L' Alhambra (Paperback - French) | Released: 06 May 2021

English summary: The Alhambra, a palatial complex founded in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Arab rulers of Granada, remained in obscurity for several centuries after the end of the Reconquista. The Spaniards were the first to "rediscover" the Alhambra in the 18th century, while its foreign visitors made it one of the first tourist destinations in the 19th century. Many of them left precious traces of their visit: writings, photographs and, above all, comments in the Alhambra Visitors' Book, kept since 1829. Historian Edhem Eldem has analysed this fascinating document to offer a completely new vision of the Alhambra and what it represented. From Chateaubriand to Owen Jones and from Washington Irving to Jean-Leon Gerome, Westerners have built up an image of Andalusia that is marked by romanticism and orientalism. But the Western enthusiasm should not make us forget the "Oriental" visitors to the monument: North Africans, who were numerous but not very vocal; Ottoman diplomats and travellers, who were sometimes more Orientalist than the Europeans; Arabs from the Mashreq, who were increasingly influenced by the Arab nationalism advocated by the Nahda, the "Arab renaissance". The author has reconstructed these cross-views from the register of visitors, the press of the time, memoirs and travel accounts, in order to draw up a cultural history of the relationship between East and West, North and South, Islam and Christianity, centre and periphery. Edhem Eldem is a professor at the University of Bogazici in Istanbul and holds the International Chair of Turkish and Ottoman History at the College de France. His work focuses on the social, cultural and mental history of the last century of the Ottoman Empire, with a particular emphasis on Westernization and Orientalism. French description: L'Alhambra, ensemble palatial fonde aux XIIIe et XIVe siecles par les souverains arabes de Grenade, est reste dans l'ombre pendant plusieurs siecles apres la fin de la Reconquista.Les Espagnols furent les premiers a redecouvrir l'Alhambra au XVIIIe siecle, alors que ses visiteurs etrangers en firent l'une des premieres destinations touristiques du XIXe siecle. Beaucoup ont laisse de precieuses traces de leur passage: des ecrits, des photographies et, surtout, des commentaires dans le livre des visiteurs de l'Alhambra, tenu depuis 1829. L'historien Edhem Eldem a analyse ce document fascinant pour proposer une vision tout a fait nouvelle de l'Alhambra et de ce qu'il representait. De Chateaubriand a Owen Jones et de Washington Irving a Jean-Leon Gerome, les Occidentaux ont bati une image de l'Andalousie toute empreinte de romantisme et d'orientalisme. Mais l'engouement occidental ne doit pas faire oublier les visiteurs orientaux du monument: des Maghrebins, nombreux mais peu loquaces; des diplomates et voyageurs ottomans, parfois plus orientalistes que les Europeens; des Arabes du Machrek, de plus en plus influences par le nationalisme arabe prone par la Nahda, la renaissance arabe . Autant de regards croises que le registre des visiteurs, la presse de l'epoque, les memoires et les recits de voyage ont permis a l'auteur de reconstituer pour en tirer une histoire culturelle des rapports entre Orient et Occident, Nord et Sud, islam et chretiente, centre et peripherie.