The Story Of The Forgotten Craftsmen Who Built Europe’s Religious Monuments
(REVIEW) Did Muslims influence the construction of Europe’s great religious structures, such as Mont St. Michel, Durham Cathedral, the Basilica of Santiago de Compostela, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Cappella Palatina in Sicily?
Researcher and author Diana Darke argues that the connections between Islamic and Christian cultures during the medieval period were much stronger than commonly believed. This cross-fertilization of cultures had a significant impact on society, religion and culture.
Her extensive research, covering hundreds of buildings across the U.K., Germany, Spain, Italy, North Africa, Turkey and the Middle East led her to propose replacing the term “Romanesque” with “Islamesque.”
In her book “Islamesque,” Darke points out that Muslim craftsmen in the Middle East and North Africa possessed skills far beyond those of their medieval European counterparts. Islamic cities during this period had running water, efficient drainage systems, libraries, free schools, daily garbage collection and even street lighting. They were experts in mathematics, engineering, medicine and architecture, with advanced knowledge of geometry and complex ornamentation.
“No architectural style just ‘appears’ out of nowhere. All the key innovations attributed to Romanesque – new vaulting techniques, the use of decorative frames, interlace and ornamental devices like blind arches. … The use of fantastical beasts and foliage in sculpture – can be traced back to their origins, and all of these without exception lead us eastwards,” Darke wrote. “Christianity is after all an Eastern religion, born like Judaism and Islam, in the East under the influence of many earlier cultures.”