Gardens of Earthly Delight: Spain, Landscape, Culture

Catalog description

This course will examine the cultural geography of Spain's landscapedsocial spaces as sites for the development of personal, social, and politicalSpanish cultural identities. Focusing on landscape art, garden design, gardenhistory and the relationship of gardens to literary forms in Madrid and its environs,this course studies the roles of landscape and garden design and the ways thatthese arts represent the cultural and social ideology of their times. Based onmethods from aesthetics, cultural history, literary history, and landscape design,the course introduces students to the major trends that the built landscapes ofSpain have evolved from the early modern to the contemporary era. Madridand its near environs are home to a range of magnificent gardens, includingMadrid's Parque del Buen Retiro with its magnificent Crystal Palace andRosaleda Garden, the Botanic Gardens and grounds of El Prado Museum, theSabatini Gardens and the Campo del Moro near the Royal Palace, the grounds2of the Museo Sorolla, the Parque Madrid Río, running along the banks of theManzanares River, the less-visited but stunning El Capricho Park, the magnificentEl Escorial Gardens, the Aranjuez, and the Generalife summer palace for theNasrid Emirs of the Emirate of Granada in El Andalus. Each of these sites offersextraordinary opportunities for students to learn about the multi-ethnic,complexly layered, religious, political and social history of Spain as represented inits world-renowned gardens and public spaces.