Volume 90, Number 1 - California Historical Society
Volume 90, Number 1 - California Historical Society Volume 90, Number 1 - California Historical Society
22 California History • volume 90 number 1 2012 Islamic Influences on California Mission Architecture Muslim architectural techniques influenced the Spaniards and Mexicans who settled California. Roofless inner courtyards and fortress-like walls are two elements that found expression in the Franciscan missions. The Mexican art historian Miguel Toussaint has noted that the mission’s patio “is without a doubt not a Christian plaza” and “more akin . . . to the patio of a mosque.” Its rectangular courtyard recalls the immense patio and surrounding arched galleries and columns of Tunisia’s Great Mosque of Kairouan, built at the start of the seventh century. Creative Commons An 1884 reconstruction of Mission San Juan Capistrano (founded 1775) depicts the arched, open-air corridors of the court, or patio, adapted from Spanish-style dwellings. Many of the missions’ chambers, work spaces, and living quarters opened up onto the patio, a place of refuge in case of attacks by neighboring Indians or revolts by mission neophytes. California Historical Society/USC Special Collections
The model for Mission San Gabriel Arcángel (founded 1771) (left) may have been La Mezquita, the Great Mosque in Córdoba, Spain (above), which has been converted into a Catholic cathedral. Likely designed by the Córdoba-born Franciscan priest Father Antonio Cruzado, the mission’s capped buttresses, tall and narrow windows, arched shell decorations, and fortress-like appearance display a strong Moorish architecture influence. Mission: California Historical Society, CHS2012.1012.tif; West Wall, La Mezquita: Courtesy of Ali Eminov 23
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- Page 3 and 4: Executive Director anthea hartig Ed
- Page 5 and 6: collections Mexican Californiana Am
- Page 7 and 8: ebellion against imperial rule into
- Page 9 and 10: fate, wealthy Californios fell back
- Page 11 and 12: them. In a letter written to his fa
- Page 13 and 14: Sully were promptly married by the
- Page 15 and 16: Alexander F. Harmer’s nineteenth-
- Page 17 and 18: to such evils as placing Indians un
- Page 19 and 20: an accomplished one like his father
- Page 21 and 22: Franciscan priests and soldiers saw
- Page 23: the Setting If jihad’s purpose se
- Page 27 and 28: Muhammad’s military campaigns, to
- Page 29 and 30: theless, it is baffling that the bo
- Page 31 and 32: Below: Following the fall of Consta
- Page 33: what would be the First Crusade and
- Page 36 and 37: 34 Again, the equation of the Chris
- Page 38 and 39: 36 Some priests wanted to experienc
- Page 40 and 41: 38 California fought each other or
- Page 42: 40 Joaquin Miller and the social Ci
- Page 45 and 46: At the Hights, Miller built four ca
- Page 47 and 48: By 1900, the crossroads settlement
- Page 49 and 50: Miller’s friendship with the jour
- Page 51 and 52: Ina Coolbrith (1841-1928), one of t
- Page 53 and 54: George Sterling (1869-1926) recalle
- Page 55 and 56: Miller’s friendship with George S
- Page 57 and 58: Monthly, marveled at the cultural a
- Page 59 and 60: Kanno lived at the Hights for over
- Page 61 and 62: a man as ever lived.” 58 At least
- Page 63 and 64: The 1920s witnessed the first signs
- Page 65 and 66: The lines describe Othello’s miss
- Page 67 and 68: 91; D. Fairchild Ruggles, “Repres
- Page 69 and 70: died of alcoholism at an early age;
- Page 71 and 72: 61 Henry Meade Bland to Ina Cook Pe
- Page 73 and 74: hoBoes, Bindlestiffs, fruit tramps,
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<strong>California</strong> History • volume <strong>90</strong> number 1 2012<br />
Islamic Influences on <strong>California</strong><br />
Mission Architecture<br />
Muslim architectural techniques influenced the Spaniards<br />
and Mexicans who settled <strong>California</strong>. Roofless inner<br />
courtyards and fortress-like walls are two elements that<br />
found expression in the Franciscan missions.<br />
The Mexican art historian Miguel Toussaint has noted that the mission’s patio “is without a doubt not a Christian plaza”<br />
and “more akin . . . to the patio of a mosque.” Its rectangular courtyard recalls the immense patio and surrounding<br />
arched galleries and columns of Tunisia’s Great Mosque of Kairouan, built at the start of the seventh century.<br />
Creative Commons<br />
An 1884 reconstruction of Mission San Juan Capistrano<br />
(founded 1775) depicts the arched, open-air corridors of<br />
the court, or patio, adapted from Spanish-style dwellings.<br />
Many of the missions’ chambers, work spaces, and living<br />
quarters opened up onto the patio, a place of refuge in case<br />
of attacks by neighboring Indians or revolts by mission<br />
neophytes.<br />
<strong>California</strong> <strong>Historical</strong> <strong>Society</strong>/USC Special Collections
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