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The Indian author’s The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995) was inspired by the exile of Granada’s last Moorish king.

This town holds the Feria de Flamenco in July.

Moorish scientists excelled in the fields of metallurgy, zoology, botany, medicine and mathematics. Moorish inventors also developed revolutionary devices such as the astrolabe and the quadrant, essential for navigation. Arabic numerals were introduced, as well as algebra (from al-jebr , meaning “reuniting broken parts”) and the algorithm.

This strident dance, with clapping rhythms, has been infused with the flamenco spirit. It is danced with enthusiasm at festivals throughout the region.

Seville’s most striking architectural masterpiece is its vast cathedral. Inside are soaring columns, precious artworks and the world’s largest altarpiece (see Seville Cathedral & La Giralda).

Legend has it that when the sevillanos decided to build their cathedral in the 15th century, they proclaimed their intention to erect an edifice so huge that later generations would call them mad. They achieved their aim with the largest church (by volume, not floorplan) in Christendom.

The world fair in 1992 celebrated the quincentenary of Columbus’s discovery of the New World. It brought a sprucing up of Seville and 42.5 million visitors to Andalucía, but it left bankruptcy in its wake. The scale of the economic disaster was political; charges of corruption led to a loosening of the Socialist Party’s hold on power, in favour of a right-wing government.

Fortunately for Andalucían culture, many gypsies stayed, and eventually developed a unique strain of music, flamenco, drawing on Arabic, Jewish and Byzantine sources, as well as their own Indian traditions. Similar to the American Blues, it is the raucous, rhythmic music of the dispossessed and marginalized, full of pathos and catharsis. The word flamenco is probably a corruption of the Arabic felag mengu (fugitive peasant), an epithet that 19th-century Andalucían gypsies used with one another.

Authentic shows.

Popular performances of all genres take to the stage of this modest theatre, with a strong emphasis on flamenco. It’s also a good venue for contemporary Andalucían theatrical works.