High Muslim culture
of Baghdad of the 9th & 10th centuries gave the barbarian West such a kick start with ideas, skills and their implementation
that they triggered the renaissance of the twelfth century. Toledo in the
12th century. was one of the routes of our transformation.
The
walled city of Toledo is a palimpsest of textures from the Roman
Tolentum, Visigothic capital, Ummayad stronghold and Christian
reconquista in 1084. Each culture has left their mark in stone and
re-used pillars and capitols. The water heating system of the Roman
baths remains but the caldarium is a plaza and the tepidarium has been
incorporated into a residential courtyard. The church of S Salvador had
been a mosque whose builders had re-used visigothic pillars and
capitals. The beautiful mosque of Christo de la Luz uses brickwork to
develop a textured tactile surface that changes as the sun moves its
shadows, reminiscent of Bukhara. The church of Santa Maria la Blanca
with wonderful Ummayad arches was a synagogue. Samuel Ha-Levi, Jewish
poet and thinker, and also treasurer to a 14th century Spanish King,
left us another stunning synagogue in Mozarabic style. Even the vast
Gothic cathedral is built partly on a visigothic foundation and the
visigothic Mozarabic Liturgy is still authorized for use in this most
Catholic of countries.
In the harsh sunlight, the deep shadows do not relieve the heat of the afternoon or the press of tourists. But in the early evening, the paseo of locals takes over and families and young people take over the narrow cobbled streets and lanes, built for foot traffic or donkeys or the horses of the nobility. Thirty thousand people lived on top of each other when it again became the capital of emerging Christian Spain and Alfonso the Wise sponsored the translation movement.
(Written by Gordon, moved from comment to blogpost by Ab)
The
walled city of Toledo is a palimpsest of textures from the Roman
Tolentum, Visigothic capital, Ummayad stronghold and Christian
reconquista in 1084. Each culture has left their mark in stone and
re-used pillars and capitols. The water heating system of the Roman
baths remains but the caldarium is a plaza and the tepidarium has been
incorporated into a residential courtyard. The church of S Salvador had
been a mosque whose builders had re-used visigothic pillars and
capitals. The beautiful mosque of Christo de la Luz uses brickwork to
develop a textured tactile surface that changes as the sun moves its
shadows, reminiscent of Bukhara. The church of Santa Maria la Blanca
with wonderful Ummayad arches was a synagogue. Samuel Ha-Levi, Jewish
poet and thinker, and also treasurer to a 14th century Spanish King,
left us another stunning synagogue in Mozarabic style. Even the vast
Gothic cathedral is built partly on a visigothic foundation and the
visigothic Mozarabic Liturgy is still authorized for use in this most
Catholic of countries. 
In the harsh sunlight, the deep shadows do not relieve the heat of the afternoon or the press of tourists. But in the early evening, the paseo of locals takes over and families and young people take over the narrow cobbled streets and lanes, built for foot traffic or donkeys or the horses of the nobility. Thirty thousand people lived on top of each other when it again became the capital of emerging Christian Spain and Alfonso the Wise sponsored the translation movement.
(Written by Gordon, moved from comment to blogpost by Ab)
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