CrosswordNewsletters
DAILY BEAST
ALL
  • Cheat Sheet
  • Politics
  • Crime
  • Entertainment
  • Media
  • Innovation
  • Opinion
  • World
  • U.S. News
  • Scouted
  • Travel
CHEAT SHEET
    POLITICS
    • Fever Dreams
    • Biden World
    • Elections
    • Opinion
    • National Security
    • Congress
    • Pay Dirt
    • The New Abnormal
    • Right Richter
    • Trumpland
    MEDIA
    • Confider
    • Daytime Talk
    • Late-Night
    • Fox News
    U.S. NEWS
    • Identities
    • Crime
    • Race
    • LGBT
    • Extremism
    • Coronavirus
    WORLD
    • Russia
    • Europe
    • China
    • Middle East
    INNOVATION
    • Science
    TRAVEL
      ENTERTAINMENT
      • TV
      • Movies
      • Music
      • Comedy
      • Sports
      • Sex
      • TDBs Obsessed
      • Awards Shows
      • The Last Laugh
      FOOD & BEVERAGE
        CULTURE
        • Power Trip
        • Fashion
        • Books
        • Royalist
        TECH
        • Disinformation
        SCOUTED
        • Clothing
        • Technology
        • Beauty
        • Home
        • Pets
        • Kitchen
        • Fitness
        • I'm Looking For
        COUPONS
        • Adidas Promo Codes
        • DoorDash Promo Codes
        • H&M Coupons
        • Hotwire Promo Codes
        • Wine.com Discounts
        • Vitacost Coupons
        • Spanx Promo Codes
        • StubHub Promo Codes
        BEST PICKS
        • Best VPNs
        • Best Gaming PCs
        • Best Air Fryers
        Products
        NewslettersPodcastsCrosswordsSubscription
        FOLLOW US
        GOT A TIP?

        SEARCH

        HOMEPAGE

        Did Christ Live in a Muslim Town?

        The Daily Pic: The Gothic builders of Europe were copying Arab buildings they saw in Jerusalem.

        Blake Gopnik

        Updated Jul. 13, 2017 12:23PM ET / Published Mar. 07, 2012 8:36PM ET 

        Photo by Alexander Nagel

        This doorway from the madrassah of the Mamluk Sultan Al Nasir Muhammad was built in the 1290s in Cairo. It seems a perfectly Islamic-looking structure … except that at its heart is actually a Gothic gate from the great crusader city of Acre, now in Israel, which the sultan carried away as war-spoils when he captured the place in 1291. And the reason this piece of Crusader construction looks so at home in Cairo is that Gothic architecture, that trademark of Western European culture, may actually be a deliberate rehash of Arab styles. When the early crusaders got to the Holy Land, they read the Islamic architecture they found there as of a piece with the buildings of Jesus’s own time, and copied the style as a sign of a return to an authentic, originary Christian culture. This, at least, is the radical argument of my friend Alexander Nagel, a prof at the Institute of Fine Arts at NYU now on assignment in the Middle East, where he’s blogging at SpiritoPellegrino.com. (Read his argument at greater length there.) We know we got zero from the Arabs, and Greek philosophy, and much of medieval music and food—but could it be that even Chartres and Westminster Abbey are Islamophilic, too?—even if they didn’t know it.

        For a full visual archive of past Daily Pics visit blakegopnik.com/archive.

        READ THIS LIST

        DAILY BEAST
        • Cheat Sheet
        • Politics
        • Crime
        • Entertainment
        • Media
        • World
        • Innovation
        • U.S. News
        • Scouted
        • Travel
        • Subscription
        • Crossword
        • Newsletters
        • Podcasts
        • About
        • Contact
        • Tips
        • Jobs
        • Advertise
        • Help
        • Privacy
        • Code of Ethics & Standards
        • Diversity
        • Terms & Conditions
        • Copyright & Trademark
        • Sitemap
        • Coupons:
        • Coupons:
        • Vistaprint Coupons
        • Samsung Promo Coupons
        • Home Depot Coupons
        • Office Depot Coupons
        • eBay Coupons
        • Ashley Furniture Promo Codes
        © 2022 The Daily Beast Company LLC