Spain, 1000–1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith

Spain, 1000–1200: Art at the Frontiers of Faith was a major exhibition held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2021. It examined the extraordinary artistic production of the Iberian Peninsula during a pivotal two-hundred-year period, when Christian kingdoms, Islamic taifa states, and Jewish communities lived in close — and often turbulent — proximity.

The works on view ranged from illuminated manuscripts and ivory carvings to metalwork, textiles, and monumental sculpture, revealing how artists and patrons across religious and cultural boundaries exchanged ideas, techniques, and imagery. The exhibition highlighted the concept of convivencia — the complex, contested coexistence of faiths — as a creative force that shaped one of the most visually rich periods in the history of Western art.