Islamic Decoration in Spain

I love intricate, beautiful, and/or clever geometric designs, and Islamic artisans were masters. I found dozens of interesting patterns and motifs throughout Andalusía, skillfully created in wood, plaster, and ceramic. Some were 12th - 14th century creations during Muslim dynasties; others were Mudéjar work done after the Christian Reconquest in the 15th century. Some patterns remind me of Celtic knots, but I don’t think there was any connection. Were great minds thinking alike? The clever tessellations may have inspired the work of later artists like M.C. Escher, and maybe modern textile designers and mathematicians and developers of computer graphic imagery. Clearly this medieval art has a timeless appeal.

Royal Alcázar of Seville

This mosaic pattern is really a Kufic (early Arabic) inscription, masterfully rendered so that it appears simultaneously in blue-on-white and (when viewed upside down) white-on-blue. Genius.

Nasrid Palaces at the Alhambra