The Alhambra and the Generalife (Granada)

Puerta de la Justicia

Puerta de la Justicia

It is the grand official gateway to the Alhambra from the south, built by Sultan Abu al-Hajjaj Yusuf I in 749 AH/1348 CE, as the founding inscription carved above its inner arch states. It was called “Bab al-Shari'a” because the square in front of it was, it is said, the place where rulers sat in judgement and upheld justice, and its Spanish name, “Puerta de la Justicia”, comes from this. It is a massive tower about fifteen metres tall, and its entrance is bent in the shape of a right angle, a defensive device of Andalusi architecture that stops an attacker from charging straight inside.

Look at the outer stone of the arch and you will find a carving of an open hand, and on the inner arch a carving of a key. Spanish legend has woven around the two that the Alhambra will not fall until the hand reaches out and grasps the key. The more likely explanation is that the hand, with its five fingers, is a symbol of the pillars of Islam, and the key a symbol of conquest, a familiar emblem in the architecture of the Maghrib and al-Andalus. Above the inner entrance is a statue of the Virgin Mary that the Catholic Monarchs added in 1501 CE. The Castilian account says the two monarchs entered the Alhambra through this gate on the day it was handed over.

Puerta del Vino (the inner gate of the city)

Puerta del Vino

A gate standing alone in the middle of the square, it was the main entrance to the sultan's city (the quarter where the palace's staff and craftsmen lived). It dates from the early Nasrid period and its origin is attributed to Muhammad II, and its eastern façade was later decorated under Muhammad V. Its modern Spanish name is a later one with no link to the Islamic period: it dates to the 16th century, when the Alhambra's residents stored there what was exempt from tax.

Look at the western façade and you will find the same key carving you saw at the Bab al-Shari'a. On the eastern façade are remains of coloured zellij tiles (the dry-cord technique) in the corners of the arch, and fine carved plaster decoration. These are among the earliest examples of the decorative style you will see multiplied in the palaces.

Plaza de los Aljibes

Plaza de los Aljibes

A wide square between the Alcazaba and the palaces. In the Nasrid period it was a ditch separating the military fortress from the royal palaces. Two years after the fall of Granada, in 1494 CE, Count Tendilla, the first Castilian governor of the Alhambra, ordered two huge cisterns built beneath it to store water. Then the ditch was filled in and became a square, and its Spanish name comes from this, which Enan altered to “Maydan al-Ajbab”, from the Arabic “al-Jibab”.

It is the first spot from which you can see the Alhambra complex all together, as Enan describes: to your right the Palace of Carlos V, to your left the Alcazaba with its watchtower at the far end, and in front of you the outer edge of the Nasrid palaces. From the square's northern edge you look across the Albaicín quarter opposite, over the Darro valley, a lovely spot for photographs.

Alcazaba: Torre de la Vela, Torre del Homenaje and Barrio Castrense

Alcazaba (Torre de la Vela, Torre del Homenaje, Barrio Castrense)

The oldest surviving parts of the Alhambra and its military heart, at the sharp western end of the plateau. Ibn al-Ahmar rebuilt it on top of the old fortress from 635 AH, and he lived there at first, before the palaces were built. In it are the Keep (Torre del Homenaje), which is thought to have been Ibn al-Ahmar's first residence, the “Broken Tower”, and the Watchtower (Torre de la Vela), the highest tower of the Alcazaba (about 27 metres), overlooking the whole Vega of Granada. On the Torre de la Vela the cross and the Castilian flag were raised on 2 January 1492 CE, announcing the fall of Granada, and a bell was later hung in it that was rung to regulate the irrigation times on the plain.

Between the walls is the “Soldiers' Quarter” (Barrio Castrense): foundations of small houses lined along narrow lanes, a bath, storerooms, a cistern, and a “matmura” dug into the ground that was used as a prison. This is where the sultan's guard and their families lived. Ibn al-Khatib described the Alhambra fortress in the days of Muhammad V as “the head of the capital, the bastion of Islam, the king's refuge, and the vault of wealth and munitions”, and mentioned that the sultan renewed its fortifications after they had fallen into ruin.

Climb to the roof of the Torre de la Vela: from here is the widest view in all of Granada, the Albaicín, the cathedral, the Vega and the Sierra Nevada. To the south is the “Garden of the Ramparts” (Jardín de los Adarves), a quiet terrace between the two walls.

Palacio de Carlos V and Museo de la Alhambra

Palacio de Carlos V y Museo de la Alhambra

A huge square palace in the Italian Renaissance style, begun by Emperor Carlos V (Charles) in 1527 CE to a design by the architect Pedro Machuca, after his visit to Granada on his honeymoon in 1526 CE, and part of the southern Nasrid palaces was demolished to make room for it. Inside is a unique circular courtyard surrounded by columns on two levels. Its roof was not completed until the 20th century. Enan, and he is right, sees it as one of the disfigurements that befell the Alhambra, but today it is part of its scene.

Do not miss the Museo de la Alhambra on its ground floor (entry is free): the most important collection of Nasrid art in the world, including the famous gilded “Vase of the Gazelles” from the 14th century, wooden doors, column capitals and tombstones inscribed in naskh and Kufic script, and original tiles and plaster carvings from the palaces. The upper floor houses the Museum of Fine Arts.

Mexuar and Oratorio

Mexuar y Oratorio

The Mexuar is the first part of the Nasrid palaces you enter. It was a hall for meetings of the state council, and for judging and hearing grievances and complaints. It was originally built by Isma'il I, renovated by Muhammad V, and then the Spaniards turned it into a small church in the 16th century, adding the upper wooden gallery and changing much of its appearance. Look at the lower dado of coloured zellij, the four central columns with their capitals, and the inscriptions in which the phrase “There is no victor but God” is repeated.

At its northern end is the “Musalla”: a small hall whose windows look over the Albaicín and the Darro valley, with a fine, decorated mihrab facing the qibla, surrounded by Quranic verses and inscriptions. In the inscriptions around the mihrab is the call to the visitor to pray and not to be among the heedless. Pause here for a moment; it is one of the few places that preserve the memory of prayer in the palace.

Cuarto Dorado and Fachada de Comares

Cuarto Dorado y Fachada de Comares

After the Mexuar you come out into a small courtyard with a low fountain. On its left is the “Golden Chamber” (Cuarto Dorado), named after its gilded wooden ceiling, renewed under the Catholic Monarchs, and from its windows there is a lovely view over the Albaicín.

On the right side of the courtyard is the greatest façade in the Alhambra: the Comares façade, ordered by Muhammad V around 772 AH/1370 CE to celebrate his conquest of Algeciras. It is an entire façade of coloured carved plaster, like a hanging carpet, with two doors: the left one leads to the harem and service quarters, and the right one to the Comares Palace through a bent passage. The sultan would sit in front of it on a platform to receive people. Look at the carved wooden friezes at the top, the interlaced Kufic and naskh scripts, and the repeated motto “There is no victor but God”; among the inscriptions are lines of verse that speak in the voice of the façade itself and praise the sultan.

Palacio de Comares: Patio de los Arrayanes, Sala de la Barca, Salón de Embajadores, Torre de Comares

Palacio de Comares (Patio de los Arrayanes, Sala de la Barca, Salón de Embajadores, Torre de Comares)

The Comares Palace was the official seat of the kings of Granada and the seat of government. It was begun by Abu al-Walid Isma'il in the early 8th century AH, and completed by his son Yusuf I Abu al-Hajjaj. At its centre is the “Court of Myrtles” or “Court of the Pool” (Patio de los Arrayanes): a rectangular pool about 34 metres long, flanked by two rows of myrtle shrubs, and in its still water the Comares Tower is perfectly reflected, making it the most famous view in the whole Alhambra. Stand at the southern end in the morning to see the reflection at its best.

At the northern end is the “Hall of the Blessing” (Sala de la Barca), whose Spanish name is a corruption of the Arabic word “al-Baraka” inscribed on its walls as a prayer, which the Spaniards took to be “barca”, meaning boat. Its convex wooden ceiling has the shape of an upturned boat, so the name stuck. Then you enter the “Comares Hall” or “Hall of Ambassadors” (Salón de Embajadores) beneath the tower, the throne room where the sultan sat, his throne facing the door. Raise your eyes to its great wooden dome, made of thousands of interlocking pieces joined without nails in the shape of interlaced stars; its design is interpreted as a symbol of the seven heavens, and verses from Surat al-Mulk are carved at its base. On the walls the phrase “Glory to our lord the sultan Abu al-Hajjaj” is repeated, along with the motto “There is no victor but God”. Note that Enan pointed out that most of the wall inscriptions today are recent restoration, whereas the dome has kept its original inscriptions.

In this hall Boabdil (Muhammad XII) gathered the jurists and notables just before the fall to affirm the terms of surrender, and in it the Catholic Monarchs sat on the throne on the day of their formal entry. The Spanish tradition holds that Columbus presented his voyage plan to the two monarchs in the Alhambra in 1492 CE. Above the hall rises the “Comares Tower” at a height of about 45 metres, the highest and largest of the Alhambra's towers.

Baños Reales de Comares

Baños Reales de Comares

The sultan's private bath, built by Yusuf I adjoining the Comares Palace, and one of the most complete Andalusi baths still surviving, laid out on the Roman-Islamic plan: a rest hall known as the “Hall of the Beds” (Sala de las Camas), with its columns and its bright, restored colours, then the cold room, then the warm, then the hot room, their ceilings pierced with star-shaped openings that let in light and trap steam. It is said that the sultan would listen to music from an upper gallery in the rest hall.

Practical note: the bath is usually closed to general visits because it is fragile, and it is sometimes opened in special programmes or limited visits announced by the Alhambra board, so check the official website before your visit. You can glimpse it from the “Court of the Cypresses” (Patio de la Reja) along the route.

Palacio de los Leones: Patio y Fuente de los Leones, Sala de los Abencerrajes, Sala de los Reyes, Sala de Dos Hermanas, Mirador de Lindaraja

Palacio de los Leones (Patio y Fuente de los Leones, Sala de los Abencerrajes, Sala de los Reyes, Sala de Dos Hermanas, Mirador de Lindaraja)

It is the jewel of the Alhambra. Sultan Muhammad V al-Ghani bi-llah built it after his return to the throne in 763 AH/1362 CE, as a private palace for living and rest, not for government. At its centre is the Court of the Lions (Patio de los Leones), a rectangular courtyard surrounded by arcades carried by some 124 slender columns of white marble, with two domes shaped like kiosks at its eastern and western ends. Two water channels in the form of a cross divide the court and meet at the fountain, representing the image of Paradise and its four rivers. In the middle is the Fountain of the Lions: a round marble basin carried by 12 lions, with water flowing from their mouths. Verses by the minister and poet Ibn Zamrak are inscribed on the rim of the basin, describing the fountain and its water system. They begin, as transmitted by Enan:

“Blessed is He who gave Imam Muhammad ... abodes that adorned the abodes with beauty”

The lions and the fountain underwent a full restoration, completed in 2012 CE.

On the south side is the Hall of the Abencerrajes (Sala de los Abencerrajes), whose finest feature is its muqarnas dome in the shape of a star with 16 windows, like a beehive of light. Spanish legend claims that the sultan lured men of the Banu Sarraj family into this hall, where they were killed one by one beside its marble basin, and that the dark stains in the basin are their blood. Enan points out that the Islamic narrative does not mention this tragedy at all; it was spread by Spanish stories, especially the book “Guerras civiles de Granada” by Ginés Pérez de Hita, so it belongs to legend, not history.

In the east is the Hall of the Kings (Sala de los Reyes) with three alcoves. On the ceiling of the central one are rare paintings on leather showing 10 men in turbans seated on cushions in the arrangement of a council, probably kings of the Nasrid dynasty. In the north is the Hall of the Two Sisters (Sala de Dos Hermanas), named after two large, identical marble slabs on its floor. It is crowned by the finest muqarnas dome in the Islamic world, made of thousands of carved cells. Its walls bear a poem by Ibn Zamrak praising Muhammad V and describing the dome, in which the hall speaks in its own voice. The hall ends in the north at the “Mirador Dar ‘A’isha” or “‘Ayn Dar ‘A’isha” (Mirador de Lindaraja, the Spanish name being a distortion of the Arabic), a small, low lookout decorated with zellige tilework and plasterwork, which once looked directly over the Albaicín and the valley.

Garden of Dar A'isha (Lindaraja)

Jardín de Lindaraja

A small enclosed garden below the Mirador de Lindaraja, with cypress and orange trees and a fountain in its centre. In the Nasrid period it was an open space from which the lookout overlooked the valley. When the Spanish built the chambers of Carlos V around it in the 16th century, it became an enclosed court. The present marble fountain basin is of Nasrid origin and was moved here.

Nearby is the “Queen's Dressing Room” (Peinador de la Reina), in a Nasrid tower converted into a royal residence, and the chambers of Carlos V, where the American writer Washington Irving stayed in 1829 CE. There he wrote “Tales of the Alhambra”, which restored its fame in Europe, and a memorial plaque bearing his name is on the wall.

El Partal and Torre de las Damas

El Partal y Torre de las Damas

After leaving the palaces you reach the gardens of El Partal (from the Spanish word Partal, meaning the arcade). At their heart is the oldest standing palace in the Alhambra: a small palace preceded by an arcade of 5 arches, overlooking a wide pool guarded by two stone lions, and topped by the Tower of the Ladies (Torre de las Damas) with its balcony over the valley. It is attributed to Sultan Muhammad III at the start of the 8th century AH (early 14th century CE), meaning it is older than Comares and the Palace of the Lions. It has kept some of its original wooden ceilings, and one of them was moved to a museum in Berlin.

Beside it is the small prayer hall of El Partal with its mihrab, and a row of small Nasrid houses, some with rare wall paintings of hunting and procession scenes. This is the most beautiful spot in the Alhambra for sitting and reflecting, and the reflection of the tower in the pool, with the Albaicín in the background, is among the finest views.

Wall towers: Torre de la Cautiva and Torre de las Infantas

Torres de la muralla (Torre de la Cautiva, Torre de las Infantas)

A walkway runs between the two walls from El Partal to the Generalife, passing a number of towers that were small residences rather than mere watchtowers. Architects call these the “free fortress”. The most famous is the Tower of the Captive (Torre de la Cautiva), built by Yusuf I. Inside is a beautifully decorated hall, whose walls carry poems by the minister and poet Ibn al-Jayyab, Ibn al-Khatib's teacher, which name the tower “Qalhurra” and describe it as a palace. The name “Cautiva” (Captive) is a late Spanish one, around which stories were woven. Next comes the Tower of the Princesses (Torre de las Infantas) from the reign of Muhammad VII, around 800 AH/1400 CE; its decoration shows the beginning of artistic decline at the end of the dynasty. Apart from Comares, all the names of the towers were given by the Spanish, as Enan pointed out.

On these walls Ibn al-Khatib records a striking scene. After the Muslim victory at the Battle of the Vega near Granada in 719 AH/1319 CE, the body of a slain Castilian king was placed in a wooden coffin and set up on the wall of the Alhambra, “to the left of whoever enters by Bab Ya‘qub, one of its gates”. Fifty years later Ibn al-Khatib, deputising for the sultan in his palace, inspected the remains and found in its bones a spearhead from the spears of the fighters, still lodged there. Note: the interiors of the two towers open only occasionally, as part of the “Espacio del Mes” programme announced by the Alhambra Council.

Rauda (cemetery of the Nasrid kings)

Rauda (cementerio real nazarí)

South of the Palace of the Lions, near the Palace of Carlos V, are the remains of the “Rawda” (al-Rawda): the Nasrid royal cemetery, a square hall attached to the Great Mosque of the Alhambra, where a number of sultans were buried, among them Ismail I, Yusuf I and Muhammad V. Only the foundations and some walls remain today, visible from the path. Ibn al-Khatib records that the noble lady Fatima, daughter of Sultan Muhammad II, mother of Ismail I and grandmother of Yusuf I, was buried in 749 AH “inside the Alhambra” at over 90 years of age, in a grand funeral attended by her grandson Sultan Abu al-Hajjaj, and he described her as “a chronicle of lineages”.

When Boabdil (Muhammad XII) surrendered Granada in 1492 CE, he moved the remains of his ancestors from the Rawda to Mondújar in the Valle de Lecrín of the Alpujarras, so that their graves would not remain under Castilian rule. Carved marble tombstones were found in the Rawda; they are now kept in the Museo de la Alhambra, so do not miss seeing them there.

The Sultan's Medina and Calle Real

Medina y Calle Real

The south-eastern part of the plateau was a real city, where state officials, craftsmen and servants lived, with its markets, mosques, baths and pottery and glass workshops. Through it runs the Calle Real (Royal Street) from the Puerta del Vino to the eastern end. On this street stood the Great Mosque of the Alhambra, built and lavishly decorated by Sultan Muhammad III. It was demolished, and in the 17th century the Church of Santa María de la Alhambra was built in its place. Only a huge bronze lamp survives, held in the National Archaeological Museum in Madrid. Near the church stands the mosque's bath (hammam), one of the small Nasrid public baths.

At the end of the street is the Convent of San Francisco, built on top of a Nasrid palace (some of its halls still survive), where the Catholic Monarchs were temporarily buried before being moved to the Royal Chapel in Granada. It is now the “Parador” hotel. Along the way you will find the foundations of ruined Nasrid palaces such as the Palacio de los Abencerrajes and the Palacio de la Esperanza, which show how dense the construction once was.

Generalife: Patio de la Acequia, Patio de la Sultana, Escalera del Agua, Jardines Altos

Generalife (Patio de la Acequia, Patio de la Sultana, Escalera del Agua, Jardines Altos)

A summer palace and garden of the sultans on a separate hill east of the Alhambra, known in the past as the Mount of the Sun. Muhammad II began it at the end of the 7th century AH, and Abu al-Walid Ismail renewed its decoration in 719 AH/1319 CE, to celebrate the victory at the Battle of the Vega. The meaning of the name is disputed; the most common view is that it means “Jannat al-‘Arif”, that is, the garden of the architect or the chief. Sultans would retreat there for rest and recreation. It was from here that Muhammad V escaped with his life in 760 AH, when his brother Ismail rebelled against him, for he had moved with his household to live in the Generalife outside the citadel. The minister Ibn Zamrak sang of Granada in his muwashshah “Granada's breeze is ailing ... yet it cures the sick”, in which he describes the Alhambra as a bride on her hilltop:

“A noble lady, her crown al-Sabika ... gazes from the lofty lookout”

“As though she were a queen upon it, whose throne is the Generalife”

Most famous within it is the Patio de la Acequia (Court of the Water Channel): a long water channel crossed by facing fountains between flowerbeds, flanked by two arcades, with a jawsaq at its northern end overlooking the Alhambra and the Albaicín. Then comes the Patio de la Sultana (Court of the Sultana), also called the Court of the Cypress, with an old, withered cypress tree around which the Spanish tale wove a meeting between Boabdil's wife and a knight of the Abencerrajes, a legend with no basis. Above it is the Escalera del Agua (Water Stairway): a stone staircase with water running in channels carved along its balustrade, beneath arches of laurel, among the finest surviving examples of Andalusi water art. As for the Upper Gardens, the New Gardens and the open-air theatre, they are additions from the 19th and 20th centuries, beautiful but not Nasrid. The route to it passes through the orchards (Huertas), which are still farmed today as they were.

Puerta de los Siete Suelos

Puerta de los Siete Suelos

A gate in the southern wall of the Alhambra, called in Arabic “Bab al-Tabaq al-Sab‘”, the Gate of the Seven Floors, for the many levels of its vaults and cellars, as popular accounts claim. Through this gate, in the prevailing Spanish account that Enan transmits, Boabdil (Muhammad XII) went out on foot on 2 January 1492 CE, followed by 50 of his knights and retainers, to meet Cardinal Mendoza, who was climbing with his troops from the direction of the Hill of the Mills. He handed over the palaces, saying words to the effect of: “Take these palaces in the name of the two monarchs whom God willed to possess them.” Then he went to meet Fernando on the bank of the Río Genil and handed him the keys. Enan discusses other accounts holding that Boabdil left that day from his house in the Albaicín, not from the Alhambra, and he judges that Boabdil had been living in the Alhambra until the day of surrender.

The Spanish story adds that Boabdil asked that no one should ever enter by the gate he had left through, so it was sealed for ever. The French blew up the gate and part of the wall as they withdrew in 1812 CE; what you see today is a modern reconstruction. Stop here, for it is the most poignant spot in the Alhambra, and from here the story of the Puerto del Suspiro del Moro begins, on the road to the Alpujarras.

Mirador de San Nicolás (after the visit)

Mirador de San Nicolás

At the top of the Albaicín, the old Andalusi quarter facing the Alhambra, is a square in front of the Church of San Nicolás, offering the most famous view of the Alhambra in the world: the Alcazaba, the Comares Tower and the walls, with the snows of the Sierra Nevada behind them. The best time is just before sunset, when the walls glow with the red that may have given it its name. Beside it is the Great Mosque of Granada (opened in 2003 CE), with its garden overlooking the same view, so combine the Maghrib prayer with the view of the Alhambra. Keep an eye on your belongings, as the place is crowded.

Paseo de los Tristes on the Darro valley

Paseo de los Tristes (Paseo del Padre Manjón)

A walkway along the bank of the Darro, at the northern foot of the Alhambra, where you see the Alhambra's walls and the Comares Tower rising high above you. It was called the Walk of the Sorrowful (Paseo de los Tristes) because funeral processions passed along it to the city cemetery. On your way there along Carrera del Darro, you pass the ruins of the Andalusi “Judge's Bridge” (Puente del Cadí) and small stone arches over the river. The night view, when the Alhambra is lit up, is one of the most beautiful sights in Granada.

El Bañuelo (Baño del Nogal)

El Bañuelo

An Andalusi public bath on Carrera del Darro, dating from the 5th century AH/11th century CE under the Zirids, that is, before the Nasrids, and one of the oldest and most complete Arab baths surviving in Spain. It escaped demolition because after the fall it became part of a private house. Take in its successive halls (cold, warm and hot), their horseshoe arches on columns, some with reused Roman and Gothic capitals, and their ceilings pierced with star-shaped openings. Small but moving; the visit is short.

Palacio de Dar al-Horra

Palacio de Dar al-Horra

A small Nasrid palace at the top of the Albaicín, on the ruins of the old Zirid Alcazaba, attributed to ‘A’isha al-Horra, mother of Boabdil, that resolute princess who led her son's faction against her husband, Sultan Abu al-Hasan. “Al-Horra” was a title given to a noble-born wife from among the daughters of kings. It dates from the 9th century AH/15th century CE, and Isabella turned it into a convent after the fall. It has a rectangular court with a pool and two arcades, and an upper lookout over the city, and gives you a picture of an aristocratic Granadan house in the final days of the dynasty. Its opening hours are limited, so check them before you go.

Palacio de la Madraza (the Nasrid madrasa)

La Madraza (Madrasa Yusufiyya)

Opposite the Royal Chapel in the centre of Granada, founded by Sultan Yusuf I Abu al-Hajjaj in 750 AH/1349 CE, it was the first university in Granada, where the great scholars of the age taught and where Ibn al-Khatib and his peers studied. After the fall it was turned into a town council building and its façade was altered, but it kept its masterpiece: the prayer hall with its octagonal mihrab and its original polychrome muqarnas dome. Remains of the original decoration and inscriptions were recently uncovered. It now belongs to the University of Granada and is open to visitors, making a fitting end to the Alhambra journey: from the king's palace to the house of learning that the king himself founded.