Arab remains in Madrid, the most importantArab wall
Many cities in southern Spain, and not so southern Spain, are remembered for their Moorish imprint. The length of time that the Muslim culture remained alive in them marks the identity value of that past. There were eight centuries of Muslim presence and the remains of that Moorish period are greater than one might think.
It would be curious to know how many citizens of Madrid know that their capital also had a Muslim past, surely a mosque, baths, public works at the service of a community integrated into the country and which, by the time they were built, already had two or almost three centuries of history. There was an Arab Madrid, and the archaeological and almost surface remains that have come down to us remind us of it. And even more so, those that the future may bring to light.
Source: Wikipedia
The Arab remains of 9th or 10th century Madrid are hidden underground, sometimes in unlikely places, fragmented, out of context, scattered and far away from the sight of ordinary citizens, but much closer than anyone thinks, within walking distance of the kilometre 0 of the Puerta del Sol that marks the centre of Madrid,
That Madrid was a modest town, located on plains overhanging the fertile plain of the Manzanares River, which was undoubtedly cultivated and whose waters were vital to the life of the population. The Madrid area must have been a very usable place where ravines, streams and water sources abounded.
But what exactly are the remains of those times? Well, the remains of the walls protecting the urban perimeter, the bases of some towers that broke through those same defensive walls.
The most surprising of all these vestiges is more visible, extraordinarily visible, and has nothing to do with archaeology. And we could even say that it is omnipresent, in the signage, on the posters, in the neon signs. It is the very name of the city.
Madrid comes from Magrit in Arabic
Madrid is an Arabic word, a supposed alteration of the expression ‘magrit’ which some relate to the word ‘wall’, and others to ‘water conduction’, a type of irrigation channel, a canal, or something similar.
And from the archaeological evidence we know this to be the case, the remains of the Arab wall are there, as are those of a water conduit to supply the city in those times.
In the High Ages there was a whole series of Arab farmhouses or estates, as we would call them today, which were spread over the plains above the level of the Manzanares. These properties would have taken advantage of the river's waters and used them communally. The Arabs were, and still are, experts in channelling the waters and making the most of them, probably because of the need to make the most of the places from which their culture originates, arid, dry and lacking in everything.
The wall of Magrit-Madrid was nothing like the ones we have seen that enclosed cities from the Renaissance onwards. It was made of adobe and brick. In times before siege artillery, they only had to be opposed to man's force and functioned more as boundaries and as a deterrent system than anything else. Nor did the immediate area of Madrid offer many valuable stone quarries. The river did, and there was all the clay needed by a civilisation that made a master of this material, which it had known since its origins in the Middle East.
Arab wall next to Mohamed I Square
The Moorish wall can be found in its exposed pieces in a few short metres of the Plaza Mohamed I. The wall was built in the 9th century and is located next to the crypt of the Cathedral of Madrid, the Almudena.
There are 120 metres of wall in the area known as the Cuesta de la Vega. The slope comes from the fact that this was the way up and down that connected the Manzanares River with the centre of the old town.
Mohammed I is a tribute from the city to the ruler of Cordoba who ordered the defences to be raised. In those days, Madrid was a battle front, the city was part of a system of defences at the forefront of Arab territory. And it was constantly subjected to raids by Christian parties in search of booty that went beyond the river markers that served as frontiers in the 9th and 10th centuries. Surely yes.
A smaller part of the wall is preserved at number 82, Calle de Bailén. Some parts of the protection can be clearly seen to correspond to a different and older work, in other parts it is necessary to put some real imagination into the matter.
Puerta de la Sagra, Moorish wall in the Royal Palace
Another piece that belonged to one of the entrances to the Moorish settlement, the so-called Puerta de la Sagra, must be traced underground in the Plaza de la Armería. These are seventy-some metres of wall that are now part of the Museum of the Royal Sites in Madrid. Yes, in the area of the Royal Palace. The site corresponds to the place occupied by the Alcázar of Madrid until its disappearance after a fire. The Puerta de la Sagra can be seen in some street maps or old drawings.
In Calle Mayor, in the doorway at number 83, we find not the remains of a gate, but those of a protective construction, the Albarrana Tower. Right on the bridge or viaduct that crosses Calle Segovia.
What were the albarran towers? The albarran towers were defensive constructions that were placed in regular sections on the walls or grouped together at key points or points of difficult defence, wherever the walls were most vulnerable.
Some remained integrated into houses and as part of the foundations of buildings well beyond the Middle Ages. The Albarrana Tower was most certainly that of Narigües, which in Hapsburg times still marked the same place in Madrid with that name.
Another tower, and that makes three for a little-known Arab Madrid, is the Tower of the Bones, whose remains, literally on the bones, can be found in the car parks of the Plaza de Oriente. Only the beginning of its basic structure is visible.
And as I said, these vestiges are only brushstrokes, because more colourful notes, and a whole art gallery, may still be sleeping their dreams of a thousand and one nights under the daily routine and the steps of ordinary Madrilenians.
