Pages from a Qur'an manuscript

The text in this two-page spread from a Koran is executed in a flowing calligraphic script known as Maghribi. The term derives from the Arabic "al-Maghreb" (the West), in reference to North Africa, which was the western part of the Arab world. As early as 670, Muslims had established a presence in North Africa, from which they launched their eventual conquest of Spain a few decades later. The geographical proximity of Spain to various Muslim centers in North Africa, especially Morocco, ensured a close relationship between artistic developments in the two regions. While these Koran pages were probably created in Morocco, many nearly identical Maghribi-style calligraphic specimens were produced in Spain.