Alhambra Revisited

A Very Simple Sign To A Great Palace

After more than a decade, re-visiting Alhambra Palace was seeing it with fresh eyes. Ohs and ahs on the silently remembered façade, rooms, nooks and crannies. With each turn of the corner, bursts of memories of having once before seen the beautiful Artesonado on the ceilings and walls, varying in every room.

         

This is the ceiling of the Hall of the Two Sisters with the muqarna cupola. Muqarnas also reach to the edge of the image.  M.A. Sullivan: http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/spain/granada/alhambra/alhambraindex.html.

In here is a cupola which by its height becomes lost from sight,
beauty in it appears both concealed and visible…
The bright stars would like to establish themselves firmly in it,
rather than continue wandering about in the vault of the sky…  (Dodds 250)

Marvel at the arabesques patterns on the walls, the curlicues, and the delicately turned horseshoe arches.

In my heart and mind,  I applaud the artists, craftsmen and laborers who gradually starting in the thirteen century transformed stone and wood into timeless art, at the vast imagination that existed in the minds of men even before the age technology, and the Emirs and Sultans who commandeered the space and manpower to create this timeless palace.  Muslim art at its greatest, not just in the beauty of the construction but in the cursive, arabic calligraphy, verses carved in stone.

Gurgling water, fountains, pools are featured and can be seen and heard in almost any part of the palace.  And, according to Wiki, at the time the palace was in use, hot and cold running water were already embedded.

Central in the Court of Lions is the Fountain of Lions, carved out of alabaster with twelve white marble lions seemingly supporting the basin.  A lion would spout water at each hour.

During our visit, we had the added “bonus” of a bridal party having pictures taken at this historic site.  Lucky bride!

Orange and pomegranate trees abound in the gardens.  

Town of Granada. view from The Alhambra

  

“There is no victor but Allah,” a constant reminder that no human feat surpasses God’s omnipotence.
Image uploaded from Google

So much to see and absorb, four hours of touring the Palace, Gardens, Generalife was not enough time.  Perhaps another visit, InshAllah.