Various - Lot with 6 books on Andalusia - 2000-2012

1.L’age d’or des sciences arabes, Actes Sud, Institut du monde arabe, 2005, 320 pages in French, Hardcover

L’Âge d’or des sciences arabes (320 pp.) is the catalogue of a major 2005 exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris that celebrates the extraordinary scientific achievements of the Arab-Islamic world between the 8th and 15th centuries. It offers a thematic and richly illustrated exploration of how scholars in the medieval Islamic civilization assimilated Greek, Indian and Persian knowledge and transformed it into original contributions in fields such as mathematics, astronomy, cartography, medicine, chemistry, mechanics and optics. The book is organised into three main sections: the sky and the world (covering celestial observation, measurement and the development of instruments like the astrolabe), the living world and humans in their environment (examining medicine, pharmacopoeia, zoology and applied sciences), and the union of sciences and the arts (showing how mathematical principles informed architecture, calligraphy, decorative arts and music). The catalogue not only documents scientific innovation but also situates these achievements in their broader cultural and intellectual context, illustrating their profound influence on later scientific developments.

2.Islamic Arts from Spain, Mariam Rosser-Owen, V&A, 160 pages in English, 2010, Hardback
This lavishly illustrated volume by Mariam Rosser-Owen, curator of Arab World collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum, offers the first comprehensive guide to the arts of al-Andalus — Islamic Spain — spanning the 8th to the 20th century. Drawing on the V&A’s extensive collection, the book traces artistic patronage during the Golden Age of the Umayyad caliphate at its height in Córdoba, when the Iberian Peninsula hosted one of medieval Europe’s most sophisticated cultures. It then examines the Nasrid dynasty, who ruled from Granada until the Christian Reconquista culminated in 1492. A key theme is the Mudéjar phenomenon — Islamic-influenced art and architecture produced for non-Muslim patrons during the Renaissance. The book also explores the 19th-century European craze for the Alhambresque style, championed by designer Owen Jones and echoed in the work of Antoni Gaudí. Treasures featured include carved ivory caskets, marble tombstones, architectural fragments, jewelry, textiles, and ceramics. Accessible to general readers while engaging with current scholarship, the book demonstrates how Islamic Spain’s artistic legacy continued to inspire Western designers long after Muslim rule ended.


3.Cordoue La Grande Mosquée,Henri Stierlin, 2012, 231 pages in French, Hardcover
Written by Henri Stierlin, a renowned Swiss art and architecture historian and leading specialist in Islamic arts, this lavishly illustrated monograph examines one of the world’s great architectural masterpieces — the Great Mosque of Córdoba. When Arab forces captured the city in 711 AD, Córdoba became the radiant capital of the Umayyad caliphate, attracting scholars, artists, and poets from across the Islamic world until its fall to Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236. Stierlin traces the mosque’s successive expansions under different Umayyad rulers, analyzing its forest of double-tiered arches, its celebrated mihrab adorned with Byzantine-inspired mosaics, and the overall spatial grandeur that dwarfed the tiny Mozarabic churches of Christian northern Spain. Using a broad comparative approach, he explores the Eastern, Byzantine, and Roman influences — particularly from Mérida — that shaped Córdoba’s distinctive aesthetic, and draws connections to contemporary monuments such as the palace-city of Medina Azahara and the synagogue of Toledo. The book is photographed by Anne and Henri Stierlin alongside Adrien Buchet, and frames Córdoba’s story as a civilizational crossroads whose legacy resonates to this day.

4.Alhambra, Henri et Anne Stierlin, 221 pages in French, 1991 ( reissued 2001), Softcover
In this richly illustrated monograph, Henri and Anne Stierlin take readers far beyond the surface beauty of the Alhambra to reveal its deep symbolic and architectural logic. Perched above Granada, this palatial fortress was built by the Nasrid sultans in the 13th and 14th centuries as the crowning achievement of Islamic Spain — and the swan song of al-Andalus before the Christian Reconquista of 1492. Rather than treating the Alhambra as a mere decorative marvel, Stierlin uncovers the ancient cosmological framework underlying its design, tracing its roots back to the Temple of Solomon, the palace architecture of the Sassanid Persians, the Achaemenid Great Kings, and the Hellenistic rulers who transmitted these royal traditions to the caliphs of Islam. Proceeding through the complex’s celebrated spaces — the Court of the Lions, the Hall of the Ambassadors, the Generalife gardens — the authors analyze how interlocking geometric mosaics, muqarnas vaults, arabesques, calligraphy, and water features combine to evoke the Quranic Paradise promised to the faithful. Anne Stierlin’s outstanding color photography allows readers to appreciate the interplay of light, shadow, and polychromy that animates every surface, while Henri Stierlin’s lucid prose situates the monument within a sweeping civilizational narrative stretching from antiquity to the Moorish twilight.

5.Les Andalousies de Damas à Cordoue, Hazan, Institut de Monde Arabe, 2000, 279 pages in French, Hsrdcover
This sumptuously illustrated exhibition catalogue accompanied the major show held at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris from November 2000 to April 2001, bringing together exceptional objects from museums across Europe and the Arab world. Edited by Marthe Bernus-Taylor, curator at the Louvre, the volume presents the full arc of Andalusian civilization from its origins in the Syrian Umayyad caliphate of Damascus to its magnificent flowering in Córdoba. It opens by examining the dual heritage — Arab-Islamic and Visigothic — that shaped al-Andalus after the conquest of 711. A central focus is the year 1000, when Córdoba under Caliph Abd al-Rahman III stood as the most sophisticated city in Europe, rivaling Baghdad and Constantinople. Successive chapters cover palatial art within the caliphate and the fragmented taifa kingdoms, exploring architecture, carved ivory boxes, metalwork, silks, and ceramics. The book also traces the golden age of Andalusian poetry and music, and the remarkable scientific contributions of Arab scholars in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and philosophy — knowledge that helped trigger the European Renaissance. A sweeping, multidisciplinary monument to a lost civilization whose memory endures with nostalgic intensity.


6.Puig I Cadafalch, Institut Amatller D’Art Hispanic, 263 pages in Spanish and English, 2000, Hardcover
Puig i Cadafalch: Visió, Identitats, Cosmopolitisme is an exhibition catalogue and scholarly overview of Josep Puig i Cadafalch (1867–1956)—one of Catalonia’s most multifaceted cultural figures—as architect, historian, archaeologist, photographer and politician. The book accompanies a 2018 exhibition that presents an interdisciplinary perspective on Puig i Cadafalch’s work and thought, exploring how his architectural practice, cultural identity and cosmopolitan outlook were deeply interconnected. It traces his architectural modernism and urban projects in Barcelona and beyond, situating them within the social and political currents of early twentieth century Catalonia, where nationalism, modernisation and historical memory interacted. Through essays, archival materials, images and critical texts, the catalogue reveals Puig i Cadafalch’s dual commitment to innovation and tradition—from his modernist buildings to his historical research and preservation efforts. By highlighting unpublished documents and visual sources, it offers readers a nuanced understanding of his creative vision, multiple roles and enduring influence on Catalan culture and architectural heritage.