Mallorca is best known as a holiday destination for tourists from northern Europe. Many never venture outside the resorts of Magaluf and Alcudia. Relief from gray skies and cool climates for a glorious two weeks of freedom from work is enough.
Less well known is the Islamic history of the island. Even the language, distinctly different from the Catalan of southern Spain, is littered with words derived from Arabic. Even the majority of Mallorcians, fiercely proud of a history that they can trace for 3,000 years, are not aware of the extent to which some lasting treasures of Islamic culture are embedded in their language, culture, architecture and even their soil.
About an hour’s drive northwest of Palma — known as Medina Mayurqa until the end of Islamic rule in 1229G — on the road to Soller through a lush valley diced with rich smallholdings, is a precipitous wall of solid rock. The valley closes in on the road, threatening to halt its progress until finally it plunges into a tunnel driven through the mountainside. Here, hidden in a lush green bowl formed by the sides of surrounding mountains is the mansion of Alfabia, standing on the site of the residence of the last Muslim wali (viceroy) of Mallorca. He chose his site well.
The current house offers a splendid view of Palma Bay that in the wali’s day was the gateway to the island’s trade. Today the airport that brings the tourists from all over Europe still acts as the main gateway to the island. With mountains on three sides and a steep incline on the fourth, the original house capitalized on the topography for defense.
Bursting out of the solid rock 60 meters above the house is a cool spring, documented to have flowed continuously since at least 1254G and it has given life to the mansion and grounds of Alfabia. Fed by the mists and rain high above in the Sierra d’Alfabia, which rise to 1,086 meters just to the north of the mansion, the spring has never been known to fail even in periods of drought. It drove the mill wheels that ground the wheat for the local farmers and the estate and today waters the gardens for which Alfabia is justly famous.
The current house is an intriguing blend of Islamic and Mediterranean architecture. The wide avenue leading to the main portico is lined with massive Plane trees. The first impression is entirely Spanish, but tumbling down to the driveway is a continuous cascade of water, an essential element of any garden rooted in the Hispano-Arabic tradition. Beside the cascade is another sign of Arab tradition in the form of two alafagras — carved stone water channels or qanats. These border a formal stepped garden where fruit, aromatic and spice bearing trees all grow together, another tradition in Arab gardens.
Passing through the arched gatehouse, all that remains intact of the wali’s original residence, a glance upward reveals a coffered ceiling covered with intricate inlaid arabesques. It is the work of Almohade craftsmen and was built in 1170G from pine and holm-oak wood.
The lower section is inlaid with the coats of arms of the Arab families who lived on the wali’s estate. The frieze around the base of the ceiling is inlaid with the words “Allah is great. Allah’s is the power. There is no God but Allah.”
The modern house was built during the 17th and 18th centuries. The differing architectural styles of Italy and Spain integrate easily with the Arabic influence. Cobbled courtyards with small formal fountains record the influence of Rome while the tiled roofs and sweeping arches are typical of the Iberian Peninsula.
It is the gardens, the source of Alfabia’s fame, the living treasure that is the main repository of the Arab influence. Built into the hillside, the Arab designers worked with the contours of the slope rather than by challenging them. The result is a garden on many layers, linked by gently sloping flagstone stone steps. Criss-crossing the pathways and bordering the walks is a network of water filled alfagras that empty into the lake, the central feature of the gardens.
The profusion of well-established trees and plants is a mixture of decorative and functional. The central stand of massive date palms that rise solemn and majestic in front of the main elevation of the mansion clearly mark the Arabic influence. Subtler is the presence of the carob trees, almond, Aleppo pine and fig trees scattered through the grounds and all redolent of the garden’s Middle Eastern origins.
Although the gardens are man-made, they manage to preserve a feeling of undisturbed nature and lushness. The canopy of trees provides shade over much of the area, sunlight striking through gaps to highlight individual vistas. In the background is a constant susurration of moving water that permeates the silent greenery.
In September 1229G, a fleet of Catalan ships under the command of King James I of Spain stood off the southern coast of the island in the cove of Santa Ponca to the south of Medina Mayurqa. It signaled the beginning of the end of Islamic rule on the island. On Dec. 31 of that year, Medina Mayurqa was renamed the City of Mallorca.
At some point between these dates, a Muslim family, obviously aware of the coming change of rule, collected the valuables that were, or were destined to be, a woman’s dowry. Having sealed it in a simple earthenware pot decorated with ochre and black designs, they buried the treasure in a cave in a southern hill. It lay there for centuries. Now it takes pride of place in the Islamic Gallery in the Museu de Mallorca, where the gold and silver coins and jewelry form a tangible link with the island’s past.
The round gold coins date from the Almohad period, the same age that produced the craftsmen who built the coffered ceilings in Alfabia. They were minted at the end of the 12th century in Sabta and Fas — now known as Cetua and Fez. They correspond to a well-known coin of the period, the half dinar and carry the distinction that being gold, they were the currency of sultans.
The square silver coins are dirhams, one of the divisors of the gold coins and, although their origin hasn’t been established, they were minted in the same period. Dinars and dirhams were legal tender in the Balearic Islands between 1203G and 1229G and indicate that the Muslim islanders had every intention of staying there.
The coins establish the latest possible date that the treasure could have been buried. The jewelry found with them is certainly older and helps establish the age of similar items found in Al-Andalus, the old Spanish territories that once belonged to Islam.
Among the gold necklaces and earrings of the treasure is a very striking and historically significant pair of silver bracelets. The decoration is both engraved and inlaid. Historically very significant are the inscriptions on the bracelets, yet undeciphered, which combine the Cufic alphabet with the cursive or “nasji” lettering. The Cufic alphabet was used almost exclusively from the 9th to the 12th century G. At the end of that century, a cursive style of lettering began to appear. It gives positive evidence that both alphabets were in use at the end of Muslim rule. Two treasures, one organic and one living, continue to give the pleasures for which they were designed. The organic one, though metal and stone, links us substantively and emotionally with the lives of the vibrant Muslim community that lived and died on Mallorca some 800 years ago.
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