• Architecture and Authority: Legal Spaces in Al-Andalus

The intersection of architecture and legal spaces is frequently omitted from historical narratives. This essay argues that the Moorish architecture of the Al-Andalus region in Spain not only reflects but actively enacts the establishment of a new legal order. This occurs by reshaping societal consciousness, situating a new jurisdiction and regulating religious and social hierarchies. Primarily harnessing Lefebvre’s and Nancy’s critical legal theory approaches, the case studies of Córdoba and Toledo during the tenth century offer persuasive insights into the use of architecture to entrench Moorish rule, while comparison with the fifteenth century Christian rule demonstrates the limitations of this approach.

Moorish architecture clearly harnesses myth, temporality and national identity to reshape societal consciousness, contributing to a new socio-legal identity for the region. Architecture also enacts a new jurisdiction through the physical and social possibilities of spaces, while regulating religious activities and social mobility. However, it is important to acknowledge that despite its ability to enact legal order, architectural law may assume the appearance of neutrality and is vulnerable to the legal violence of representation and ideological conquest. This is reflected by the abrupt appropriation of religious spaces in Córdoba and Toledo that accompanied the Christian assumption of authority. Overall this paper illustrates the historical contestation of architectural and legal spaces with the goal of helping us better perceive the forces acting upon our own lived spaces.