(slide 61) As the texts in this website indicate, the Alhambra has remained an important cultural icon for many peoples throughout time. Washington Irving lived there for a time during his stay in Spain and named one of his book of tales, The Alhambra. Contemporary Arab poets such as Etel Adnan and Mahmoud Darwish refer to it with nostalgia in their poems; to them, the Alhambra represents the loss of a glorious Muslim and Arab past. The contemporary Israeli poet Ronny Someck uses the imagery of Andalusia to recall a time in the past when Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions mixed, sometimes peacefully and often productively. Andalusia is remembered by some as a time and place marked by cosmopolitanism and a cultural vibrancy. For many, the Alhambra has come to represent both the glories of the Islamic Spain and its ultimate defeat by Christian forces. Back to slides