The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1883-05-17
HOW THE ALEXANDRIA LOOKS.


| Springfield Republicans Granada Letter,
Entering the walls Of the Alhambrs
through huge tower, there Is al
open space with some ruins on one
side and n vast, unfinished palace ol
Charles V. on the other. Passing
around this unseemly intrusion in this
| romantic place, We came to All Orji-
nary door i'm high and plain stone
wall, and stepped As from the com
monplace world of to-day into the
enchanted regions of Arabian fancy
and romance. No previous reading
or conception can prepare the visitor
for the architectural grace and ele-
gance which bursts upon his delighted
vision Is he enters the first court,
which is called the Alberca. 1t Ii
paved with white marble, and In the
centre is long basin or fish-pOnd,
thirty feet wide and four times as
long, stocked with gold fish and Dor
dered with well-trimmed hedges,
through which a score of orange trees
are growing, loaded with golden fruit
but the Moorish decorations of the
surrounding buildings most attract
the attention, and as the visitor passes
on into second court-the famous
Court of LyoBs-celebrated alike In
song and history, he Is overwhelmed
by its elegance and splendor, its airy.
graceful filigree, its slender columns
and delicate arches, and all the fairy
fret work of its portals and colonades.
These light aud fanciful decorations
are almost rs perfect after the lapse Of
centuries, the shocks of earthquakes
and the ravages of war, as when they
were completed by the Moorish artists
aud there IL 8 tradition that the place
is protected by q magic charm. In the
center Of the court Is famous alabas-
ter fountain, supported by twelve
lions. At one side il the hall Of the
Abencerrages. 50 called from the
thirty-six members Of that noble fam
ily. distinguished for their chivalry
and accomplishments, who were here
massacred 10y Boabdil, the last Moor
ish King Of Granada. The stains on
the marble fountain i'm the center Of
the hall are popularity supposed TO be
iueffacable traces of the bloody crime
The hall Is most beautifully decorated
while on the opposite side Of the |
court Is the hall Of the Two Sisters. |
which passes all description, and |
even the pencil Of the artist is at fault
To picture its delicate details The |
lower part Of the walls are covered |
with beautiful Moorish tiles, Of vari. |
pus figures and cOlors, while the up
per part IL faced with the stucco-work /
invented at Damascus, i'm all sorts Of /
delicate and graceful forms, inter
with passages from the KO-
ran, or poetical inscriptions In the Gu
rious characters of the Arabic Ian
yuage. These decorations were richly
yilded and the spaces painted In blue,
nd and other brilliant and nu--ing
,olors. The hall is of irrek ular form,
md there Is window in an slcove.
Known as THE window Of Lin
leraxA." opening into little garden.
which unites the varieties 0I form and
,olor Of the other decorations Of the
Alhambra. Some say this window.
With Its alcove. was the boudOir Of
he sultana. on which poetry and art
Exhausted their most pleasing efforts.
Such IL the Alhambra-a magnifi-
,ent memorial Of the Moorish mon
Irchy and of the brave and graceful
'eoPIe whose empire endured % many
and stood unrlvaled in
'ower. in prosperity and the practice
Z all the useful arts-an empire that
- disappeared entirely from the
nap Of the world and len only these
tokens Of Its elegance and
plendor.