Transcript
Ex oriente. Merchant Isaac's journey from Baghdad via Jerusalem to Aachen A cultural-historic exhibition in Aachen on a globalized world around the year 800 and today by Karsten Ley In 797 A.D. Charlemagne sent a small diplomatic delegation to Harun-ar-Rashid's court in Baghdad to establish an exchange between the Abbasid's and the Carolingian empire. This delegation consisted of the Frank noblemen Lantfried and Sigismund and the Jewish merchant Isaac. The latter took over the organization of the journey, due to his ability for speaking different languages and his trade connections throughout the world at that time. Only Isaac came back to Charlemagne in 802, five years later, yet, having launched the desired dialog and bringing back valuable gifts out of the orient – ex oriente – , which was after all Abul Abbas, a living "white" elephant.1 Isaac's journey is the occasion for the large exhibition "Ex oriente. Isaac and the white elephant. Baghdad – Jerusalem – Aachen. A journey through three cultures around 800 and today" that was given in Aachen's city hall, cathedral and treasury from June 30th until September 28th 2003. Why did Charlemagne seek for a dialog with the Abbasid caliph, ruler of an empire, which was thousands of miles away from his reign, having a complete different culture and religion? This question can be answered by a review of the political balance of power at that time. Harun-ar-Rashid (c.763-809) was without doubt one of the most powerful ruler at his time, controlling the Near and Middle East as well as large parts of the African coast on the Mediterranean Sea. Simultaneously he was leader of the Islamic world protecting the Holy places of Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem. His opponent, however, was the Byzantine Emperor (note: female Emperor not Empress) Irene (c.752-803), traditionally the descendant of the Roman emperor and keeper of the Christian belief, who commanded over Constantinople and East Europe. Charlemagne (c.742-814), on the contrary to these two, ruling over already established empires, was just up to consolidate his realm. To do so, he sought for allies; this could not be Irene, as he was pursuing to establish a new Roman Empire north of the Alps and thereby questioning her sole imperial status. The Carolingian Empire, in it's largest expansion, spread from the Ebro River South of the Pyrenees to the Elbe in Northwest Germany and thus encompassed what nowadays is France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxemburg, Switzerland, Austria, Czech and Northern Italy. After the times of the migration of nations from the fourth to the sixth century, which to some extend had provoked the collapse of the ancient Roman Empire, Charlemagne's Frankish predecessors joined various regions to what should become the leading state in Europe. Yet, this empire was still a state at arms, always forced to defend against the Omaijads in the West and the Slavic in the East, always conquering new territories, colonizing and Christianizing them. Yet, the consolidation of the state was not very advanced. The net of trading routes was relatively small, still using former Roman streets and only some new roads. Being primarily a soldier, Charlemagne did not build up one capital city with a large palace, but traveled around establishing smaller residences to be close to that area that asked for an imperial action; the residence in Aachen being Charlemagne's favorite palace including the impressive, though relatively small imperial chapel – the town itself everything but a urban nucleus. Nevertheless, he put through a quite pretentious administration, united scientist and artists at his moving court and believed strongly in his Christian mission. This, of course, led to a welcomed political coincidence. In contrary to the East-Roman, which is the Byzantine Empire, Charlemagne recognized the exceptionality of the Pope in Rome and sent armed forces to protect him from the Langobards, and thus produced the strong relationship between the German ruler and the Roman-Catholic
church: In 800 Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III (795816).2 Harun-ar-Rashid's realm was quite different from Charlemagne's. The huge Abbasid's Empire comprised all of the Arabian peninsula, the Middle East up to the Indus river in the East and the North African coast as far west as what is today Tripolitania. Though this empire was large, and yet there were problems with defecting subsidiary regions, the Abbasids had developed a well functioning administration and infrastructure. For their exquisite holding of court they availed themselves of the older Persian and Byzantine imperial ceremonial. The newly founded capital Baghdad represented one of if not the leading cities in the world at that time,3 bringing together scholars, artists, and philosophers, and being part of an enormous net of trading routes. Harun-arRashid, of course, pursued the expansion of this city. He had a new palace built that suited the pretension to political and cultural power. From what we heard until now, it seems obvious that geopolitics at that time already existed, of course, not using modern utilities: then, a journey from Aachen to Baghdad and back consumed much time and was a dangerous affair. If not for the concurring political powers, there were pirates and criminals along the way, not caring much about a man's life. Traveling was hardly an option for the governors Harun and Charlemagne themselves. Still, they knew about each other by means of medieval messaging, made gifts to one another to show their high esteem, and communicated about politics. Of course, the cultural exchange on every social level was not developed, nonetheless, the notion of the importance on contact was evident to the political elite already at that time – in the early ninth century. In contrast to the ages before, three main exclusive monotheistic religious beliefs had risen: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The latter two being state religion of two world empires. However, the religion did not yet represent an insurmountable obstacle to policy, as it did later on. Thus, the exhibition not only sought to describe the historic occurrence, but to include in its focal point the variety of different cultures as well as the problems and advantages of a globalized cultural and economic interchange in our world today – almost naturally focusing the impact of the Islamic on the Western world shown in the exhibition's title: "ex oriente" = from the orient to the occident. The journey of Lantfried, Sigismund, and Isaac from the Frankish empire towards Baghdad is of minor interest, regarding Isaac's travel back to Aachen with all the oriental impressions and gifts in his baggage. The first ideas to produce an exhibition dealing with the Isaac topic came up in the mid of the 1990th years. The incentive of Wolfgang Dressen, the "spiritus rector" of the exhibition, was to state a point against the virulent xenophobia and anti-Semitism, after all in Germany, but in the Western world in general. Isaac's story points out what used to be the underlying message of the exhibition. A Jew, who is part of a suppressed but nevertheless effective network throughout the world, is used to transport messages and cultural goods from the Islamic to the West European world: This is the Christian West is benefiting from the Islamic East as well as from the dispersed Judaism. However, the events of 9-11, the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq eventually gave necessity to interpret the exhibition as a much larger and more detailed kaleidoscope. The titles "Baghdad", "Jerusalem", and "Aachen" were used to show the intellectual and religious pillars of the three cultures including religion, philosophy, science, art, and architecture. Articles in the catalogue and contemporary artifacts within the exhibition dealt with the youngest political events as well as with the globalization as a modern phenomenon in general – hence, giving a wide free play for interpretation.
The locale of the exhibition in Aachen comprised three buildings that in parts or foundations once belonged to the imperial residence: The city hall (i.e. the coronation hall), former Aula Regia, the cathedral, former imperial chapel, and the treasury. Due to nowadays' functions the exhibition was split up. The coronation hall took up the beginning of Isaac's journey, which is the illustration of Baghdad and Harun-arRashid's court as a display of Islamic science, culture, and art. Continuing in the treasury, one followed Isaac's traces to Jerusalem. Here, the exhibition gave an insight into this holy city in early medieval times, simultaneously illustrating the three religious beliefs, which are all represented in the city. The following part of the journey is not well documented and thus was not exhibited; Isaac took the Roman road along the North African coast to avoid the Byzantine sphere and embarked at a Tunisian port for Portovenere in Northern Italy. From there they presumably crossed the Great St. Bernard Pass through the Alps to reach the center of the Frankish empire. Yet, at the end of the travel Isaac arrived at Aachen, as well the visitor within the exhibition reached the cathedral with its central octagon, standing for the court of Charlemagne. The strength of the exhibition conception laid in the idea of producing exhibition spaces that followed the topic of Isaac's journey as well as the visitor was able to understand the different exhibit locales as conclusive: The setting for 'Baghdad' in the coronation hall sought to produce a bazaar-feeling. The visitors were guided along a small "street" with little "stores" that took up the exhibition objects. At the terminus of this street rose Harun-ar-Rashid's palace, clearly marked by gold-colored partition-walls. Displayed were objects as means of traveling, such as maps and navigation instruments; the state of Islamic art and science through books; and the splendor of the palace in Baghdad by original doors, carpets, mosaics. The setting for the illustration of 'Jerusalem' and the monotheistic beliefs was limited to the building-type of the treasury, which is adjacent to a former cloister. Nevertheless, in this part of the exhibition the visitor found one of the most intriguing displays. According to the three monotheistic beliefs, which are at the same time beliefs founded in script, three early scripts were joined: A Pentateuch dating 929 found in Fustat, a Carolingian gospel-script from the beginning of the 9th century made in Aachen, and a Koran-fragment from the 9th or 10th century found in Iraq or Syria. In addition, the beliefs were illustrated by their main holy places in Jerusalem: the Herodian Temple, the Church of the Saint Sepulchral, and the Dome of the Rock. Of course, 'Aachen' displayed itself with its cathedral, which still gives a fascinating insight into Carolingian architecture. In addition, one could find showcases with various Carolingian artifacts and information about the military techniques. Hence, Charlemagne represented an interesting partner for Harun-ar-Rashid after all because of his military success. Unfortunately hardly any of the gifts Harun presented to Charlemagne remained until today, though one finds them listed up in the Carolingian registrars. Most of the valuable materials have been used otherwise, the metal smelted, the gems included in Carolingian decoration and jewelry. The elephant Abul Abbas, of course, died some years after his arrival in Aachen. Yet his existence survived in various illustrations, as painting, sculpture, and fabric. Another interesting gift (presented to Charlemagne in 806 after the second legation arrived from Baghdad) has been reconstructed by means of a computer: A water-clock, a technical masterpiece unknown to the Western world, which sadly not even surpassed the first medieval winter in Aachen breaking up due to the harsh frost… Summarizing all aspects of the exhibition, "Ex oriente. Isaac and the white elephant. Baghdad – Jerusalem – Aachen. A journey through three cultures around 800 and today" was an ambitious project. It sought to unite not only the historic occurrence of
the exchange of legations between Charlemagne and Harun-ar-Rashid, but to explain the diversity of three main cultures in the Middle Ages and today. Interestingly enough, the exhibition allowed us to find similarities between former times and today, within the friendly communication as well as within the resentments, within the scientific and intellectual interest towards the other cultures as well as the political and diplomatic play between them. Naturally, the exhibition itself had some weaknesses. After all there, where the actual exhibition layout – mostly due to financial constraints – was not able to meet the concept. However, some 100.000 visitors proofed the popularity of the subject and the success of an exhibition on a Jewish merchant, an elephant, and three world cultures in Aachen.
1
Apparently there is nothing such as a complete white elephant. Yet, some Indian elephants show a rare pigment anomaly on the skin around their eyes, which produces a white spot. 2 This relationship between the German king and the Pope was renewed by the coronation of Otto I (912-973) in 962, and lasted eventually until 1806, when Napoleon forced the "Holy Roman Empire of German Nation" to dissolve. Up to this time the German emperor was meant to be the protector of Christendom. 3 Medieval authors spoke of "the center of the earth".
