U6: Haggadah and Alhambra

Golden Haggadah

​MEDIUM: Illuminated manuscript (pigments and gold leaf on vellum)

LOCATION: Barcelona, Spain

CULTURE OF ORIGIN: Late Medieval Spain

DATE: c. 1320 CE

Passover and the Haggadah

• Passover = Jewish holiday that celebrates Biblical story of the Israelites' freedom from enslavement under Egyptian rule.

• Moses, with help of God, sent several plagues upon Egypt. Last plague involved the death of the first-born. Death could be avoided if lambs blood was smeared over the doorway; death would "pass over."

• Jews eventually expelled from Spain in 1492.

• Seder = first meal that marks beginning of passover. Haggadah ("narration") = book used to tell story of passover during seder.

Golden Haggadah

• Golden Haggadah = most luxurious example of an illuminated manuscript

• 27 scenes depicting Genesis, next 26 portray Exodus, final 3 display medieval passover scenes. (56 scenes total)

• Displays contemporary Italian techniques: creating space and depth.

• Resembles gothic French style.

Multiple Choice

Passover is the Jewish holiday that

• celebrates the resurrection of Christ

• celebrates Israelites' freedom from Egypt

• celebrates the birth of Moses

• celebrates Israelites' freedom from the Ummayads

Golden Haggadah

• Devastating plagues: top right frogs leaping everywhere, even on Pharaoh.  Top left: lice attacks humans and animals, Pharaoh and magician both helpless.  Bottom right: wild beasts Moses looks on while Pharaoh and attendant attacked.  Bottom left:  flies, man wiping away tears, tearing off shirt, lifeless animals.

Golden Haggadah

• Folio 14 top right: plague of the first born: upper right man struck by angels sword, left queen mourns baby on nurses’ lap, lower funeral. 

• Top left Pharaoh on battlement orders Israelites to leave Egypt

• Bottom right: pursuing Egyptians shown as contemporary knights
  Bottom left: Israelites crossing Red Sea

Golden Haggadah

• Top right Miriam (Moses’ sister) holds timbrel with dancing and playing maidens. 

• Left ritual preparation for Passover; distribution of matsah (unleavened bread) and haroset (sweetmeats)

• Bottom right: family prepares for Passover

• Left: sheep slaughtered and prepared for Passover

Alhambra

​MEDIUM: White-washed adobe stucco, wood, tile, paint, and gilding

LOCATION: Granada, Spain

CULTURE OF ORIGIN: Nasrid Dynasty

DATE: 1354 - 1391 CE

Nasrid Dynasty

• Nasrid monarchy = last Muslim dynasty to rule Spain (monarch referred to as sultan not king; king = God)

• Walls originally whitewashed, now reddish

• By end, palace made up of government buildings, royal residences, gates, mosques, baths, servants quarters, barracks, stables, workshop, and gardens.

• Beseiged and taken over by Christian kings; destroyed Muslim palaces but kept this one as symbol of new power. Only medieval Arab palace left today.

Alhambra

• Situated on a high plateau, kept watch over city.

• Structures not made to last for posterity, used clay, wood, plaster; palace not originally meant to last; only God was eternal

• Buildings continually changed under different owners

• Austere and fortified exterior enclosing cool rooms, heated baths, sunny courtyards with interior decorations showing life of cultivated luxury.

• No windows that could be seen from street, only at top for privacy.

Alhambra

• Text seen around building mostly from the Koran, about paradise

• Stucco work is plaster mixed with marble or alabaster dust.  Would be applied to walls, once right consistency sculpted (drawn first).  Carved areas would come out with a small chisel.

• Tile work: green for the prophet, yellow sun, blue sky, red blood, war, or erotic ardor. 

Alhambra

• Gardens with aromatic plants, citrus trees, so inhabitants could feel outdoors in privacy. Women could not be seen by any strange males entering house

• Entry courtyard area with pool (birka), helps cool palace and acts as symbol of power (water in short supply: large pool expensive and difficult to have)

• Floor blue and white tile with motto “There is no conqueror but God”. Inscriptions to glory of Allah.

Multiple Choice

The work shown is the

• Hagia Sophia

• Church of St. Foy

• Santa Sabina

• San Vitale

Alhambra

• Court of the Lions

• 124 marble columns border: could be forest of palm trees.  Water in four channels: Muslim paradise

• Basin surrounded by 12 lions

• Water would come out of the lions’ mouths: visitors amazed at hydraulic engineering.

Alhambra

• Hall of Two Sisters named after twin marble flagstones in the floor

• Walls covered in plasterwork, poem runs around entire room: Muhammad’s greatness, beauty

• Ceiling octagonal drum on squinches with 8 pairs of windows symbolizes the dome of heaven, flickering light and shadows resemble starry sky.

• •Covered with 5,000 muqarnas (stalactite-like forms meant to deny solidarity). 

​Murqana: "honeycomb vaulting" or "stalactite vaulting"

Multiple Choice

The floorplan shown belongs to

• Great Mosque of Cordoba

• Hagia Sophia

• Alhambra

• Arena Chapel