El Alhambra: The Walled City of Granada

We are now in Meknes, Morocco! Tiffany and I have unpacked already, pictures have been posted here and we are settling in. But i need to back track a bit because I left a very important piece of Granada to still be discussed.

The Alhambra. For those of you who know Arabic, you might be confused because al means the so i am in fact saying the the alhambra. Well Europeans do this quite frequently because when they start naming things they usually have not yet learned the language (Rio Grande River). Hambra means red castle, most likely referring to the color of the materials used to build it. I am using a book called Granada and the Alhambra to fill in the info that I don't remember from the tour, but all the pictures are mine.

The Alhambra was built by the Nasrids. They were the last reigning Muslim dynasty in Spain and they ruled from 1238 to 1492. Muhammad Ibn Yusuf Ibn Nasr Ibn al-Ahmar( or Alhamar the Magnificent for short) ruled over Granada, Malaga, Almeria, part of Jaen, Cordoba, Seville, and Cadiz. He succeeded where the others failed because he decided it would be a good idea to become a vassel of King Ferdinand III of Castile. This meant that he no longer had to worry about attacks from the Spanish people and could better focus his attentions on the defense from the Arabs. Alhamar began the building of the Alhambra as soon as he took power. It is located up atop Sabika hill and Alhamar had a weir constructed to deliver water to the top. He also had the walls built and a military fortress was built on top of an ancient, most likely roman one. The fortress(the Alcazaba) is triangular in shape because this makes it easier to defend than a square or a circle. It was also used as the king's living quarters(Alcazaba means palace) until a better palace could be built. The Alhambra was never breached, even during the surrender of the city to the Christians in 1492. There is a long line of kings until Boabdil, the last Nasrid king, handed the city over to Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon in 1492 so instead of going through king by king, I'm just going to tell you about the important features.

If you haven't noticed by now, Islamic architecture is very plain and unadorned on the outside, but brilliantly decorated and beautiful on the outside. This is in stark contrast to the European buildings which are very intricate on the outside but are rather plain on the inside. This is explained by a pretty general Muslim philosophy of living your life looking inward. Inward to your soul, inward to your family, and inward to your home. Everything you do in life is supposed to be for God, for you, and for your family not for the world. The Alhambra provides excellent examples of the major styles of Islamic architecture at its finest. Being a palace for kings, everything from floor to ceiling is amazingly complex and beautiful.

Stucco is the most widespread method used to decorate in Islamic architecture. It is mixed, molded or carved, and then finished to give it a shine and durability. Then it would be painted with bright colors or gold leaf.

Example of detailed stucco molding. This would have been painted. This pattern frames the king's entrance in the Mexuar coutryard.

Muqarna are prisms shaped out of wood or stucco. They are used to decorate everything from arches to ceilings. Many of the ceilings in the palaces are covered with Muqarna. The vaulted ceilings form a large 8 pointed star and the Muqarna come down to represent stalactites in all sorts of geometric patterns. The idea of having stalactites comes from the story about Mohammad sheltering himself in a cave on his flight from Mecca to Medina. 

Cieling of the Cupola of the Hall of the Abencerrajes covered in Muqamas.

Entrance to the Courtyard of the Lions. The arches are adorned with Muqamas.

Decorative wood ceilings were made of cedar. They were either intricately carved and painted or inlaid with other types of wood to create geometric patterns.

Inlaid and carved wood ceiling. I don't remember which section of the Alhambra this was.

Azulejos and Alictados (Tiles and Ceramics) are very detailed and required a time consuming process to get them just right. They decorate every ince of every floor and the bottom half of every wall in the Alhambra. Decorative tiles began being used and developed in the 11th century and the skill progressed greatly in North Africa and Spain. 

Wall surround in the Patio of the Mytles (Patio de los Arrayanes)

Calligraphy is widely used in Islamic architecture. Often a blessing from God or a poem written as though the building itself was speaking are written around the door frames and walls. 

The calligraphy often divides a tiled section of wall from a stuccoed section. 

This is such a long post already and I've only described the basic architectural elements of Islamic design. I think the specifics of the Alhambra will have to wait until another time. Check back soon!