GARDEN DESIGN IN SPAIN 



265 



FOUNTAIN IN A GARDEN FORMERLY ATTACHED TO 

 THE PALACE AT CORDOVA. 



over the whole of the Penin- 

 sula and developed a luxur}- 

 and refinement far in ad- 

 vance of anything known at 

 the time ; they cultivated 

 the arts with a success which 

 Western Europe might well 

 have envied, had it better 

 realized their immense value, 

 and taken the trouble to reap 

 the benefit of Moorish cul- 

 ture, when in the fifteenth 

 century the great cities of 

 Seville, Cordova, Segovia, 

 Granada and Toledo were 

 finally taken from the Moors. 



The first Omeyyad Sultan, Abd-er-Rahman I, who ruled about the 

 middle of the ninth century, took a peculiar delight in his gardens, and 

 nothing was too precious for their enrichment. He was passionately fond 

 of flowers, and caused all kinds of rare and exotic plants and fine trees 

 to be brought from foreign lands. Agents were despatched to Syria, 



India and other 

 countries, commis- 

 sioned to procure 

 at all cost rare 

 plants and seeds for 

 the royal gardens. 

 By this means many 

 new varieties were 

 introduced from 

 the Far East which 

 were previously un- 

 known even to cul- 

 tivated Rome. To 

 remind him of his 



ORANGE PATIO, MOSQUE OF CORDOVA. old hoUlC, hc illl- 



