Shane Connolly | Vidi Aquam
Walking through the Orange Trees Courtyard in the Cordoba Mosque-Cathedral sets off the alarm bells of anyone with a minimum of sensitivity. Walking through the oldest living garden in Europe is a unique, mystical, almost telluric sensation. Only someone with an unprecedented blend of grandeur, modesty and respect for what is beyond us is capable of taking on the task of creating an installation in a courtyard like this.
Shane Connolly has had the responsibility of decorating such iconic events in recent years as the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middelton, and he has done so in total fidelity to his principles: with an absolute concern for the care of the environment and the certainty that there is no point in trying to beautify what is already absolutely beautiful. If Westminster Abbey dawned that day with an avenue of maples and hornbeams inside it, in FLORA we find a simple homage to the purifying capacity of water, in memory of all those who left us because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The silhouette of an immense fountain winks at the irrigation ditches and alcoves of the courtyard, and the rows of columns inside, and reminds us that both Muslims (literally, in this same courtyard, centuries ago) and Christians have understood water as a symbol of salvation.
Easter Sunday religious music, water, flowers and inner silence. You can’t say more with less.
About the installation:
Vidi Aquam egredientem de tempolo, a latere dextro, Alleluia:
Et Omnes ad quos Pervenit aqua ista, salvi facti sunt,
Et dicent: Alleluia, alleluia!
I saw water flowing from the right hand side of the temple, alleluia.
And all those to whom this water came
Were saved, and shall say, alleluia, alleluia!
“The magnificent Naranjos Courtyard of the Mezquita di Cordoba, takes my breath away. Its simplicity, its scale and its assured serenity are ancient, beloved symbols of the beautiful city of Cordoba. To be invited to add to something that is already perfect, is both humbling and daunting in equal measure. So I wanted to tread lightly… both environmentally and aesthetically. I wanted our design to reflect the spiritual and the secular; the purity of faith and the needs of a country and a world recovering from a devastating pandemic, and facing environmental catastrophe.
Water has played an essential role in this courtyard since its creation. In both Islam and Christianity water symbolizes purity and life, redemption and salvation.
These pools and canals of water are drawn from the ancient wells of the cathedral-mezquita.
They echo the existing Moorish designs from the Mezquita’s Islamic past, but run west to east in the current Christian tradition; uniting both faiths respectfully and harmoniously. The metal they are made of will be recycled after the festival.
In them we have placed thousands of red carnations, a flower with long associations to Spain and especially to Cordoba. These flower are grown in Andalucia, so they are of its own soil and carry the lowest carbon footprint possible in this place.
We invite you to come and place one in the pool in memory of someone you know who died in the pandemic; and when you leave, take with you some comfort and strength from this ancient place of succor.
A setting of the Easter antiphon, Vidi Aquam, by the Spanish 16th Century composer, Tomás Luis de Victoria plays constantly, to remind us of the many centuries of faith and devotion that built this extraordinarily beautiful place of worship”.
Shane Connolly
