Lecture Series - The Alhambra and Beyond: Tracing Spain's Islamic Legacy | Lecture 1 | Fall 2024

Luis Martín Lecture Series in the Humanities
The Alhambra and Beyond: Tracing Spain's Islamic Legacy

Lecture 1 | October 18, 2024 | Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain: Curatorial Insights on Design and National Identity, Cristina Aldrich, 2023–25 Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow

This four-part lecture series accompanies the exhibition Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain, which explores the profound impact of Islamic architecture and culture on Spanish art and national identity. These lectures explore how Spain's medieval Islamic past has been perceived and reinterpreted since the nineteenth century through fine arts, popular prints, and other media. Cristina Aldrich will discuss Spain’s place in the nineteenth-century political and artistic landscape and analyze the role of photography in shaping a modern vision of its cultural heritage. Ali Asgar Alibhai will discuss the Meadows Museum’s marble capital from Madinat al-Zahra, uncovering new insights into a key architectural fragment that forms the foundation of the exhibition. Eric Calderwood will present research from his recent book On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus, extending the exhibition's themes into the contemporary world.

October 18, 2024 | Unearthing the Legacy of Islamic Spain: Curatorial Insights on Design and National Identity, Cristina Aldrich, 2023–25 Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow

October 25, 2024 | Gardens Under Which Rivers Flow: Unraveling the Meadow’s Museum Capital from Madinat al-Zahra, Ali Asgar Alibhai, Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of Texas at Dallas

November 1, 2024 | Photography, Tourism, and Promoting al-Andalus in the Nineteenth Century, Cristina Aldrich, 2023–25 Center for Spain in America (CSA) Curatorial Fellow

November 8, 2024 | On Earth or in Poems: The Many Lives of al-Andalus, Eric Calderwood, Professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign