Sunday, April 12, 2009

Spain begins Alhambra Inscription Translation


As far as I knew, the Alhambra was a hotel here in St. Augustine - not a previous place designed for military use, then eventually residency for royalty in Granada, Spain. According to an article, experts in Spain have decided to take on the project of translating and cataloging all estimated 10,000 Arabic derived carvings of the Alhambra. According to the article, some of the researchers are surprised this has never been a projected task before, ""It is hard to believe that this had never been done before," lead researcher Juan Castilla told The Associated Press.""
Since the turnover of Muslim "law" in Spain in 1492, the translation of the Alhambra has been a goal of the ruling royalty. Since the turnover of Muslim “law” in Spain in 1492, the translation of the Alhambra has been a goal of the ruling royalty. The projected completion date is 2011, with already a third of the inscriptions recorded on CD including translations to Spanish-language, according to the article, only 10 percent of the translations will follow back to Qu'ran origin; contrary to the majority belief that all translations would originate from the Islamic religious text. According to the article, the reasoning for all the inscription was because the the "sultan's wanted to leave a record of their presence" - evidence of their convictions for belief in God and it was also their way of decorating, as Islam doesn't encourage a "representation of art". The art, the inscriptions, are said to create a book of poetry on the walls, one that will hopefully be fully revealed under the time plan Spain's experts have of now.

(Photo Credit: www.alhambragranda.com)

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