Islam's Spanish Eyes (washingtonpost.com)

Islam's Spanish Eyes (washingtonpost.com): "For centuries after its consolidation in the 750s of our era, Islamic Spain -- known in Arabic as al-Andalus -- had the richest culture, by far, of all of Western Europe. The Christian north, still emerging from the ruins of the fallen Roman Empire, could only gape at the wonders found south of the Pyrenees. In economy, technology, learning, cultural diversity and artistic sophistication -- in literature, philosophy, science, music, architecture, cuisine and all the decorative arts -- there was nothing like Islamic Spain. If the northerners at long last caught up in the later Middle Ages, it had a lot to do with what they had been able to beg, borrow, buy and steal from their neighbors to the south.

This exhibition's 89 objects include works of decorative art in cloth, stone, wood and ceramic as well as manuscripts, astronomical instruments, maps and many coins. All but a handful are from the collection of the Hispanic Society in New York, which agreed to this rare loan show in celebration of its 100th birthday. Though this is said to be the country's finest collection of art from Islamic Spain, it's still small and full of holes. (The exhibition lacks any examples of the fantastic metalwork developed by Spanish Muslims, for instance.) Shown without loans from other institutions, the Hispanic Society's holdings can provide only a hint of that culture's surviving treasures. But for the purposes of calling to mind the illustrious and complex history of the Spanish Middle Ages, even an assortment of minor objects can do the trick.

Staring at a vitrine full of old coins, for instance, is not most art lovers' idea of a good time. But for those with even a passing interest in Europe's past, the coins in 'Caliphs and Kings' are irresistible. Anyone who has seen"