Alla ibn Vanidos to the rest is history or should I say Tom Holland Mejaba Salama Leicom.

Now we are in the middle of our great world cup Odyssey and we have reached the Kingdom

of Spain but Tom you have chosen a topic from Spanish history before the Kingdom of Spain

existed haven't you and one of the most colorful and dramatic topics in all European history.

I have it is as your exemplary mastery of languages introduced at the beginning of this suggested

it is the Caliphate of Cordever which is the golden age of Muslim Spain Cordever the

greatest city in Western Europe it's peak so I want to look at how a caliphate came

to be established in Spain it's golden age and it's decline so that's the plan Dominic.

So this is the world of if anybody's been there so I've been there I guess you've probably

been there Tom to Cordever so the wondrous edifice is the Mesquita so basically this extraordinary

building that is the most magnificent mosque with a massive great cathedral.

Well it's not yeah yeah so it got reconquered by the Christians in the long run and got converted

into a cathedral they just own it's the most yes it's the most a poll and Dominic do you

know my solution to the the whole Hagia Sophia called of a mosque solution is basically they swap.

Oh yes that is a good idea so the mosque called of it becomes a mosque yeah and Hagia Sophia

becomes a cathedral that's an excellent idea and everyone's happy so that's a moment but this is

not about bringing solutions to contemporary geopolitical problems this is about history Dominic so

in the public mind Tom this caliphate is this sort of lost golden age this paradise of babbling

fountains people in hospitals kindly philosophers multiculturalism munching on oranges listening to

the tinkling of fountains exactly people drinking sherbet all this sort of stuff yeah am I on the

right track you well kind of on the right track I mean it is a great great center of urban imperial

civilization of a kind that would have been familiar to the Romans and indeed to people in

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