In the harsh and painful glare of the violence and hatred that has thus far defined the 21st century--fueled by seemingly intractable and unsolvable conflicts among Muslims, Jews and Christians--it may seen inconceivable that people of these three faiths could ever live in relative harmony. But for an 800-year period in Medieval Spain that is precisely what happened. The Medieval Spain Project, inspired by Yale University Professor Maria Rosa Menocal's book , documents this extraordinary period of human history during which the people of Spain forged a common cultural identity that transcended their religious differences. Though this period was marked by frequent strife, the Jewish scholar Maimonides wrote his great philosophical treatises in Arabic; marvelous churches borrowed freely from the architectural style of Spain's most important mosques, and Islam grew richer and more vibrant through its interaction with Jewish and Christian cultures. But it was not to last. In 1492, Spain's Christian rulers expelled Jews and Muslims from Al Andalus. According to renowned NYU Professor F.E. Peters, one of the advisors to our project , this tragedy represents the triumph of intolerance over tolerance. Its legacy still still haunts modern Spain. It would take another 500 years before indigenous Spanish Muslims could open a new mosque in Granada. Though this event was celebrated as a sign of Islam's continuing role in a multicultural 21st century Spain, when recent bombings in Madrid took hundreds of innocent lives, the groups claiming credit for the blast justified their violent actions as retaliation for the expulsion of Muslims from Al Andalus 50o years earlier.
