Arts & Culture
The most outstanding among a whole series of archaeological sites and
caverns is the The Altamira Cave (Cantabria), with its wall paintings dating
from some 15,000 years ago. In Menorca, bronze-age stone towers (talaiots),
altars (taulas) and mausoleums (navetas) in a good state of preservation
are to be found.
The imprint of Islam was so profound as to even impregnate the Christian
style, giving rise to two new schools: Mozarabic, the style of the Christian
minorities and Mudejar, that of the Moorish minorities.
The Jewish community, the third culture present in Spain for a number
of centuries, in many ways emulated the artistic forms favoured by Islam.
The Jewish Quarters (juderías), ritual baths and synagogues (Tránsito
and Santa María la Blanca Synagogues in Toledo, and the synagogue
in Cordoba) are notable examples of the mark left by this community.
Christianity led to the emergence of the Romanesque School in the wake
of the pilgrims as they trod the Way to Santiago and to the Style’s
subsequent evolution under Byzantine (Zamora) and French influences (Catalonia).
The 13th and 14th centuries signalled the pre-eminence of the Gothic Style,
the most important examples of which are to be seen in the churches built
in Burgos, Toledo, León, Palma and Girona.
The discovery of America (Indies Archives - Archivo General de Indias
in Seville) and the humanist Renaissance which inspired a style based
on classical forms that came to be known as Plateresque, left behind a
series of splendid examples in the 16th century, such as the façade
of University of Salamanca, the cathedral and palace of Charles V in Granada
and, in keeping with the austere Herrera style, the Monastery of San Lorenzo
de El Escorial.
In the present century, the artistic avant-garde found a genius of universal
appeal in the person of the Malaga-born artist, Pablo Ruiz Picasso, while
Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró played key roles in the Surrealist
and Abstract movements. Spanish contribution to art in recent decades
has come from outstanding architects (Sert, Bofill, Calatrava) painters
and sculptors (Tàpies, Antonio López, Barceló, Chillida),
who have set their seal on works of great individuality.
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