Christian Spain and Portugal 600-1200

Abstract

Early medieval Iberia was characterized by a strong Roman cultural inheritance maintained by the Visigothic kingdom of Toledo. In 711, the Moors invaded the peninsula creating a strong political emirate, Al-Andalus, that dominated the whole territory until the Pyrenees. By the eleventh century the Christians had recovered part of the peninsula and new strong kingdoms in the north ended with the Muslim hegemony. Architecture of the period had always a strong classical background. Starting with basic Visigothic constructions that evolved to more elaborate Asturian and Mozarabic models, architecture eventually blossomed, especially in northern Portugal and Castile, with the arrival of Romanesque features during the eleventh century.