Alhambra

Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada*
UNESCO World Heritage Site
State Party	Spain
Type	Cultural
Criteria	i, iii, iv
Reference	314
Region**	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1984  (8th Session)
Extensions	1994
* Name as inscribed on World Heritage List. ** Region as classified by UNESCO.

The Alhambra (Arabic: الحمراء — Al-Ħamrā'; literally "the red") is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish monarchs of Granada in southern [[Spain], occupying a hilly terrace on the southeastern border of the city of Granada.

Mohammed I, the first king of the Nasriden—a Moorish dynasty in Granada—converted a ninth-century castle into his private royal residence, and it is this which we now know as the Alhambra. The structure, currently a museum exhibiting exquisite Islamic architecture, is renowned for its stunning frescoes and interior detail. The building is one of the finest examples of Moorish architecture in the world and is among Europe’s most-visited tourist attractions.

A Renaissance palace was also inserted by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Christian slaves who were forced to build the Alhambra and were confined in nearby subterranean cells. Over the years, the Alhambra has had widespread influence on art, music, and architecture.

The Alhambra was listed as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 1984. The selection was based on the following criteria: That it represents a masterpiece of human creative genius; it exhibits an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning, or landscape design; and it is an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates a significant stage in human history.

History

One detail of the arabesques.

Moorish period

The name Alhambra derives from the color of the red clay from which the fort is made. The buildings of the Alhambra were originally whitewashed; however, they now seen today are reddish. The first reference to the Qal’at al Hamra was during the battles between the Arabs and the Muladies (an ethnic, mixed-ancestry group that lived in the Iberian Peninsula in the Middle Ages) during the rule of the Abdallah (reigned 888-912). In one particularly fierce skirmish, the Muladies soundly defeated the Arabs who were then forced to take shelter in a primitive red castle located in the province of Elvira, nowadays located in Granada.

According to surviving documents from the era, the red castle was quite small and its walls were not capable of deterring army intent on conquering. The castle was then largely ignored until the eleventh century when its ruins were renovated and rebuilt by Samuel ibn Naghralla, vizier to the King Bādīs of the Zirid Dynasty, in an attempt to preserve the small Jewish settlement also located on the Sabikah hill. However, evidence from Arab texts indicates that the fortress was easily penetrated and that the actual Alhambra that survives today was built during the Nasrid Dynasty.

Emblem of the Catholic Monarchs engraved after the conquest.

Ibn Nasr, the founder of the Nasrid Dynasty, was forced to flee to Granada in order to avoid persecution by King Ferdinand and his supporters during attempts to rid Spain of Moorish Dominion. After retreating to Granada, Ibn-Nasr took up residence at the Palace of Bādis in the Alhambra. A few months later, he embarked on the construction of a new Alhambra fit for the residence of a king. According to an Arab manuscript published as the Anónimo de Granada y Copenhague, “This year 1238 Abdallah ibn al-Ahmar climbed to the place called ‘the Alhambra inspected it, laid out the foundations of a castle and left someone in charge of its construction…”

The design included plans for six palaces, five of which were grouped in the northeast quadrant forming a royal quarter, two circuit towers, and numerous bathhouses. Over the reign of Nasrid Dynasty, the Alhambra was transformed into a palatine city complete with an irrigation system composed of acequias for the lush and beautiful gardens of the Generalife located outside the fortress. Previously, the old Alhambra structure had been dependent upon rainwater collected from a cistern and from what could be brought up from the Albaicín. The creation of the “Sultan’s Canal” solidified the identity of the Alhambra as a sumptuous palace-city rather than a defensive and ascetic structure.

Expulsion of Moors in 1492

Alhambra Decree

The Alhambra Decree, also known as the "Edict of Expulsion," was a ruling issued on March 31, 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain (Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon), ordering the expulsion of all Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions. In the decree, given less than three months after the surrender of Granada, the monarchs accused Jews of trying "to subvert our holy Catholic faith and trying to draw faithful Christians away from their beliefs." All Jews were ordered to leave the kingdom by "the end of July of this year."

Jews were granted royal "protection and security" for the three-month window before the deadline. They were permitted to take their belongings with them - except "gold or silver or minted money." Punishment for a Jew who did not flee was death. Punishment for non-Jews who sheltered or hid Jews was the confiscation of all belongings and hereditary privileges. It is as a result of this expulsion that the Sephardim dispersed throughout the region of North Africa known as the Maghreb. They also fled to southeastern Europe, intermingling in many places with the Mizrachi (Eastern Jews) communities.

Art of the Alhambra

A room of the palace and a view of the Court of the Lions.

The art within the palace embodied the small remaining portion of Moorish dominion within Spain, and ushered in the last great period of Andalusian art which had become isolated within the small sphere of Granada. Trapped without influence from the Islamic mainland, artists endlessly reproduced the same forms and trends, creating a new style characterized by its exquisite refinement and beauty perfected over the course of the Nasrid Dynasty. Elegant columns seem to soar effortlessly towards the sky and intricate muquarnas, a stalactite-like ceiling decoration, create an airy appearance in several chambers and the interiors of numerous palaces are decorated with elegant arabesques and graceful depictions of calligraphy.

The splendid arabesques of the interior are ascribed, among other kings, to Yusef I, Mohammed V, Ismail I, etc. After the Christian conquest of the city in 1492 by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, the conquerors began to alter the Alhambra. The open work was filled up with whitewash, the painting and gilding effaced, the furniture soiled, torn, or removed. Charles V (1516–1556) rebuilt portions in the Renaissance style of the period, and destroyed the greater part of the winter palace to make room for a Renaissance-style structure which has never been completed.

Mocárabes or Honeycomb work on Mosque

Philip V (1700–1746) italianized the rooms, and completed his palace right in the middle of what had been the Moorish building. He ran up partitions which blocked up whole apartments. In subsequent centuries under Spanish authorities, Moorish art was further defaced; and in 1812 some of the towers were blown up by the French under Count Sebastiani, while the whole buildings narrowly escaped the same fate. Napoleon had tried to blow up the whole complex. Just before his plan was carried out, a soldier who secretly wanted the plan of Napoleon — his commander — to fail, defused the explosives and thus saved the Alhambra for posterity. In 1821 an earthquake caused further damage. The work of restoration undertaken in 1828 by the architect José Contreras was endowed in 1830 by Ferdinand VII; and after the death of Contreras in 1847, it was continued with fair success by his son Rafael (d. 1890), and his grandson.

Setting

Topography

View of the Alhambra from the "Mirador de San Nicolás" in the Albaycin of Granada.

The terrace or plateau where the Alhambra settles, measures about 2,430 feet in length by 674 feet at its greatest width, extends from W.N.W. to E.S.E., and covers an area of about 169,831 square yards. It is enclosed by a strongly fortified wall, which is flanked by 13 towers. The river Darro, which foams through a deep ravine on the north, divides the plateau from the Albaicín district of Granada; the Assabica valley, containing the Alhambra Park, on the west and south, and beyond this valley the almost parallel ridge of Monte Mauror, separate it from the Antequeruela district.

Ground plan, aesthetics

Moorish poets described it as "a pearl set in emeralds," in allusion to the brilliant color of its buildings, and the luxuriant woods round them. The park (Alameda de la Alhambra), in spring is overgrown with wild-flowers and grass, was planted by the Moors with roses, oranges and myrtles; its most characteristic feature, however, is the dense wood of English elms brought thither in 1812 by the Duke of Wellington. The park is celebrated for the multitude of its nightingales, and is usually filled with the sound of running water from several fountains and cascades. These are supplied through a conduit five miles long, which is connected with the Darro at the monastery of Jesus del Valle, above Granada.

In spite of the long neglect, willful vandalism and sometimes ill-judged restoration which the Alhambra has endured, it remains the most perfect example of Moorish art in its final European development, freed from the direct Byzantine influences which can be traced in the Mezquita cathedral of Córdoba, more elaborate and fantastic than the Giralda at Seville. The majority of the palace buildings are, in ground-plan, quadrangular, with all the rooms opening on to a central court; and the whole reached its present size simply by the gradual addition of new quadrangles, designed on the same principle, though varying in dimensions, and connected with each other by smaller rooms and passages.

In every case the exterior is left plain and austere, as if the architect intended thus to heighten by contrast the splendor of the interior. Within, the palace is unsurpassed for the exquisite detail of its marble pillars and arches, its fretted ceilings and the veil-like transparency of its filigree work in stucco. Sun and wind are freely admitted, and the whole effect is one of the most airy lightness and grace. Blue, red, and a golden yellow, all somewhat faded through lapse of time and exposure, are the colors chiefly employed.

The decoration consists, as a rule, of stiff, conventional foliage, Arabic inscriptions, and geometrical patterns wrought into arabesques of almost incredible intricacy and ingenuity. Painted tiles are largely used as panelling for the walls.

File:Panorámica Alhambra y Sierra Nevada de fondo.jpg

Panoramic view

Associated sites

Along with the Alhambra, two associated sites in Granada—the Albaycin and the Generalife—were also selected in 1984 for World Heritage status, According to UNESCO, " Rising above the modern lower town, the Alhambra and the Albaycín, situated on two adjacent hills, form the medieval part of Granada. To the east of the Alhambra fortress and residence are the magnificent gardens of the Generalife, the former rural residence of the emirs who ruled this part of Spain in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The residential district of the Albaycín is a rich repository of Moorish vernacular architecture, into which the traditional Andalusian architecture blends harmoniously."

A tour of the Alhambra

The Tower of Justice (Torre de la Justicia) is the original entrance gate to the Alhambra, built by Yusuf I in 1348.

The Alhambra resembles many medieval Christian strongholds in its threefold arrangement as a castle, a palace, and a residential annex for subordinates. The alcazaba or citadel, its oldest part, is built on the isolated and precipitous foreland which terminates the plateau on the northwest. These are the sole remaining massive outer walls, towers, and ramparts. On its 85-foot-hogh watchtower, the Torre de la Vela, the flag of Ferdinand and Isabella was first raised, a token gesture of the Spanish conquest of Granada, on January 2, 1492. A turret containing a huge bell was added in the eighteenth century, and restored after being damaged by lightning in 1881. Beyond the Alcazaba is the palace of the Moorish kings, or more properly called, the Alhambra; and beyond this, again, is the Alhambra Alta (Upper Alhambra), originally occupied by officials and courtiers.

"Honeycomb," "stalactite," or "mocárabe" vaulting in the "Hall of the Abencerrajes"

Access from the city to the Alhambra Park is afforded by the Puerta de las Granadas (Gate of Pomegranates), a massive triumphal arch dating from the fifteenth century. A steep ascent leads past the Pillar of Charles V, a fountain erected in 1554, to the main entrance of the Alhambra. This is the Puerta Judiciaria (Gate of Judgment), a massive horseshoe archway, surmounted by a square tower, and used by the Moors as an informal court of justice. A hand, with fingers outstretched as a talisman against the evil eye, is carved above this gate on the exterior; a key, the symbol of authority, occupies the corresponding place on the interior. A narrow passage leads inward to the Plaza de los Aljibes (Place of the Cisterns), a broad open space that divides the Alcazaba from the Moorish palace. To the left of the passage rises the Torre del Vino (Wine Tower), built in 1345, and used in the sixteenth century as a cellar. On the right is the palace of Charles V, a cold-looking but majestic Renaissance building, out of harmony with its surroundings, which it tends somewhat to dwarf by its superior size.

The present entrance to the Palacio Árabe, or Casa Real (Moorish palace), is by a small door from which a corridor conducts to the Patio de los Arrayanes (Court of the Myrtles), also called the Patio de la Alberca (Court of the Blessing or Court of the Pond), from the Arabic birka, "pool." This court is 140 feet long by 74 feet wide; and in the center there is a large pond set in the marble pavement, full of goldfish, and with myrtles growing along its sides. There are galleries on the north and south sides; that on the south 27 feet high, and supported by a marble colonnade. Underneath it, to the right, was the principal entrance, and over it are three elegant windows with arches and miniature pillars. From this court the walls of the Torre de Comares are seen rising over the roof to the north, and reflected in the pond.

The Salón de los Embajadores (Hall of the Ambassadors) is the largest in the Alhambra, and occupies all the Torre de Comares. It is a 37-foot-square room, while the center of the dome is 75 feet high. This was the grand reception room, and the throne of the sultan was placed opposite the entrance. It was in this setting that Cristopher Columbus received Isabel and Ferdinand's support to sail to the New World. The tiles are nearly four feet high all round, and the colors vary at intervals. Over them is a series of oval medallions with inscriptions, interwoven with flowers and leaves. There are nine windows, three on each facade, and the ceiling is admirably diversified with inlaid-work of white, blue, and gold, in the shape of circles, crowns and stars —a kind of imitation of the vault of heaven. The walls are covered with varied stucco-work of most delicate pattern, surrounding many ancient escutcheons.

File:80525560 0eb2c1d54a o.jpg

The Court of the Lions, a unique remnant of Islamic animal statues.

The celebrated Patio de los Leones (Court of the Lions) is an oblong court, 116 feet by 66 feet, surrounded by a low gallery supported on 124 white marble columns. A pavilion projects into the court at each extremity, with filigree walls and light domed roof, elaborately ornamented. The square is paved with colored tiles, and the colonnade with white marble; while the walls are covered 5 feet up from the ground with blue and yellow tiles, with a border above and below enamelled blue and gold. The columns supporting the roof and gallery are irregularly placed, with a view to artistic effect; and the general form of the piers, arches, and pillars is most graceful. They are adorned by varieties of foliage, etc.; about each arch there is a large square of arabesques; and over the pillars is another square of exquisite filigree work.

In the center of the court is the celebrated Fountain of Lions, a magnificent alabaster basin supported by the figures of 12 lions in white marble, not designed with sculptural accuracy, but as emblems of strength and courage. It has been said that the lions were most likely sculpted by members of the Jewish community who had inhabited Spain prior to their extradition along with the muslims.

The Sala de los Abencerrajes (Hall of the Abencerrages) derives its name from a legend according to which the father of Boabdil, last king of Granada, having invited the chiefs of that illustrious line to a banquet, massacred them here. This room is a perfect square, with a lofty dome and trellised windows at its base. The roof is exquisitely decorated in blue, brown, red, and gold, and the columns supporting it spring out into the arch form in a remarkably beautiful manner. Opposite to this hall is the Sala de las dos Hermanas (Hall of the two Sisters), so-called from two very beautiful white marble slabs laid as part of the pavement. These slabs measure 15 by 7.5 inches, and are without flaw or stain. There is a fountain in the middle of this hall, and the roof —a dome honeycombed with tiny cells, all different, and said to number 5000— is a magnificent example of the so-called "stalactite vaulting" of the Moors.

The Partal, one of the rich palaces of the complex.

Among the other wonders of the Alhambra are the Sala de la Justicia (Hall of Justice), the Patio del Mexuar (Court of the Council Chamber), the Patio de Daraxa (Court of the Vestibule), and the Peinador de la Reina (Queen's Robing Room), in which are to be seen the same delicate and beautiful architecture, the same costly and elegant decorations. The palace and the Upper Alhambra also contain baths, ranges of bedrooms and summer-rooms, a whispering gallery and labyrinth, and vaulted sepulchres.

The original furniture of the palace is represented by the celebrated vase of the Alhambra, a splendid specimen of Moorish ceramic art, dating from 1320, and belonging to the first period of Moorish porcelain. It is four feet, 3 inches high; the ground is white, and the enamelling is blue, white, and gold.

While fountains and flowing water are a common feature around the Alhambra, they are particularly prevalent in the Palacio de Generalife.

Of the outlying buildings in connection with the Alhambra, the foremost in interest is the Palacio de Generalife or Gineralife (the Muslim Jennat al Arif, "Garden of Arif," or "Garden of the Architect"). This villa probably dates from the end of the thirteenth century, but has been several times restored. Its gardens, however, with their clipped hedges, grottos, fountains, and cypress avenues, are said to retain their original Moorish character. The Villa de los Martires (Martyrs' Villa), on the summit of Monte Mauror, commemorates by its name the Christian slaves who were forced to build the Alhambra, and confined here in subterranean cells. The Torres Bermejas (Vermilion Towers), also on Monte Mauror, are a well-preserved Moorish fortification, with underground cisterns, stables, and accommodation for a garrison of 200 men. Several Roman tombs were discovered in 1829 and 1857 at the base of Monte Mauror.

In the construction of the Alhambra, the Moors had no depictions of people at all excluding the human hand. Of course, there were plenty of depictions of people on the Renaissance building.

Influence of the Alhambra

Alhambra in literature

Parts of the following novels are set in the Alhambra:

• Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra ISBN 978-8424105044. It is a collection of essays, verbal sketches, and stories. Irving lived in the palace while writing the book, and was instrumental in reintroducing the site to Western audiences.
• Salman Rushdie's The Moor's Last Sigh ISBN 978-0099592419

Alhambra in music

The Alhambra has inspired directly musical compositions as Francisco Tárrega´s guitar song Recuerdos de la Alhambra (Alhambra Remembrances)[[1] or Claude Debussy´s preludes for piano Lindaraja and La Puerta del Vino.[2].

En los Jardines del Generalife, first movement of Manuel de Falla´s Noches en los Jardines de España, and other pieces by composers as Ruperto Chapí, Tomás Bretón, and many others are also ambianced in the Alhambra and its surroundings.

In pop and folk music, the Alhambra is the subject of the Ghymes song of the same name.

Influence on graphic art

Tesselations like this inspired Escher's work.

M. C. Escher's visit in 1922 inspired his following work on regular divisions of the plane after studying the Moorish use of symmetry in the Alhambra tiles.

Influence on recent architecture

From nineteenth-century Romanticism streams until today's architecture, a host of uneven, artistic-quality buildings, or portions of buildings, worldwide, have been inspired directly by the Alhambra: There is a Moorish Revival house in Stillwater, MN that was created and named after the Alhambra; the main portion of the Irvine Spectrum Center in Irvine, California is a postmodern reconstruction of the Alhambra; and there is an Alhambra Theatre in central Bradford, England.

Gallery

• Palacio Nazaries, Alhambra, Granada.jpg

  Detail looking up wall, "Golden Room" patio

• Alhambra de noche.JPG

  Alhambra illuminated at night

• 

  The pool of the "El Partal" Palace

• Court of lions in Palacio Nazaries.jpg

  Light effects in the Court of Lions

• Palacio de Comares.jpg

  Guests in the "Comares" Palace

• Sierra Nevada from Alhambra.jpg

  View east to the Sierra Nevada from the Alcazaba

External links

• (Spanish) (French) (English) www.AlhambraDeGranada.org
• Alhambra Official Guides
• Alhambra Architectural Review
• Alhambra - information on garden history and design

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Educational Video Network. Alhambra: Legacy of Moorish Spain (DVD), 2004. ASIN: B0006MGQIC
• Fletcher, Richard. Moorish Spain, University of California Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0520248403
• Irving, Washington. The Alhambra, FQ Classics, 2007. ISBN 978-1599868097
• Irwin, Robert. The Alhambra, Harvard University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0674015685

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.