
0:43:52 > 0:43:59I'm on the last leg of my journey and I've come south of Seville, up into the hills.
0:43:59 > 0:44:03By the end of the 13th century, the once-mighty empire of
0:44:03 > 0:44:08Al Andalus had shrunk to this small, mountainous region.
0:44:10 > 0:44:14This was to be the last battlefield of the centuries-long conflict
0:44:14 > 0:44:18between the forces of Islam and the forces of Christianity.
0:44:30 > 0:44:34The city of Granada was the last Moorish capital of Al Andalus -
0:44:34 > 0:44:39the last city to hold out against the reconquest.
0:44:39 > 0:44:46The Nasrid dynasty ruled from here, managing to resist Christian invasion for nearly 200 years.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50Though today, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Moors still run Granada.
0:44:53 > 0:44:59If you're in the mood, you can an Arabic bath in one of the city's many Moorish bath houses.
0:44:59 > 0:45:04After taking the waters, you can visit a Moorish tea house and take some tea.
0:45:05 > 0:45:09And if you're feeling peckish, a trip to a Moorish restaurant is in order.
0:45:09 > 0:45:13It's all very atmospheric, even if it is completely fake.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16A confection to put the tourists in an appropriately Moorish mood.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22But the one really authentic Moorish experience is to be had
0:45:22 > 0:45:25in the ultimate Moorish palace - the Alhambra.
0:45:48 > 0:45:50Even here, you can't get away from the tourists.
0:45:50 > 0:45:54Over 6,000 people visit this extraordinary series
0:45:54 > 0:46:00of royal palaces every day, to hear tales of the Nasrid kings who used to live here.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03And what bloodthirsty tales they are!
0:46:03 > 0:46:09According to legend, the Alhambra was built by Christian slaves imprisoned in dark dungeons.
0:46:09 > 0:46:14And at least nine of the Nasrid kings were murdered by methods as
0:46:14 > 0:46:19dastardly as drowning, stabbing, and eating poisoned batter.
0:46:19 > 0:46:24The Alhambra is above all a palace of myths and legends.
0:46:24 > 0:46:28It's a place where people feel a profound need to tell stories,
0:46:28 > 0:46:32partly to explain to themselves the nature of this place.
0:46:32 > 0:46:33For example,
0:46:33 > 0:46:38it's said that the Sultan used to sit here on his throne.
0:46:38 > 0:46:43It is said that this door here is a false entrance designed to
0:46:43 > 0:46:47put off would-be assassins, although everything we know about the bloody history
0:46:47 > 0:46:51of the Nasrid dynasty suggests that assassins were not to be easily fooled.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53They usually got their man.
0:46:53 > 0:46:59The truth is, that we know almost nothing about the precise functions of each of these spaces.
0:46:59 > 0:47:01The only thing that we can be certain of is
0:47:01 > 0:47:04that the art and the architecture here is absolutely breathtaking.
0:47:16 > 0:47:20The Moors may have been coming to the end of their power and influence in Spain,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23but they were determined to go out in style.
0:47:23 > 0:47:30The Alhambra is like a greatest hits of Moorish design, with the volume turned up to ten.
0:47:30 > 0:47:37It's the absolute summation of everything that made the art of Islamic Spain so extraordinary.
0:47:38 > 0:47:42A place where the expression of power and deep spirituality,
0:47:42 > 0:47:47that eternal search for paradise, are absolutely intertwined.
0:47:50 > 0:47:53There's such a scrum of tourists in the Alhambra today,
0:47:53 > 0:48:00that it makes it pretty difficult to appreciate this place as it was originally meant to be appreciated,
0:48:00 > 0:48:05which is as a space of contemplation and reflection.
0:48:05 > 0:48:10Each of the spaces in this palace were meant to bring you closer to God,
0:48:10 > 0:48:14and that's the fundamental purpose of this wonderful room called
0:48:14 > 0:48:18the Hall of the Ambassadors, which is all about pattern and geometry.
0:48:21 > 0:48:27The numbers seven and four are repeated everywhere in this space.
0:48:27 > 0:48:32Seven signifying the stages by which the soul ascends to God,
0:48:32 > 0:48:36and four representing the number of areas into which the vault of heaven
0:48:36 > 0:48:41could be divided, and we see that reflected in this magnificent ceiling.
0:48:44 > 0:48:49But the seven and the four lead us ineluctably to the one,
0:48:49 > 0:48:53and that's the message that's reinforced in all of these inscriptions.
0:48:53 > 0:48:58"There is no God but Allah", "There is no conqueror but Allah".
0:48:58 > 0:49:03This is a space that's designed hypnotically through the repetition of pattern and design
0:49:03 > 0:49:11and inscription to focus our minds solely and exclusively on the higher reality of God.
0:49:26 > 0:49:31But it's not just the decoration of the Alhambra that invokes God,
0:49:31 > 0:49:36the very design of the architecture is permeated by the spirit of Islam.
0:49:36 > 0:49:41It's a fundamental tenet of Islam that there is no God but God, there is no reality other
0:49:41 > 0:49:46than his higher reality, everything we experience in this life is impermanent, insubstantial.
0:49:46 > 0:49:52But how do you introduce the idea of impermanence into architecture - the most stable of forms?
0:49:53 > 0:49:58Well, here at the Alhambra, they've done it by introducing water everywhere.
0:50:02 > 0:50:09Seen in reflection, even the most solid of things seems ephemeral, shifting.
0:50:15 > 0:50:18In fact, the whole design of the Alhambra is aimed at making
0:50:18 > 0:50:21the palace appear to be not quite of this world.
0:50:21 > 0:50:27The columns are so slender that the arches they support seem to float in the air.
0:50:31 > 0:50:37And the intricate wood and stone carving makes solid materials seem to dissolve into fragile lace.
0:50:39 > 0:50:44I think there's a wonderful paradox about the architecture of the Alhambra, which is that you get all
0:50:44 > 0:50:49this effort to create a sense of effortlessness, this tremendous intricacy of structure to create
0:50:49 > 0:50:52the feeling of a structure that's on the point of its own disappearance.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57Look at that wonderful, honeycomb vaulting in the ceiling of this space.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03Standing in here, it's almost as if you're standing at the bottom
0:51:03 > 0:51:10of a glass of fizzy water, looking up and watching the bubbles sparkle off towards infinity.
0:51:18 > 0:51:23'I think there's something very moving in the fact that the Moors created a building that seems
0:51:23 > 0:51:30'to be on the brink of disappearing, just as their own civilisation was about to vanish from Spain.'
0:51:30 > 0:51:35The Alhambra today really is the ghost of the ghost of what it was once was.
0:51:35 > 0:51:40But visiting it is still an extremely powerful and poignant experience.
0:51:40 > 0:51:46This was the last hurrah of Islamic civilisation in Spain.
0:51:46 > 0:51:51The very last expression of that beautiful ideal of paradise.
0:51:56 > 0:52:03In 1469, Christian Spain was finally united, when the Catholic monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, married.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07Hungry to rule over a completely Christian nation,
0:52:07 > 0:52:11they launched a final assault against the Moorish south.
0:52:18 > 0:52:24And on the 2nd January 1492, after ten years of fighting,
0:52:24 > 0:52:31the last Nasrid king, Muhammed XII, surrendered the province of Granada and the Alhambra.
0:52:37 > 0:52:43Legend has it that as the defeated Muhammed gazed back at the city he'd surrendered, he burst into tears.
0:52:43 > 0:52:46His mother, unimpressed, snapped at him,
0:52:46 > 0:52:51"You do well to weep like a woman over what you failed to defend like a man."
0:52:52 > 0:52:57The Moor famously sighed his last sigh, and turned his back on Granada forever.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00The Christian Reconquest was complete.
0:53:11 > 0:53:15The victors were merciless towards the vanquished.
0:53:15 > 0:53:21Ferdinand and Isabella made it law that pork should be eaten throughout the region.
0:53:21 > 0:53:24Then, in 1492,
0:53:24 > 0:53:29they expelled all Jews from Spain and revoked the rights of Muslims.
0:53:29 > 0:53:34In 1526, Arabic was banned.
0:53:34 > 0:53:38And then, in 1610, all Moors were expelled from Spain,
0:53:38 > 0:53:42whether they had converted to Catholicism or not.
0:53:45 > 0:53:51As so often, the victors in this epic struggle re-wrote history to suit their own militant ideology.
0:53:51 > 0:53:58For centuries afterwards, the whole rich history of Arab Spain was destined to be remembered as no more
0:53:58 > 0:54:01than the nation's long journey through a dark tunnel,
0:54:01 > 0:54:05at the end of which shone the light of the Christian Reconquista.
0:54:05 > 0:54:09And the Arabs themselves were remembered as no more than
0:54:09 > 0:54:13pantomime villains in a great story of Christian triumph.
0:54:24 > 0:54:30Today, in festivals all over Spain, the Moors are still portrayed as pantomime villains.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38'I've come to the small town of Quentar, just outside Granada,'
0:54:38 > 0:54:43to watch the local "Moors and Christians" festival.
0:54:44 > 0:54:48Every year, the people of the town dress up and re-enact the historic
0:54:48 > 0:54:52battle between Christianity and Islam.
0:54:52 > 0:54:57The whole thing goes on for three days until the Moors are finally defeated,
0:54:58 > 0:55:02forced to convert, and baptised.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05To the outsider, it does all look just a bit puzzling.
0:55:07 > 0:55:09What does it mean to you here?
0:55:09 > 0:55:12Is it just a fiesta or is it more than that?
0:55:12 > 0:55:15No, it's more than party.
0:55:28 > 0:55:31So it commemorates... It's a celebration of...
0:55:31 > 0:55:34It's a celebration of the victory of Christians.
0:55:34 > 0:55:36Is there any
0:55:36 > 0:55:41political problem with having a fiesta like this, you know with the Muslim people in Spain?
0:55:41 > 0:55:45Nobody minds? No, here lives Moorish.
0:55:45 > 0:55:46We have no problem.
0:55:46 > 0:55:50You have a Muslim community here?
0:55:50 > 0:55:52Yes. They have a mosque.
0:55:52 > 0:55:55There's a mosque here?Yes, here.
0:55:55 > 0:55:57We have no problem. It's tradition.
0:55:57 > 0:55:59No problem.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01We are all happy.
0:56:01 > 0:56:06So it's more like a story from the past than
0:56:06 > 0:56:09anything to do with the present.
0:56:09 > 0:56:14Nothing to do with the present. The past only. Only friends.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21Of course, it is all a bit of fun,
0:56:21 > 0:56:24but it does seem a bit depressing that these
0:56:24 > 0:56:28re-enactments completely ignore the cultural achievements of the Moors.
0:56:28 > 0:56:35But I think things have begun to change in modern Spain, and it is a culture more accepting of Islam.
0:56:35 > 0:56:41After all, there are now over one million Muslims living in Spain.
0:56:41 > 0:56:44And there are 500 mosques.
0:56:44 > 0:56:49The newest one is here in Granada, directly opposite the Alhambra.
0:56:49 > 0:56:55On this spot, modern Spain quite literally faces its Islamic past,
0:56:55 > 0:56:58the distant world of Al Andalus.
0:57:01 > 0:57:08Al Andalus is part of the lifeblood of modern Spain, it's part of what makes the Spanish Spanish.
0:57:08 > 0:57:11But the fact is that Arab culture has played
0:57:11 > 0:57:16a vital part in shaping what we often think of as Western civilisation.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Its music, its art and architecture, its philosophy.
0:57:20 > 0:57:25Yet Spain is almost the only place in modern Europe where you can still touch that history,
0:57:26 > 0:57:29where you can still almost physically grasp the fact
0:57:29 > 0:57:34that the culture of the Islamic world is part of all of our DNA.
0:57:47 > 0:57:50Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:50 > 0:57:53E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk