Lajla znamená noc – Lipczak Aleksandra (2023)

Barefoot people jump from boats onto a Spanish beach and quickly flee among surprised tourists. African migrants longing to reach 'our' Europe. The Strait of Gibraltar measures about fifteen kilometers at its narrowest point. The distance between two continents, Islam and Christianity. A bridge or a wall? Reporter Aleksandra Lipczak skillfully navigates through centuries of Spanish history, encountering medieval knights of the Reconquista, today's refugees, and Arab scholars. A journey through Andalusia is likely to challenge your perception of true European traditions and roots, heavily influenced by Islamic culture. If you associate the real Spain with rice paella, oranges, or sweet churros, you wouldn't have found any of those before the year 711. But it's not just about food; the Islamic civilization was, at the time of its clash with various barbarian tribes that invaded Europe, intellectually and artistically more advanced. In turbulent times, it managed to preserve ancient knowledge – its discoveries in mathematics, astronomy, or medicine, the depth of philosophy. So that later, Christian kingdoms could rediscover it. Would European society have developed without this 'bridge'?