\b0 \ATXul0 Beginning in 711 and lasting for almost eight centuries, Arab
domination led to the progressive Orientalization of Spanish culture.\par
The first phase of Arab rule coincided with the reign of Abdurrahman, when Cordoba became the cultural capital of the whole of Europe.\par
From the second half of the twelfth cen
tury onward, under the dynasty of the Almohades, who invaded Spain from Morocco, \b \cf4 \ATXht151 Seville\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 became the most important city on the peninsula. It still preserves many traces of its ancient splendor.\par
It is in the realm o
f architecture that Arab culture has left its greatest mark on Spain. Open and brightly-lit spaces, filled with color, decorations with geometric patterns, mosaics using different kinds of stone, and the presence of fountains in public buildings are all
architectural elements that Spanish culture has gradually adopted and reworked to meet its own needs. Hence it is possible to describe the Spanish identity as a synthesis of Christian, Islamic, and Jewish culture, whose presence in the Iberian region dat
es back to the time of the Visigoths.\par
\par
\b \ATXul1024 Mozarabic\par
\b0 \ATXul0 Mozarab was the name given to Christians who lived in Arab territory and who in their art, and in particular architecture, combined persistent elements of Visigoth
art with new Islamic components. Horseshoe arches and the predominance of the vertical dimension are the most common features of the Mozarabic style.\par
\par
\b \ATXul1024 MudΘjar\par
\b0 \ATXul0 The term MudΘjar is applied to the art of Muslims livi
ng in Christian territory. In architecture, it reached its peak in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when new elements derived from both Romanesque and Gothic architecture were superimposed on the older components of the style. Thus it is possible
to speak of \b \cf4 \ATXht175 Romanesque\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 MudΘjar, as in the synagogue of \b \cf4 \ATXht140 Santa Marφa la Blanca\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 , and of \b \cf4 \ATXht175 Gothic\b0 \cf0 \ATXht0 MudΘjar.\par