Assahafa.com
Following the inauguration of the Amazigh Space at the heart of its gardens, the Alhambra takes on a new dimension and finds a new purpose, said André Azoulay, Advisor to His Majesty the King and Co-President of the Three Cultures Foundation, which is headquartered in the Hassan II Pavilion in Seville, in Granada.
“The foundational role that the Amazigh dynasties played in the historical legacy of Al-Andalus—a role previously known mainly to researchers and scholars—is now, thanks to the Amazigh Space, brought to the attention and appreciation of the millions of visitors the Alhambra welcomes each year,” Azoulay emphasized in a statement to the press following Saturday’s inauguration of the Amazigh Space within the Alhambra, an initiative of the Dr. Leïla Mezian Foundation.
Paying a heartfelt tribute to the late Dr. Leïla Mezian Benjelloun, “who envisioned this project, dreamed of it, and planned it before her passing,” the Advisor to HM the King welcomed the active involvement of the Andalusian Ministry of Culture and the Alhambra’s management, as well as the decisive support of the Jorge Dezcallar and Teresa Eça Foundation, which “together agreed to a new-generation partnership to grant this unprecedented and unique project every chance of success.”
Thanks to this Amazigh space created on-site in an 11th-century cloister, the Alhambra thus becomes the first European institution to embark on a comprehensive and inclusive historical narrative that unhesitatingly embodies a universal Andalusian heritage and resilient values that bear the hallmark of this civilization, which visitors of Alhambra can now fully appreciate by revisiting the fundamental contributions of the Almohad and Almoravid dynasties as well as the Nasrid Kingdom, Azoulay added.
He also expressed the hope that “this first initiative will inspire others to follow Granada’s example today by choosing an objective and comprehensive historical, cultural, and social narrative—one that includes its ups and downs—based on the premise that history is irrefutable and does not lend itself to the conjectures of the moment or the contingencies of the present.”
Highlighting the welcome convergence of the private and public sectors, which have successfully pooled their resources to bring the Amazigh Space to fruition, the Advisor to HM the King concluded by emphasizing “Morocco’s exceptional momentum in this regard, our Morocco, strengthened by the enlightened, pioneering, and proactive leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, who has opted to make our histories’ richness, our diversities’ contribution, and our deep tangible and intangible heritage the driving force behind his exemplary leadership and social modernity.”
Source: map
