13. Literary Excerpts on the Arts and Architecture of Medieval Al-Andalus: By Cynthia Robinson, Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton All of the texts examined below have an intimate connection to court ceremony. The third one represents a parody of "real" court ceremony if it was, as I believe it may have been, acted out in the context of a luxurious dwelling belonging to a wealthy patron, but not necessarily a royal one. Through their "performative" aspects, each of the examples emphasize the stage-like character of much of the architecture to be examined in the Art Guide, and suggests a possible forum for the interchanges which helped foster the curious sameness we read in Romance, Castilian, Gallego-Portuguese, Provencal, Arabic and Hebrew court literature. For many were the occasions when a Christian prince might visit...or invade...a Muslim palace, such as the Aljaferia of Zaragoza. Click here for full text Get Adobe Acrobat Reader here