Thread by @_TharikHussain

1/ I've just been to Sweden 🇸🇪🕌, so naturally...

Here is your dose of hidden European Muslim heritage from the road... Are you ready?

We're going inside this beauty! 🧵(a thread)

2/ This is the 12th century Lund Cathedral, the city's most famous and iconic place of worship... It's also home to an intriguing 15th century astronomical clock.

3/ The Lund astronomical clock is not just a marvellous piece of early Swedish engineering and artistry but also tells a fascinating story

Do you notice anything interesting?

4/ Look carefully and you'll see four figures in the corners of the clock face - the oldest part of the entire clock: three are wearing crowns and one is wearing... A turban!

5/ Lund's impressive clock is said to have been modelled on two other clocks, found in northern Germany, across the water, south of Lund, in Stralsund and Bad Doberan, where the two figures at the bottom are identified as Muslim 👇🏾

6/ Both the Muslims are 9th century figures; the astrologer, Albumasar and the astronomer, Ali-Ben Isa.

As a result many experts believe, that is who the two figures along the bottom of the Lund clock were also meant to be.

7/ Meanwhile, the two figures in the top corners of all three clocks are identified as Ptolemy and Aristotle. Their inclusion also has a Muslim connection.

8/ The works of all four were only discovered - or 'rediscovered' - in the West because of prolific translation efforts (Arabic to Latin/Castilian) at the Toledan court of 13th century Castilian monarch, Alfonso X, a mere century or so before the clocks were made (pic: Wiki)

9/ The inclusion of these four figures not only reflects the debt the clockmakers felt they owed to medieval Muslim Europe - the corridor that all their works entered western Europe through - but also the now, long lost (albeit begrudging) admiration it once had for it 🇸🇪🕌