León - Palacio del Conde Luna

León was founded in 68 AD for a Roman legion from which they were supposed to pacify the rebellious mountain dwellers of Asturias and Cantabria. The name of the settlement that was then developed is based on a refined form of the Latin word "legio".

After the end of the Roman Empire, the city was conquered by the Visigoths and in 712 by the Moors. In 856, after the reconquest under King Ordoño I of Asturias, the city was repopulated. Ordoño II made León the capital of his kingdom of León in 914. Sacked by Almanzor in about 987, the city was reconstructed and repopulated by Alfonso V,

León was an important stop on the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. Traders and artisans settled in the suburbs and had a strong influence on the development of the city from the 13th century onwards. In the early Middle Ages, the city became prosperous through the cattle trade. However, from the 16th century until the 19th century, the economy and population declined.
The "Palacio del Conde Luna" (Palace of Count Luna) is a palace from the 14th century, that was expanded by a Renaissance tower later.

The Court of the Inquisition was installed in this palace for many years. It now hosts a museum and a branch of the University of Washington, which uses the building for the learning of Spanish by its students.

Bote de la Catedral de Braga

This box is made from a piece of elephant's tusk. The lid has an inscription in Kufic Arabic running around it.

The entire surface is finely worked in bas-relief. The decorative composition takes the form of a sequence of horseshoe arches standing on colonnettes with capitals of acanthus leaves and two volutes. On top of each arch is a series of goat-like creatures and birds. As well as these birds of paradise stand out from the plant patterns that cover the whole surface. Under one of the arches, two finely sculptured figures are gathering the fruits of a tree,


The propitiatory words in Kufic script inscribed on the lower part of the lid indicate that it was commissioned by the hajib Abd al-Malik, son of al-Mansur, the powerful military chief who encouraged several raids in the north of the Peninsula at the end of the 10th century.