Travel Tuesday: A Medieval Synagogue in Córdoba, Spain

The entrance to the synagogue. The gallery above the entrance was reserved for women, who were kept out of sight of the men praying downstairs.

I just got back from Córdoba, a fascinating medieval town in southern Spain that was the capital of Islamic Spain for many years and remained important in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. A hallmark of the city during its Islamic rule was the large Jewish community, which got kicked out in 1492 when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella expelled all the Jews and Muslims after completing the Reconquista.

Luckily a synagogue built in 1315, at the high point of Andalusian Jewish culture, has been remarkably preserved. Its decoration was common for Spanish synagogues of the time, incorporating complex plaster work in the Islamic style. After 1492, the building was used as a hospital and later a shoemaker's guild. At some point the plaster work was covered over, hiding it but also preserving it. In 1884, as the building fell into decay, some of this later mortar work fell away and the earlier decoration revealed. The synagogue was declared a national monument a year later.

The decoration is similar to a synagogue in Tangier I visited a couple of years ago. Click the link for more about that.

 

A closeup of the arch. Note the cross that was added later.

Feliz Día de los Reyes Magos!

Today is the day of the three kings here in Spain, coinciding with Epiphany, when the three kings or wise men brought gifts in the baby Jesus. It always made more sense to me to give gifts on this day than Christmas, and that's what the Spanish do. There's also a huge meal, because no Spanish holiday goes by without a huge meal. We get a huge meal on Christmas Eve, Christmas, New Year's Eve, the night before Día de los Reyes Magos, etc. As you can imagine, I've been hitting the gym pretty hard to compensate.

This photo is from the Basilica of Sant' Apollinare Nuovo, built by the Ostrogothic King Theodoric in 504 AD. It's decorated in the early Byzantine style with lovely gold mosaics that no photo can really do justice to. Ravenna is filled with early church art and you'll be seeing plenty of it on this blog in the weeks to come.

The Three Kings are really popular here in Spain, and there's a big parade for them every year. It's interesting that there's been some changes in how they're depicted since the 6th century. Balthazar, the swarthy fellow on the left, is said to have come from Ethiopia. In this mosaic he's almost white. Until recent years he was portrayed in Spain by a guy in blackface. Thankfully now he's played by an actual African. Melchior is played by an old man and Gaspar by a young man, but in this mosaic the roles are reversed. I wonder why that happened?

¡Feliz Día de los Reyes Magos!

Military History Photo Friday: Armor in the Museo Cerralbo, Madrid

This week over at Black Gate I blogged about the amazing collection at the Museo Cerralbo, Madrid. Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa (1845-1922), 17th Marquis of Cerralbo, gathered together a vast collection of art and antiquities in his mansion in Spain's capital. He had everything from old books and Roman intaglios to ornate brass lamps and suits of armor. It's now a fun museum.

Sadly, there isn't much signage in the museum and I'm not much of an expert, so I won't be able to tell you much about these pieces. If you can identify any, please drop me a line in the comments section! Hit the link above to see the full article!

Photos copyright Sean McLachlan.

A lovely suit of samurai armor.

A German zweihander (two-handed sword), plus bits of barding (horse armor), and two types of polearm--a halberd (left) and a corseque (right)

Military History Photo Friday: The Medieval Walls of Tallinn, Estonia

In keeping with the theme of this week's Travel Tuesday post about Tallinn, here are some shots of Tallinn's medieval fortifications. The old city in Estonia's capital is ringed by a 14th century wall strengthened by several towers. Large stretches of it are open to the public.

Above you can see the wall from the back, where the catwalk is open to view. The wooden hoardings are, of course, modern. Hoardings were usually temporary structures put in when there was a threat of siege. Given the conditions in Tallinn, however, I bet the sentries wanted a little extra protection not from arrows, but the elements, and kept them up all the time.

Here's what it's like walking along it. Not as sheltered as I would like! Jump the cut for more photos.

Military History Photo Friday: Luxury Armor in Vienna

I've posted here before about visiting the lovely city of Vienna, which feels like a museum with all its palaces, elegant nineteenth-century cafes, and fine squares. While I wouldn't want to live in a museum for very long, I certainly enjoyed my visit.

One interesting spot was the Royal Armory, housed like many Viennese museums in an old Hapsburg palace. It has one of the best collections of luxury arms and armor made for nobility in Europe.

Above are three suits of blued steel made in Augsburg around 1570. Blued steel is created by heating the metal to 300°C, polishing it, and reheating it to 300°C again. It creates an attractive finish but doesn't make the steel stronger.

Below are two other blued steel harnesses with gold inlay, and a shield that you wouldn't want to use in battle. They were made around 1575 for Don Juan de Austria, the illegitimate son of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, back when the empire included Spain. He led the Spanish to victory over the Ottomans in the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571, the same battle where Cervantes got wounded.

For more on this amazing collection, check out my post on Black Gate about The Royal Armory of Vienna.


Photos copyright Sean McLachlan.

Military History Photo Friday: Fakhr-al-Din al-Maani Castle, Palmyra, Syria

Fakhr-al-Din al-Maani Castle, photo courtesy the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

This imposing castle is called the Qalat ibn Maan and overlooks the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria. I visited way back in 1994 and just wrote about my experiences for Black Gate, reflecting on what's going to happen to the site now that ISIS has taken it over.

I have clear memories of this castle. As you can see from the top photo, there's a steep climb to get up there. I remember huffing and puffing in the desert sun to make it to the base of the wall, only to spot the other side, which you can see in the below photo. There was a road leading right up to it I could have walked on and saved myself the trouble!

As it was, I was stuck on a narrow ledge running around the base of the wall. As I inched my way around, a Syrian family strolling up the road gave me a friendly wave.

After making a fool of myself, I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the castle and mounting one of the towers for a sweeping view of the oasis, the ancient site, and the surrounding desert. The castle was built around 1230 to protect this important caravan stop between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. Nowadays Palmyria is still strategically important. It was the scene of fierce fighting over the last few years between government forces and rebels, and just a couple of weeks ago ISIS swept in from the east and took it over. Reports indicate the castle has been battered by RPG, artillery, and small arms fire.

It's still standing, though, and now bears scars from another tumultuous era of the history of the Middle East.

Another view of the castle, courtesy Jerzy Strzelecki via Wikimedia Commons.

Travel Tuesday: Medieval Paintings in Salamanca Cathedral, Spain

Christ enthroned above the terrors of Hell.

In my last Travel Tuesday post, I shared some photos of Spanish heraldry from Salamanca. This medieval university town is filled with early art. The cathedral is full of medieval wall paintings dating to the 13th and 14th century.

Jump the cut for more photos!

Military History Photo Friday: Armor at the Wallace Collection, London

This open helmet is called a barbute and dates to 15th century Italy. It would have been worn by a regular infantryman of the upper rank. I've also seen period paintings showing nobility wearing them. The more elegant helmet below is called a bascinet. It's from northern Italy from around 1380-1410. As you can see, it doesn't offer any flat surfaces for a weapon to get a direct hit on. This would have been for a more wealthy warrior. The mail aventail protects the neck and shoulders, but of course there would have been plate armor for those areas too.

Both of these helmets are from the Wallace Collection in London. For more arms and armor from the Wallace Collection, check out my post over at Black Gate.

Photos copyright Sean McLachlan.

Travel Tuesday: Lake Bled, Slovenia

Here's a shot from a hill overlooking Lake Bled, one of Slovenia's most popular attractions. Even on an overcast day it's beautiful. That's Bled Island and the Church of the Assumption, which has some fine 14th century frescoes and a church bell that gives good luck if you ring it. You get to it by hiring a boatman to row you out across the tranquil waters. On the cliffs above is an imposing 11th century castle. The small town on the lake shore is a bit touristy, so stay in one of the more isolated guesthouses further out.

Travel Tuesday: A Templar Church and Prehistoric Paintings in Soria, Spain

In the Spanish province of Soria there's a narrow valley called El Cañon del Rio Lobos that leads to this, La Ceuva de San Bartolomé. On its walls are faint Bronze Age drawings, so faint I couldn't get a good shot of them. Sorry! They're hard to interpret anyway. They're mostly vertical or zigzag lines, some of which look vaguely human.

From out of the cave you see the Ermita de San Bartolomé, a late Romanesque church from the 13th century. It's said to have been built on an earlier Templar church in the 11th century and was the center for the military order of holy knights who defended the Soria branch of the Camino Santiago. Local tradition says the mystical Santiago (St. James) himself appeared and threw his sword into the canyon, declaring that wherever it landed a church should be built for the Templars.

Military History Photo Friday: A Castle in Northern Spain

We've been having an unseasonably warm and sunny week here in Cantabria, so last weekend the family and I went to San Vicente de la Barquera, west along the coast from where we live in Santander. It's been an important fishing port since medieval times and has this fine little castle guarding the harbor.

It was built in the 13th and 14th centuries and is the best preserved medieval castle in Cantabria. Unfortunately we couldn't get inside because it was just closing as we got there.

Below you can see the church of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles and part of the old city wall. The church was closed too!

Military History Photo Friday: German Armor from the Sixteenth Century

These two lovely suits of armor are in the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and of Military History, in Brussels, Belgium. They have a splendid collection of medieval arms and armor that will be the subject of an upcoming post on the Black Gate blog. I'll give you the link when it goes live next week.

The suit on the left was made in Germany in the third quarter of the 16th century, while the one on the right was made in the famous workshop of Michael Witz of Innsbruck around 1555. The helmet in between is also German from the mid-16th century.

Sadly I can't tell you more because the signage was all in French and Dutch. I puzzled out as much as I could and came to the odd discovery that while I studied both French and German many years ago, I had an easier time reading the Dutch because it was close to German and my German was always better than my French!

Oh, and what's that gauntlet on the lower right getting up to?

Belgian battlefields and Viking wisdom

If you follow this blog, you know I was recently in Belgium and England. I'm settled back in Spain now and writing up my travels for various sites. Two articles have come out recently. The first is for a cool travel site called The Scout Project, which has published my article on the World War One battlefields in Belgium.

I also have an article out with Black Gate on the British Museum's blockbuster Viking exhibition titled Viking Art, Magic, and Wisdom at the British Museum. This show is full of surprising artifacts like this 10th century gold ear spoon used for cleaning out wax.

I've just been signed up to do a weekly series on historical travel for Black Gate, so you'll be seeing plenty of me over there!

Photo Copyright The National Museum of Denmark.

Military History Photo Friday: The Halle Gate, Brussels, Belgium

Belgium has some 300 castles, and while the focus of last week's trip was on the Western Front of World War One, I did get to see the sole-surviving example of the medieval fortification that once protected Brussels.

The Halle Gate was built between 1357 and 1373 as one of seven gates in the city wall. It eventually became a prison and was thus left standing when the rest of the wall and gates were torn down. Today it hosts the Royal Museum of Art and History

Military History Photo Friday: Elaborate Renaissance Arms and Armor

Here are a couple of fine pieces from The Wallace Collection, one of the best private collections of art in London. They have an especially good arms and armor gallery. It's well worth checking out if you're in London.

On the top we have, according to the signage, "a mace of the morning star type, damascened in gold with arabesques and emblematical figures within cartouches of silver piqué." Well that clears that up. It's from Milan c.1560.

Below are some fine parade helmets from the same century, also made in Italy and of the type known as "antique armor", which imitated the styles of parade armor from ancient Rome.

Teutonic Treasure and Archaeology

When I'm not blogging here, I often do guest blogs at other sites. Recently I did a post for the Black Gate blog on The Church and Treasury of the Teutonic Order, Vienna. Black Gate is a leading fantasy magazine that runs a great blog on all things genre. Last year they published my fantasy novella The Quintessence of Absence, which you can download as a free ebook.

I'm also now the "Archaeology Expert" on the The Scout Project, a fun blog run by former Gadling coworker Libby Zay. It covers all sorts of subjects and encourages readers to go out and explore for themselves. She just interviewed me about my archaeology career.

Expect to see more from me on both these blogs in coming weeks!

Military History Photo Friday: A Combination German Halberd Pistol

On my recent trip to Vienna I got to see some great museums. One of my favorites was the collection of Hapsburg arms and armor at the Neue Berg. I'm working on an article about this place, which has one of the greatest collections of medieval arms and armor anywhere.

Here's one interesting item: a combination halberd and double-barreled rifle made in Germany c.1580. You can see it at the top of a case of other early firearms.

Here's a closeup. As you can see it has two wheellocks, firing mechanisms that are wound up and then released by the pull of a trigger. Given the ornamentation on the halberd, I'm thinking this was intended more for show as a curio than as an actual weapon. A lot of these combination weapons have survived from the Middle Ages and Renaissance but I've never read an account of one actually being used. They all tend to be similarly ornamental, which may explain why so many have survived.

Temples and monasteries in Armenia

As I mentioned in a couple of earlier posts, my wife recently went on a work trip to Armenia. While she spent most of her time talking astronomy with fellow scientists, she did get to go on a few excursions. Two took her to old houses of worship. The Hellenic scene you see above is a view of an ancient Mithraeum, a temple to Mithras, who was an eastern deity whose worship was open only to men, especially soldiers.

Since Mithraic rites were secret, not much is known about their beliefs, but there are many similarities between Mithraism and Christianity, such as Mithras being born on December 25 to a virgin, and having died and resurrected for humanity's salvation. Mithraists also practiced baptism and communal meals. The similarities were so numerous that early Christian writers claimed the older religion was invented by the Devil as a cheap imitation of Christianity to subvert their faith!

Christianity eventually won out in Armenia in the early fourth century AD. Soon monasteries and churches were cropping up everywhere. This is one of them.

Images of Armenia

Soviet-style observatory. It looks like a science fiction cover from the 1970s!

Last month my better half presented a paper at an astronomy conference in Armenia. I was super jealous because it's a a country I've always wanted to visit. Located on the Silk Route, it was a powerful kingdom in various eras, punctuated by periods of foreign rule. Most recently it was a Soviet republic, and now is independent once again.

She was pretty busy being an astronomer so she didn't take as many photographs as she'd have liked to, but here are some of them. More to come!

The observatory with the sunset and moon in the background.

A rather pleasant gravestone

Exploration Travel Magazine had a photo contest last month. In line with the spirit of the season, it was a cemetery theme. I lost. You can see the lovely photo by the winner here. I can't feel bad losing to that photo, it's great!

My photo shows the graveyard at Escomb Anglo-Saxon Church near Durham in northern England. Click the link for an article I wrote about it. Escomb is England's oldest Anglo-Saxon church, dating to around 670-690. Of course these graves are much more recent, 17th-19th century if I recall. I love how that plant is coming up through the broken tomb. Life sprouting from death!

The magazine has regular photo contests if you're interested. This month's theme is beaches. I'm not much of a beach person so I'll have to dig deep through my archives if I'm going to be a contender.