The town of Denia is about to celebrate the millennium of the creation of the Taifa of Dénia, founded by King Mujahid in the early eleventh century, after the fragmentation of the Caliphate of Córdoba. The program of events of the millennium, made by the Delegation of Culture of the City Council of Dénia, will begin this July and will last until 2015.
During the period of the Taifa, Dénia, its capital, experienced a moment of splendor "where poets, writers and scholars are protected and accommodated and culture flourishes in a remarkable way", as indicated by the Councilor for Culture, Pepa FontIn the presentation of the millennium events next semester.
To carry out this ambitious commemorative program recently adviser to the Department of Culture in the events of the millennium the historian Mallorcan Arab culture specialist Guillem Rosselló-Bordoy was appointed. Also, Culture has requested sponsorship and collaboration of the Provincial Council of Alicante, the Chair Archbishop Loaces of the University of Alicante and Valencia.
The official ceremony of start of the celebrations will take place on July 17, 20 at pm in the Plenary Hall of the City of Denia. For attendees, from 19.30 hours it will be served on the porch of City Hall mint tea and sweets from Al-Andalus.
Lecture series
During the months of July and August a cycle of conferences has been programmed in La Sala del castle around Madînat Daniya in the XNUMXth century and Dénia's role in the Mediterranean a thousand years ago. The cycle is aimed at the general public and summer cultural tourism in particular and will be complemented by guided night tours of the castle to discover the Andalusian vestiges of the monument, some of them unpublished.
It will open the lecture series Guillem Rosselló-Bordoy with a speech entitled The Taifa of Dénia. A Mediterranean kingdom of the eleventh century (18 for July). The 25 of July, the director of the Archaeological Museum of Denia, Josep Antoni Gisbert, will talk about the role of archeology to know a city and a kingdom, the Taifa of Dénia.
Gisbert also lead talk 1 August in which present the thematic route Visit to the gates of the citadel of Dénia. The August 8, Professor of Arabic at the University of Alicante Francisco Franco Sánchez give a lecture Dénia A XI century Florence? Poetry, literature, and science lexicography. Félix Retamero, Department of Sciences of Antiquity and the Middle Ages of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, will offer the 22 August conference Evidence of the foundation of the kingdom of Denia in numismatics. The first steps of Mujahid and its establishment in Dénia. Will put an end to the cycle conference The conquest of the Balearics. Mallorca during the years of its incorporation and link to the Kingdom of Dénia, by Guillem Rosselló-Bordoy.
The events continue in September with the schedule of conferences and courses aimed at disseminating the funds from the Archaeological Museum of the city and, especially, the Andalusian era. Much of the material comes from urban archaeological intervention plans and have never been shown to the public.
At the end of October, Dénia will host one of the sessions of the I Congress of Archeology of al-Andalus. Caliphate and Taifas organized by the MARQ.
cultural embassies
And to end the first half of the commemoration, during the months of November and December they are scheduled the first embassies to cities that belonged to the territory of the Taifa or maintained commercial and cultural relations with the Kingdom of Denia in the eleventh century. The idea, as explained by Josep Antoni Gisbert, is to go to those sites to present the millennium of the Taifa of Denia and researchers collaborate visited place and explain the imprint of that era in their territories.
The embassies will start in localities near Dénia that were part of the taifa and later they intend to expand their scope to other Mediterranean enclaves. In this sense, the representative of Culture will soon hold a meeting with the head of the Cervantes Institute "to be a catalyst for the embassy we intend to make in North Africa."
Likewise, Pepa Font has indicated that the possibility is being studied that, taking advantage of the assistance of Turismo Dénia to different European fairs, there will be exhibitions about the taifa in the cities where they are held.
