The Medieval Mediterranean Between Islam and Christianity

"This volume offers an exploration of the Christian-Islamic encounter in a pan-Mediterranean context, through an array of new research papers based on micro-historical case studies of the religious arts, architecture, and material culture. The new Mediterraneanism forged during the last decades has opened the door to approaches that reveal Christian-Islamic interchange in its full complexity, as well as diversity. Within this frame, one of the most relevant, yet underexplored lines of investigation is that of the "aesthetic space": the notion that aesthetic pleasure transcends boundaries, paving the way to a cross-religious experience and appreciation. "Indeed, God is beautiful, and He loves beauty", as mentioned in a Hadith narration, a universal cry of visual beauty that resonates with all cultures and civilizations. This concept finds perfect application in the case of textiles, ceramics, metalware, and other artifacts that traveled across the medieval Mediterranean. Commodities such as the balsam oil further expand this shared space, to also encompass the sensory aspect in its broadest sense. What is more, the appropriation of spolia and symbols bring visual appeal through the meaning they produce and convey, opening up the conceptualization of this space even more"--