After the disintegration of the Cordoba califat around the year 1000, various small principalities appeared in Spain. This was the period of the Taifas. In the remote village of Albarracin in modern day Aragon a powerful Taifa ruled for around 100 years. During this time, the village of Albarracin was built up in a remote…
Category: Spain
Vall de Boi
A cause de la présence de plusieurs églises romanes remarquables, la vallée de Boi en Espagne (Vall de Boi en catalan) est classée comme un site de Patrimoine Mondial de l’Unesco. Dans ces églises, construites entre 1000 et 1200, se trouvent (ou plutôt se trouvaient) des peintures murales et des meubles peints parmi les plus…
Village on the edge
Siurana was the last Muslim fiefdom in Catalonia. It fell to Christian conquerors around 1150. It sits at about 730 m altitude on a rocky ledge overlooking a deep valley and the Sierra de Montsant to the west. A legend says that when the Christian invaders were closing in, the last Muslim princess rode her…
Tarraco
The Spanish city of Tarragona, south of Barcelona, offers many interesting sights. Ruins and remnants of the Roman city of Tarraco, cloisters, religious art and a few (urban) tractors. La cité de Tarragone, au sud de Barcelone, offre plusieurs coups d’œil sympas. Des vestiges de la cité romaine de Tarraco, des cloîtres, et quelques tracteurs.
A stairway to heaven
Escaladei – lost in the Sierra de Montsant, some 150 km southeast of Barcelona – once a magnificent Charterhouse monastery, is now a silent and melancholy ruin. Founded in the 12 century by monks arriving from France, this was the first Charterhouse monastery in the Iberian Peninsula. The monastery played a fundamental role in developping…
Cau Ferrat
Cau Ferrat, the home and workshop of painter, collector and part time archeologist, Santiago Rusiñol, is now a museum. Located in the Spanish seaside town of Sitges on the coast just south of Barcelona, the house was a showcase for Rusiñol’s paintings as well as his collections. The museum, renovated between 2010 and 2014, is…
Poblet
The Royal Abbey of Poblet in the Spanish province of Catalonia was founded around 1150 by Cistercian monks arriving from France. The abbey was founded to rechristianize and resettle lands recently conquered from the Saracens. The abbey is famous today as the burial place of the Aragonese kings. Fantastic stoneworks, gothic ribbed barrel vaults, a…
January storm
Ronda Spain : January 2008 : Even in sunny southern Spain, the clouds sometimes fly low. The winter storm and low sun provide some striking contrasts over the nearby landscapes, the city and the Puento Nuevo (bridge). Ronda, Espagne : janvier 2008 : Même au sud de l’Espagne, région reputée pour son climat doux et…
Glimpses of the Alhambra
Granada, Spain : The Alhambra, object of songs, poems, wars and battles; now a (relatively) peaceful museum. But it all depends on the number of visitors and how long you have to wait to get in… In January, with luck and clear weather, from the terraces of the Alhambra, you get a good look at…
The royal tobacco factory
Sevilla.
Graphic forms
In the Museo Palacia de la Condesa de Lebrija, Seville, Spain. Dans le palais-musée de la contesse de Lebrija, Séville, Espagne.
