Alhambra comes from the Arabic “Kelet al Hamrah”, meaning “the red castle”. It is named after the red bricks of which it is made. It is the former pleasure-castle of the Moorish Nasrid royalty of Grenada (1231-1491). It is a grand monument of Arabic architecture and is situated in a impressive region on the top of a completely overgrown mountain, near Grenada, from which it is separated by the valley of the river Darro.
Alhambra was started as late as XIIIth century, but Alhambra consists of palaces built by several rulers, each had his own. The carrying idea behind several of the buildings of Alhambra is nothing less than an attempt to create a duplicate of Paradise on earth. The romantic design is made up of a mixture of slender columnar arcades, fountains, and light-reflecting water basins.
The Alhambra is a sprawling palace-citadel that comprised royal residential quarters, court complexes flanked by official chambers, a bath, and a mosque. It was begun in the XIIIth century by Ibn al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid dynasty, and was continued by his successors in the XIVth century. Its most celebrated portions—a series of courtyards surrounded by rooms—present a varied repertoire of Moorish arched, columnar, and domical forms. The romantic imagination of centuries of visitors has been captivated by the special combination of the slender columnar arcades, fountains, and light-reflecting water basins found in those courtyards—the Lion Court in particular; this combination is understood from inscriptions to be a physical realization of descriptions of Paradise in Islamic poetry.
Nasrid Sultans chose as the site for their court the Sabika hill, one of the foothills of Sierra Nevada on the plain of Grenada, which constituted an excellent site from which to keep watch over the capital of their kingdom and the surrounding area. From the beginning of the XIIIth century, the small older buildings, mainly watchtowers, some of which dated back to before the XI century, gradually grew into a huge walled site which clearly intended to be both palace and court.
Within this gradual change, different stages of development, grandeur and decadence can clearly be seen through the various works of art and buildings erected over the years. The Alhambra was not a single static construction, built at a specific date, but rather the result of an evolution, successive reforms and extensions.
Nowadays, four groups of buildings can be identified on the Alhambra Palace hill. The Alcazaba, a military fortress, was built on the oldest site of the Alhambra and served a purely military purpose as it was situated on the highest part of the hill, watching over the surrounding area.
The Nasrid Palaces are the highlight of the visit to the Alhambra Palace. These Royal Palaces consist of a number of brilliantly designed and decorated function rooms and courtyards that were used by the Muslim rulers for different purposes.
Generalife Gardens mean literally the gardens of the architect. The area consists of beautiful gardens, fountains and courtyards where the Moorish leaders had their summer palace built.
Finally, the Medina, a town, was created to house craftsmen and serves the needs of the court. It occupies the largest part of the walled area within the upper Alhambra and still conserves the ruins of several houses, baths and small workshops on its typical alleys and squares.
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