Cordoba is in southern Spain on the Iberian peninsular, and from 929 to 1031 a.d. it was ruled by the Caliphate (a system of government) of Córdoba. This Caliphate not only ruled the Iberian peninsula, but also North Africa, all form the city of Cordoba. In the 10th century the city was considered to be one of the most civilized in Europe. One of it's most famed buildings was the Corodoba Mosque.
This building housed the largest university in Europe at the time with over 4000 students.
Caliph Al-Hakam II (who ruled from 961 to 976) created a library in within the mosque that consisted of an estimated 400,000 - 600,00 books, with a catalogue of 44 volumes listing title and author. These books were made available to everyone. I found an interesting article on Cordoba below:
http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=454
Below is a 10th century account of an Arabic 'house of books':
...the library constituted a library by itself; there was a superintendent, a librarian and an inspector chosen from the most trustworthy people in the country. There is no book written up to this time in whatever branch of science but the prince has acquired a copy of it. The library consists of one long vaulted room, annexed to which there are store rooms. The prince had made along the large room and the store chambers, scaffoldings about the height of a man, three yards wide, of decorated wood, which have shelves from top to bottom; the books are arranged on the shelves and for every branch of learning there are separate scaffolds. There are also catalogues in which all the titles of the books are entered
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References
2010, Cordoba, Muslim Heritage, viewed 18 May, 2010, (http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?articleID=454)
Prince, C 2002 'The Historical Context of Arabic Translation, Learning, and The Libraries of Medieval Andalusia', Everything2, viewed 18 May, 2010 (http://everything2.com/title/Historical+Evidence+Regarding+the+Libraries+of+Muslim+Spain)
Rojunson 2009, Medina Azahara 3D, 29 January, viewed 15 May 2010. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDXCSEygUdo&feature)
Hi Leo
ReplyDeleteJust a few suggestions:
The second image isn't loading.
It always looks better to hyperlink a title or phrase rather than dispalying a URL in the body of your text.
The large quote needs to be cited. Which of your references was it taken from? The source of images(map)need to be cited also.
Cheers
Linda