page_title: Alhambra
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Alhambra / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: recuerdosybellez00pyma (find matches) Title: Recuerdos y bellezas de España&#160;: bajo la real proteccion de ... la reina y el rey&#160;; Obra destinada á dar á conocer sus monumentos y antiguedades en láminas dibujadas del natural y litografiadas por F.J. Parcerisa Year: 1850 (1850s) Authors: Pí y Margall, Francisco, 1824-1901 Parcerisa, F. J. (Francisco Javier), illustrator Subjects: Alhambra (Granada, Spain) Architecture Publisher: (Madrid&#160;: Repullés) Contributing Library: Boston Public Library Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Public Library View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: a mas exacta de esta singular manera de combinar los azulejos ydel efecto que han de producir en el original, damos los mejores de la sala de las DosHermanas, á cuya vista y á la de las que damos en la lámina de detalles número 9 esfácil calcular el partido que supieron sacar los árabes de esta clase de adorno. (1) El lector recordará fácilmente que hubo en Jaén un obispo llamado D, Gonza-lo, que cayó en poder de moros. Asegúrase que le exigieron por rescate la construc-ción de una gran parte de la linea de murallas que empezaba en la puerta de Elvira yvenia á la cuesta del Cliapiz por el cerro de S. Miguel el Alto, cerca que por esta ra-zón lleva aun hoy su nombre. (*) Véase la lámina Balcón de la sala de Embajadores. (2) Es ademas notable este mirador por las inscripciones árabes que contiene:léese en una que está á la derecha: La Arabia le ensalza: desde la mañana hasta que es llegada todos se le humillan que el sol ilumina la noche sombría. .REYNQ DE GRANADA Text Appearing After Image: íiV- ^í\.-cv5Í^)\\\°^aíí.i?Mt«.TC&gt;i. IWiiV^io BALCÓN DE LA SALA DE EMBAJADORES. (581)le hace aun lodo el alcázar, está ya desnudo de sus mas coslosasgalas; mas hasta en medio de su pohreza de adornos encanta al via-jero con sus atrevidas líneas, sus estrellas y circuios de estrellas,sus hien pintados ángulos, donde refleja tan vivamente la luz que der-raman sobre ellos las ventanas. ¡Lástima que este salón haya perdi-do ya casi por entero su oro y su pintura (*)! ¡ lástima que las inju-rias del tiempo hayan venido á romper la armonía que había de rei-nar en otro tiempo entre el techo y el pavimento, entre los detallesy el conjunto (1)&#160;! ¿Quién pudo venir á afear la pared del mediodíacon esas dos necias alhacenas (2) que, según tradición , sustituye-ron á dos grandes labias en que estuvieron escritos algunos versosdel Profeta? j Ah! se entra apenas en esa estancia deliciosa, cuan-do creyéndose transportado á uno de esos mágicos salones que creóla ardie Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: The Alhambra is a palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. It was originally constructed as a small fortress in AD 889 on the remains of Roman fortifications, and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid-13th century by the Nasrid emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate of Granada, who built its current palace and walls with many beautiful, intricate details. It was converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of Granada. After the conclusion of the Christian Reconquista in 1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella, and the palaces were partially altered in the Renaissance style. In 1526 Charles I & V commissioned a new Renaissance palace better befitting the Holy Roman Emperor in the revolutionary Mannerist style influenced by humanist philosophy in direct juxtaposition with the Nasrid Andalusian architecture, but it was ultimately never completed due to Morisco rebellions in Granada.
  Alhambra's last flowering of Islamic palaces was built for the final Muslim emirs in Spain during the decline of the Nasrid dynasty, who were increasingly subject to the Christian Kings of Castile.
context_section_description: Around the year 889, forces loyal to Umar ibn Hafsun in revolt against Abdullah ibn Muhammad al-Umawi and the Emirate of Córdoba besieged a small Islamic fortress in Granada held by Sawār Ben Hamdūn. The first reference to al-Ḥamrāʼ  came in lines of poetry attached to an arrow shot over the ramparts, recorded by Ibn Hayyan:
  "Deserted and roofless are the houses of our enemies;
  
    Invaded by the autumnal rains, traversed by impetuous winds;
  
  Let them within the red castle (Kalat al hamra) hold their mischievous councils;
  
    Perdition and woe surround them on every side."
  Completed towards the end of Muslim rule of Spain by Yusuf I (1333–1353) and Muhammed V, Sultan of Granada (1353–1391), the Alhambra is a reflection of the culture of the last centuries of the Muslim rule of Al Andalus, reduced to the Nasrid Emirate of Granada. It is a place where artists and intellectuals had taken refuge as the Reconquista by Spanish Christians won victories over Al Andalus. The Alhambra integrates natural site qualities with constructed structures and gardens, and is a testament to Moorish culture in Spain and the skills of Muslim, Jewish, and Christian artisans, craftsmen, and builders of their era.
  The literal translation of Alhambra, "the red (female)," reflects the color of the red clay of the surroundings of which the fort is made. The buildings of the Alhambra were originally whitewashed; however, the buildings as seen today are reddish. Another possible origin of the name is the tribal designation of the Nasrid Dynasty, known as the Banu al-Ahmar Arabic: Sons of the Red (male), a sub-tribe of the Arab Qahtanite Banu Khazraj tribe. One of the early Nasrid ancestors was nicknamed Yusuf Al Ahmar (Yusuf the Red) and hence the (Nasrid) fraction of the Banu Khazraj took up the name of Banu al-Ahmar.
  The first reference to the Qal‘at al-Ḥamra was during the battles between the Arabs and the Muladies (people of mixed Arab and European descent) during the rule of the ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad (r. 888–912). In one particularly fierce and bloody skirmish, the Muladies soundly defeated the Arabs, who were then forced to take shelter in a primitive red castle located in the province of Elvira, presently located in Granada. According to surviving documents from the era, the red castle was quite small, and its walls were not capable of deterring an army intent on conquering. The castle was then largely ignored until the eleventh century, when its ruins were renovated and rebuilt by Samuel ibn Naghrela, vizier to the emir Badis ben Habus of the Zirid Dynasty of Al Andalus, in an attempt to preserve the small Jewish settlement also located on the natural plateau, Sabikah Hill.
  Ibn Nasr, the founder of the Nasrid Dynasty, was forced to flee to Jaén to avoid persecution by King Ferdinand III of Castile and the Reconquista supporters working to end Spain's Moorish rule. After retreating to Granada, Ibn-Nasr took up residence at the Palace of Badis ben Habus in the Alhambra. A few months later, he embarked on the construction of a new Alhambra fit for the residence of a sultan. According to an Arabic manuscript since published as the Anónimo de Granada y Copenhague,
  This year, 1238 Abdallah ibn al-Ahmar climbed to the place called "the Alhambra" inspected it, laid out the foundations of a castle and left someone in charge of its construction...
  The design included plans for six palaces, five of which were grouped in the northeast quadrant forming a royal quarter, two circuit towers, and numerous bathhouses. During the reign of the Nasrid Dynasty, the Alhambra was transformed into a palatine city, complete with an irrigation system composed of acequias for the gardens of the Generalife located outside the fortress. Previously, the old Alhambra structure had been dependent upon rainwater collected from a cistern and from what could be brought up from the Albaicín. The creation of the Sultan's Canal solidified the identity of the Alhambra as a palace-city rather than a defensive and ascetic structure. The hydraulic system includes two long water channels
caption: Illustration from Recuerdos y bellezas de España. Reino de Granada by Francisco Javier Parcerisa, 1850
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