Presentation at the Huelva Provincial Council of the Almonaster Islamic Culture Conference

Almonaster La Real invites us to go beyond the limits of time and enjoy our historical past, our heritage, gastronomy and the numerous activities programmed.
In the presentation of the Conference in the Provincial Council of Huelva, the deputy of the Sierra, Ezequiel Ruiz Sánchez, the Mayor of Almonaster la Real, Jacinto Vázquez, the Councilor for Tourism of the City of Almonaster la Real, Tamara Romero, the counselor of communication of the Mosque of Seville Foundation, Luqman Nieto and the Director of the Three Cultures of the Mediterranean Foundation have intervened. José Manuel Cervera.

Almonaster reaches out to Islam in turbulent times

Juan F. Caballero, El Diario de Huelva.

It is nothing new that Almonaster is proud of its Andalusian and Islamic past, that its tenth-century mosque is decorated every year and that the people look towards peace and coexistence hand in hand with a culture that has also forged its way of being and seeming.
It is nothing new because there are already 18 years in which this municipality celebrates its Islamic cultural days, but the frontal attacks on coexistence on La Rambla and in other places around the world give a special meaning to this activity that tries to build bridges towards understanding and friendship.
This coming weekend, between October 13 and 15, and under the slogan “with just a few steps you will travel centuries” Almonaster will once again fill its souk with people, camels, acrobats, Berbers and all kinds of concerts, dances, conferences and parades will once again be seen.
Of course, this year it will have a very special accent, since this year’s guest country will not be one of those that we traditionally project in the collective imagination as Islamic, Indonesia will be the main focus of attention, today, the country in the world with the largest Islamic community due to its large number of inhabitants who mostly profess this religion.
During the presentation of the press conference, which took place in the press room of the Provincial Council of Huelva, everyone agreed on the special nature of these days due to their call for coexistence and understanding between cultures. Manuel Cervera, from the Three Cultures Foundation, appealed to the “essential coexistence” between cultures and thanked Almonaster for his “invaluable” collaboration.
“We have a common past and we are united by coexistence.”
For his part, Lukman Nieto, Minister of Communication of Mezquita de Sevilla, went further and appealed to the fact that “we have a common past, but also a present that passes through communion between human beings so that it is understood what it means to be a Muslim” to which these Islamic days help. Nieto also valued very positively the fact that the guest country is Indonesia to open “the range outside the clichés“.
For his part, the mayor of the municipality, Jacinto Vázquez, wanted to invite all Huelva residents to stop by the Islamic days and enjoy the many activities from which it feeds, becoming a reference.

XII Symposium Ibn and his time

The international symposium that is held every year in parallel to the Almonaster conference will be dedicated on this occasion to the figure of Ibn Arabi, a Sufi mystic, thinker and poet who is one of the greatest spiritual teachers in history.
He was born in Andalusian Murcia in 1165 AD and from the thirteenth century to the present day his works have had an enormous impact throughout the Muslim world.

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Complete program in PDF of the XVIII Conference on Islamic Culture.

Programme of activities of the Seville Mosque Foundation during the conference.