Last April 6th, Professor Pierre Guichard passed away, renowned medievalist, one of the greatest specialists in Andalusian history, who contributed so much to unravel with titles -among many others- such as Al - Andalus. Anthropological structure of an Islamic society in the West, pioneering work published in the seventies, which posed different perspectives than those assumed at the time by the more traditional Spanish historiography.

A great connoisseur of our lands, Dr. Guichard carried out numerous investigations in the surroundings of Alicante, in areas of La Marina Alta or the Baix Vinalopó. I had the opportunity to meet him in 2010, when he visited our city on the occasion of the inauguration in the MAHE of El Castellar d'Elx. L'origen de la ciutat medieval, exhibition sponsored by the Municipal Institute of Culture and, together with Guichard himself, curated by Dr. Gutiérrez Lloret, from the University of Alicante, and by Dr. Menéndez Fueyo, from MARQ. This exhibition showed the results of excavations carried out a few years earlier by the team of the provincial museum -not forgetting to mention the contributions made by other scholars, some locals, such as Pedro Ibarra or Alejandro Ramos- in El Castellar de la Morera, in the vicinity of the swamp. Together with great colleagues/ as of the Elche City Council and MARQ, I collaborated in the coordination of a production excellently designed by the study of Pep Sempere, shows that, as responsible for those years of didactics in the MAHE, I had to explain to the large audience that came to visit her. The abundant Islamic archaeological documentation explains the importance of this enormous site, whose study, in the words of the researchers, would contribute to the better knowledge of the formation processes of Andalusian society, in the historical context of the convulsions that took place between the 8th and 10th centuries. On the occasion of the exhibition a catalogue was published explaining the relevance of this enclave and the results of the work done in it to date. A necessary book to know a "dark" stage, which posed interesting hypotheses about the settlement of our territory between the abandonment of La Alcudia (VIII century) and the appearance of our city in its current location (X-XI centuries). Hypothesis supported, among others, by Professor Guichard, who suggested that, perhaps, the Castellar was the missing piece to explain the continuity -or not- of a certain centrality in our environment in the early medieval centuries. In the company of the then Museum Coordinator of the Elche City Council, Anna Álvarez, I had the luck to share a table and conversation with Professor Guichard in those few days that he spent with us. I remember a kind and reserved man, in love with our history, our climate and our rice; a discreet and attentive person who did so much to know our past. When we said goodbye, I asked him to dedicate to me the only book that by then had of him, a compendium of medieval studies that, years ago, had published the Institut Alfons el Magnànim, book that, of course, I keep in memory of his magisterium and that "Magnificent stay in Elche", in the words of this eminent Hispanist who has recently left us. May he rest in peace.

Author: Rafael Martínez, director Pusol Project.