Portugal
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Islamic Art in Portugal
Region: Central and Southern Portugal
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The westernmost territories of the Peninsula closely accompanied the Islamicisation process that took place in the other regions of Hispania. According to written records, between 95/714 and 97/716, cities such as Lisbon, Faro, Beja, Santarém and Coimbra gradually succumbed to Muslim influence.
The strategy adopted by the first Muslim troops for the occupation of this territory was based mainly on consensus and the drafting of agreements with the Iberian peoples. This fact was to make a decisive contribution towards maintaining a relatively autonomous state in the Gharb that sometimes came very close to achieving almost complete independence.
In this territory, which was later the kingdom of Portugal , there is not an abundance of large courtly or military monuments from the Islamic period. In fact, the material remains and artefacts from this time currently in museums really amount to very few. Although the lack of ancient material remains places the region on the fringes of the great centres of Andalusian civilisation, it also leads us to believe that its distance from the influences of Cordoba and the clear incorporation of native motifs, served to reinforce a certain regional singularity.
The strategy adopted by the first Muslim troops for the occupation of this territory was based mainly on consensus and the drafting of agreements with the Iberian peoples. This fact was to make a decisive contribution towards maintaining a relatively autonomous state in the Gharb that sometimes came very close to achieving almost complete independence.
In this territory, which was later the kingdom of Portugal , there is not an abundance of large courtly or military monuments from the Islamic period. In fact, the material remains and artefacts from this time currently in museums really amount to very few. Although the lack of ancient material remains places the region on the fringes of the great centres of Andalusian civilisation, it also leads us to believe that its distance from the influences of Cordoba and the clear incorporation of native motifs, served to reinforce a certain regional singularity.