19/09/2026
What if some of the buildings we think of as European have an Islamic story hiding in plain sight? I went to hear historian and author Diana Darke speak about the fascinating and often overlooked Islamic influences on European architecture, and I came away looking at buildings I’ve seen all my life quite differently. Her talk took us on a journey through centuries of cultural exchange: from the Middle East, through Muslim Spain, Sicily and Venice, and into European architecture.We looked at Córdoba’s Mezquita and its extraordinary geometry and arches. We explored Venice, a great trading centre whose connections with the East brought architectural ideas, patterns and forms into the city.We looked at Gothic architecture and the development of features such as pointed arches and ribbed vaulting. And then came the buildings I hadn’t expected to see in this story:
Durham Cathedral.
Notre-Dame.
The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.
St Paul’s Cathedral.Even Gothic Revival architecture in America.
Darke’s argument is not simply about individual buildings copying one another. It is about how ideas travel, through trade, travel, craftsmen, books, pilgrimage and cultural exchange, and how easily those connections can disappear from the stories we later tell about ourselves.One phrase from the talk stayed with me:
“The arch never sleeps.”
I loved that.
Because perhaps the same could be said of stories.
They travel.They cross borders.
They change hands.
They are adapted, borrowed, reimagined and passed on.
And eventually we may forget where some of the ideas came from.
As someone who works with stories for a living, I find that fascinating.
A book cover begins with listening to someone else’s story and trying to understand its emotional heart before I make anything.
Perhaps history asks something similar of us.Look closer. Listen better. Be curious about the connections.
There is so much more between cultures than the boundaries we sometimes imagine.I left wanting to look at buildings differently, and perhaps that’s one of the greatest gifts of a good talk.
It doesn’t just give you information.
It changes what you notice.
