The Alhambra: Cool courtyards of the Moorish kings overlooking Granada continue… May 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Destination, Granada, Hotels, Italy, Lodges, Round The World, Travel Insurance, USA , trackbackToday, stripped bare and despoiled, scarcely any furnishings remain to remind us of this well organised palace life.
Until the day when the Cross of the Reconquest was planted on the Torre de la Vela, much of the history of its development is uncertain. The summit of the Asabica, the Moorish name for the hill on which the Alhambra stands, was certainly fortified from ancient times and grew in importance in the ninth century, when this region was dominated by the Emirs of nearby Cordoba. Formerly it faced a similar fortification on the opposite hill of Albaicin — the palace of the Berber chieftain Zagui ben Ziri, a descendant of the Royal Family of Tunis. In 1238 Mohammed ben Alhamar, vassal of the Christian King San Fernando, occupied Granada, having first seized the fortified citadels of Jaen, Baeza and Guadix. With great vision, it was he who then devised the system, a series of reservoirs, whereby the water from the river Darro was raised to the top of the hill, and which enabled him to transform the citadel into a mighty Alhisan or fortress, within whose protecting walls he started to build palaces and gardens, known as Al Qala al-Hambra — ‘ The Red Fortress’ — later to become La Alhambra — of today.
In the days of Mohammed ben Alhamar the top of the Asabica was divided into two parts by a ravine which contained the reservoirs (court of the Cisterns). The main watchtower and keep (Alcayaba) was constructed on the west promontory over foundations which had remained from ancient times, and being of massive construction have survived in their original thirteenth- century style with but few modifications. On the opposite side, he built his palace (La Alhambra) and the Residence (Alhambra Alta) which housed his officials and harem.
The inspired patronage of the succession of monarchs who enlarged and elaborated the Alhambra is commemorated and praised in the incised plasterwork, the decoration of which reaches a climax of technical brilliance in what is happily the best preserved and most complete part of the old palace: the Hall of the Two Sisters.
Above friezes inscribed with verses, by Ibn Xamrak, in honour of a son of Mohammed V, the great cupola is composed entirely of mocarobes (stalactite vaults) and rests on an octagonal base. The four pseudo-pendentives which effect the transition of the square to the octagon are also of mocarobes — the resulting geometric complexity of design, as in the similar cupola of the Hall of the Abercerrajes on the other side of the Court of Lions, is of exceptional grace and lightness, and seems to float over the apartment.
It is above the Hall of Abercerrajes that there exists a miniature house, complete with its own patio, undoubtedly the apartment of some favourite during the times when much of the court life was centred on this part of the old palace. More than probably it was in the Great Hall below, that Mulez Abul Hassan ordered the decapitation of all his sons by his former wife, so that the throne might pass to Boabdil, the child of his second love, Zoraya.
It later fell to the lot of this Boabdil to organise the removal of the remains of all his ancestors from the royal mausoleum in order to take them to a safer resting place in Mondujar — an ignoble end for this great line of twenty-five ruling monarchs.
The final capitulation to the Catholic Kings followed in 1492, that same tumultous year which saw the discovery of America. In the days of magnificence which followed, the Emperor Charles V, while on his wedding journey, stayed at the Alhambra: captivated by the site, he was inspired to build one of the most splendid renaissance palaces outside of Italy.
For this new royal residence he had as architect Pedro Machuca, a veritable eagle of the Spanish renaissance, who had studied under no less a master than Michelangelo himself. Built alongside the fragile Moorish palace each serves to complement the other by means of contrast.
It is fortunate that many of these splendid buildings are still intact in spite of the many subsequent untoward happenings: an explosion in 159o, the many changes made to suit the altered domestic requirements of the Court of the Catholic Kings, havoc wrought by Napoleonic troops, romantic additions and restorations made during the nineteenth century, earthquakes, and lastly a disastrous fire in 189o. More recently, in the Court of the Lions, the cupola of the eastern pavilion has been replaced by a tiled roof, which, though reminiscent of that shown in David Robert’s drawing, is unhappily of overpowering height and heaviness. The fountain, however, has been restored to its original appearance by the removal of the second bowl, which was presumably added early in the nineteenth century, when extensive changes were made to the gardens. The admirable gardens of Lindaraja and Generalife, we are told, are of recent date, but such beauty may be nearer to the originals than is generally supposed, for the elements of garden design do not change throughout the ages. Formal gardens seldom mature in a single life-span and their charm and mystery is often fleeting, and to maintain perfection must constantly be replanted.
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