The Mudejar architecture of the province of Zaragoza can be accessed at the click of a mouse by anyone, anywhere around the world, thanks to its inclusion in the “UNESCO World Heritage” collection on Google Arts and Culture, a multi-lingual platform that has received more than 175 million visits and a mobile application that has been downloaded more than 30 million times, which offers virtual tours of museums and heritage treasures around the world.
Thanks to the initiative of the Provincial Government of Zaragoza and Territorio Mudéjar’s collaboration, the platform has included the Mudejar architecture of Aragon in a special UNESCO project for the promotion and dissemination of World Heritage sites. Specifically, the platform displays the monuments designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites in 2001: the church of Santa Tecla in Cervera de la Cañada, the church of La Virgen in Tobed and the Santa María collegiate church in Calatayud, in Zaragoza province, and the Seo, the San Pablo tower and the Aljafería palace, in the city of Zaragoza. Mudejar sites in the province of Teruel, declared UNESCO World Heritage 15 years earlier, thus triggering the process of promotion and rediscovery of the Mudejar as the most authentic art form in Aragon, can also be seen.
The Mudejar art of Aragon has a strong regional component and cannot be understood through a single site. Its diversity and wealth is much more thoroughly explained when it is defined as “valley culture”, in which the valleys of Zaragoza are a highlight. To discover all its splendor, Google Arts and Culture has also included photographs of some monuments in Territorio Mudéjar that are not listed as World Heritage, such as the church in Torralba de Ribota, the San Andrés tower in Calatayud, the magnificent views of the city of Daroca and the church in Aniñón, just a few of the many wonderful examples found scattered throughout the valleys of Zaragoza. In addition, there are also images of the Seo in Zaragoza, the San Pablo tower and the Aljafería palace in the city of Zaragoza, as well as the El Salvador church tower in the city of Teruel. All of them offer a glimpse of the scope of Mudejar heritage as a cultural expression found nowhere else in the world.
The platform offers photographs, a video about the Mudejar identity of the towns in Zaragoza that share this rich heritage, and a photogrammetric model of some of the World Heritage churches. This model was created as a result of the work done in one of the Territorio Mudéjar fieldwork grants in 2019, representing a launching pad for many other projects in the field of 3D heritage. The owners of the more than 30 million mobile phones that have downloaded the Google Arts and Culture app have received a message containing a link to all of these contents.
Universality, uniqueness and authenticity
This initiative spotlights the Mudejar World Heritage brand internationally and provides a powerful tool for heritage outreach and for the towns in the province.
The Mudejar architecture of Aragon was declared World Heritage by UNESCO in 2001 for its “universality, uniqueness and authenticity”. Although Mudejar is usually described as Christian architecture built by Mudejars, Muslims who remained in the lands conquered by Christian rulers, this avant-garde movement from the medieval period is actually much more complex. This genre, which extends across several centuries and has a regional component entailing journeys across valleys, mountains and urban settings, has stamped each town with a unique personality that goes beyond mere monuments to encompass urban design, the division of land, the landscape and society, impacting the intangible heritage of the towns and their idiosyncrasy.
Link to Aragonese Mudejar architecture on Google Arts and Culture:
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/VwVBrGnQt1ZofQ
