Spain Trip #29: Alhambra Palace Part 2: Architecture, artwork

Tom and Rob inside Alhambra near an intricate wall

In today's Spain trip blog, we're still walking you through the famous and ancient Alhambra Palace that we visited while in Granada. In this blog, we'll focus on the Architecture (especially since Tom is an architect).
  The artwork in the walls and ceilings were so intricate and amazing!  

AN OBSERVATION INSIDE THE PALACE- Here in the U.S. whenever we reopen an historic place to tour, the managers reconstruct furniture and place it so people who visit can get a sense of how people lived during a given time. Not that case here. Since the palace was built in 889, they could have picked any time period... but they  didn't. 
  In fact, it was odd because all of the rooms were Empty!!

An indoor fountain pool 

ARTWORK -  There was Muslim art in its final European stages.  The Court of the Pool is beautifully proportioned and rich in Islamic detail. The palace windows frame views of the surrounding landscape, as though they were oriental minatures.

ARCHITECTURE OF THE BUILDINGS AND ROOMS - 
The majority of the palace buildings are quadrangular in plan, 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. 

WHAT'S AN AJIMEE? A Window!

DIFFERENT LEADERS, PALACE ADD-ONS - Alhambra was extended by the different Muslim rulers who lived there. Each new section that was added followed the consistent theme of "Paradise on Earth." 

Intricate designs on the walls

INSIDE THE PALACE -   The palace is filled with column arcades. Fountains with running water and reflecting pools were used to add to the aesthetic and functional complexity. The palace was constructed so sunlight could enter and winds could whip through the rooms, keeping the inhabitants cool in the summer (or cold in the winter!) .The exterior of the building was plain and white. 

COLORS - Blue, red, and a golden yellow, all somewhat faded through lapse of time and exposure, were the colors chiefly used.

Colored tiles on the walls

ON THE WALLS - The decoration consists for the upper part of the walls, as a rule, of Arabic inscriptions—mostly poems by Ibn Zamrak and others praising the palace—that are manipulated into geometrical patterns with vegetal background set onto an arabesque setting ("Ataurique"). Much of this ornament is carved stucco (plaster) rather than stone. Tile mosaics ("alicatado"), with complicated mathematical patterns ("tracería," most precisely "lacería"), are largely used as paneling for the lower part. Similar designs are displayed on wooden ceilings (Alfarje).Muqarnas are the main elements for vaulting with stucco, and some of the most accomplished dome examples of this kind are in the Court of the Lions halls. 

NASRID STYLE - The palace complex is designed in the Nasrid style, the last blooming of Islamic Art in the Iberian Peninsula, that had a great influence on the Maghreb to the present day, and on contemporary Mudejar Art, which is characteristic of western elements reinterpreted into Islamic forms and widely popular during the Reconquista in Spain.

NEXT: Alhambra Palace Part 3: Gardens, Nightingales and Fountains 

Look at the detail in these walls!