Carlos Perez Marin

   At the end of 2008, the Belgian Gérard Mortier was appointed artistic director of the Teatro Real in Madrid; months before taking office in 2010, he gave an interview, in French, to a Spanish media outlet in which he explained the reasons behind his decision to accept the leadership of an opera house that was not among the European elite, unlike his previous posts. One of his reasons was his desire to learn Spanish and absorb its culture. Months later, he gave another interview, this time in Spanish, in which he admitted that he did not regret his decision to live in Spain; his immersion allowed him to understand the ailments preventing the development of the European project: the non-acceptance of Europe's Islamic roots. Furthermore, according to Mortier, the Renaissance did not begin in Italy in the 15th century but much earlier, in the Iberian Peninsula, during the Al-Andalus period. The clairvoyance of a foreign intellectual in understanding the contemporary ailments of our country and of Europe fascinated me and led me to reflect increasingly on the identity of our city and the place it occupies in the history of Africa, Europe, and the Mediterranean. 

This new issue of the Transfretana publication by the Instituto de Estudios Ceutíes, in which authors from different fields reflect on the relations between Spain and Morocco, focused on the cities of Melilla and Ceuta, is an opportunity to analyse the history of our city and the implications it has for the construction of our identity. The exercise I propose in this article presents a challenge because it addresses the main point of contention in the relations between both countries, and both cities are used as tools to settle issues that sometimes have nothing to do with them. However, perhaps the main problem fostering these disputes (in addition to Maghrebi expansionist ambitions) is the ignorance or partisan use that both countries make of the history of both cities and their bordering regions, and above all, the misunderstanding of what that history means and the implications it has carried for both nations over millennia. 

This brief text does not intend to be a historical, anthropological, or legal essay, nor does it seek to provide answers to issues that should be addressed at much greater length and by a transdisciplinary team. Here are some personal reflections of a North African architect on the contemporary awareness of the past. 

Credits texts, photos and drawings: Carlos Pérez Marín