Back to Spain, Granada: Alhambra

Alhambra is just one amazing and magical place to be. In order to truely know it one needs hours and hours of study with guides. There are so many details to be discovered and history to be heard that it's overwhelming. Its tour takes at least 5 hours as it leads you on a very fascinating and relaxing journey from muslim sultans' Granada to Christian kings who all added buildings and legends to the place.

I am almost sorry that my battery ran out and I only got to take so little pictures...I missed so many things...like the sultan gardens and a big part of the fortress...:( But the images and stories are still alive in my mind...

(view from the Alhambra)

The name Alhambra comes from an Arabic root which means "red or crimson castle", perhaps due to the hue of the towers and walls that surround the entire hill of La Sabica which by starlight is silver but by sunlight is transformed into gold. But there is another more poetic version, evoked by the Moslem analysts who speak of the construction of the Alhambra fortress "by the light of torches", the reflections of which gave the walls their particular coloration. Created originally for military purposes, the Alhambra was an "alcazaba" (fortress), an "alcázar" (palace) and a small "medina" (city), all in one. This triple character helps to explain many distinctive features of the monument.

(Lion's fountain)

There is no reference to the Alhambra as being a residence of kings until the 13th century, even though the fortress had existed since the 9th century. The first kings of Granada, the Zirites, had their castles and palaces on the hill of the Albaicin, and nothing remains of them. The Nasrites were probably the emirs who built the Alhambra, starting in 1238.

(Water played a very important part in the architecture and is present everywhere in intricate fountains)

The Alhambra became a Christian court in 1492 when the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabel) conquered the city of Granada. Later, various structures were built for prominent civilians also military garrisons, a church and a Franciscan monastery.

(Nazari palace)

Emperor Charles V, who spent several months in Granada, began the construction of the palace which bears his name and made some alterations to the interior buildings.

(Detail 2: The geometry of the place is very intricate and one can take a tour just to study this)

During the 18th century and part of the 19th, the Alhambra fell into neglect and was to see its salons converted into dungheaps and taverns,occupied by thieves and beggars. "Thus bats defile abandoned castles, and the reality of Spanish criminals and beggars destroy the illusion of this fairy palace of the Moors;" writes Richard Ford. As the crowning blow, Napoleon's troops, masters of Granada from 1808 until 1812, were to convert the palaces into barracks. During one retreat they mined the towers and blew up part of them. Two of them, the Torre de Siete Suelos and the Torre de Agua were left in ruins. And so the incredible neglect continued, until 1870 when the Alhambra was declared a national monument. Travellers and romantic artists of all countries had railed against those who scorned the most beautiful of their monuments. Since that date and up to now, the Alhambra, protected, restored, cared for and even improved, has been preserved for the pleasure and admiration of all.

(Anexe to a palace: el Partal)

For more on Alhambra see: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/granada/alhamhistory.htm

(Sultan's gardens)