Communication is the most human act that exists. In fact, since the beginning of time words have been the thread that binds people together, a sound and invisible bridge that transforms thoughts into meanings and feelings into actions. But what happens when there are no words, how do we communicate what we cannot say or write? This is where art becomes language, where another subject of human expression rises as hidden texts that narrate stories, ideas and beliefs. In this sense, Roman and Hispano-Muslim art are good examples of how humanity has transmitted universal principles through forms that transcend verbal language.
About the written word, its essence is not only to transmit information but also to create beauty. Each letter, each stroke, has a rhythm and a form. The Romans, masters of order and monumentality, used reliefs to immortalize victories and narrate the evolution of their myths. In these sculpted scenes, images replace text, and the spectator becomes the reader of a story narrated in stone figures. It is a universal language where a gesture can be as eloquent as a verse. The statue of Augustus Prima Porta is revealed before us as a clear example of a portrait not only majestic for its realism, but for the very visual speech that is carved on his breastplate and that speaks about the greatness of the first Roman emperor.
Centuries later, Hispano-Muslim art creates a fascinating contrast: the absence of human figures for religious reasons forces creators to emphasize abstract and geometric decoration. Arabic calligraphy takes center stage as a vehicle of communication. In the Alhambra, Granada, the walls are filled with poetry thanks to epigraphic decoration: verses from the Koran, prayers and words of praise are interwoven with geometric patterns, creating spaces where word and image form a unit. But this is not a direct language, for it invites contemplation, connecting the human with the divine.
These two periods of universal art are united by the ability to communicate without relying exclusively on words. What differentiates them is the way they do it. While the Romans made use of realism to immortalize the tangible, the Hispano-Muslims invented a spiritual art, where beauty and message merge in an eternal whisper.
These forms of visual communication have given us bequest more than just a fragment of the past: they are an everlasting connection with the civilizations that preceded us. In the images carved in stone and the verses inscribed on the walls reside not only beliefs and values, but universal emotions that break the barriers of place and time. By admiring them we not only understand who they were and what people they represented, but we discover a part of ourselves, for they are a silent reminder that humanity has always sought appropriate ways to communicate, to leave traces for the future, to transcend the present. Perhaps, that ability to transmit with sensitivity and art is the best heritage of our past.
