Let’s situate ourselves in medieval Spain, particularly in the area of Andalusia
in the southern part of the peninsula. This is the fortress-palace of the
Alhambra, a royal citadel erected above the city of Granada, the last
remaining city dominated by Muslims. They built a palace city on top of a
mountain, one that would resemble paradise. Built in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
the Alhambra was the work of the Nasrid dynasty, which governed the dwindling Islamic
territories of southern Spain until expulsion in 1492 by Ferdinand
and Isabel, the monarchs who also financed Columbus’s expedition across
the unknown Atlantic in the same year. And what's so wonderful about the Alhambra is
that it's not simply a building, but the boundary between landscape and architecture seems very
loose, so that suddenly you're in a courtyard, suddenly you're in a garden, and the section
that is enforced by being on top of a hill is played off very effectively so that
views through the space, and movement through the space allow you to experience this
landscape integrated into the architecture. Here’s a site plan of the Alhambra,
it’s all divided into 3 parts: In the westernmost part of the
complex we have the Alcazaba, which is the oldest part of the Alhambra. This was built as the centerpiece of the
system of fortifications to protect the area. Its configuration occupied a triangular
space contained by a wall, at the far end of which is a bastion built in
the times of the Catholic Monarchs, while on the opposite side we find a
wall, fortified with three watchtowers. In fact, the complex is entirely surrounded
by a wall and has several watchtowers such as the Torre de la Vela, which is the tallest and
most important in the whole complex, and just the view that you have of the city from
the top of these towers is breathtaking. The Alcazaba had a military quarter as an urban
nucleus, of which you can still see remains. Before the palaces were built, the
Alcazaba served as the residence of the rulers of the city, and then it
became purely military in character. In the eastern part of the complex, there is the part of the citadel that
used to be residential and public. The Alhambra originally enclosed an entire
palace city, including common dwelling houses, craft workshops, the royal mint,
several mosques, and public baths. There are these small channels of water
that run through the entire complex, which is, I think, a remarkable feature. In the north of the complex is the
most precious part of the citadel, the very reason you visit the
Alhambra, the Nasrid palaces, which were the residences of the emirs,
the Muslim rulers of the city of Granada. These palaces form a series of apartments, halls, and courts, framed in a setting of
arcades, fountains, and gardens. Upon entrance, you right away notice how it’s
ornamented with minute surface decoration, either in plaster, precious
stones, or glazed tiles. The walls, are inlaid with glazed
tiles to a height of 4 feet, above which is a separate scheme
of arabesque treatment carried out. We must remember that Muslims
only decorated with floral and geometric patterns, and also with
their writing called calligraphy. This is the Mexuar, which
functioned as the entrance wing. Next to it is this small courtyard
with a small fountain in the middle. And one effect that these palaces have is
the peace and silence that you feel inside of them as if you were completely
isolated from the world outside, but at the same time surrounded by nature. The whole idea of the garden is something you
see again and again in Islamic architecture, and it's always negotiating between a
geometrical definition of the garden, and the kind of explosive fecundity of
nature to replicate itself and become green. This is a Quranic description of paradise, and
it’s not so different from the Paradise garden that we hear about in the Old Testament, with
the rivers running out of the bounded precinct, but the image of the Paradise Garden
is more emphatically deployed in Islamic architecture than in Christian
architecture, especially in the gardens. I think this plan helps illustrate how
landscape and architecture move together, the plan consists mainly of two oblong
courts, at right angles to each other. You can see that there are several courtyards
organizing fairly thin bands of program around them, and that these volumes are perched at the
edge of the precipice so that they can get these dramatic views and capture the surrounding
landscape that's part of the purview of the building, as well as the near landscape of
the gardens that unfold on top of the plateau. Every single window in the Alhambra
doesn’t simply exhibit a view, but it perfectly frames the landscape in a way
that makes every view as dramatic as possible. Here's the view from one of
the courtyards in the Alhambra, you can see that it’s a big palace on a
big hill, and you can see the rest of the town stretching out in the lowlands,
and the palace moving up the hill. The first of these courtyards,
known as the “Court of the Myrtles”, has its longer axis placed North and South. There’s a long linear pool that shows you
the integration of water into the courtyard. This pool reflects the buildings like a
great mirror of water that changes with the different tones of light throughout the day. This spectacular element is
both aesthetic and functional, because like any dwelling with human presence,
this palace requires a place that contains water, and the water is always circulating through
narrow channels that irrigate the bushes. To the south is a double arcade, and
to the north is the Tower of Comares, inside of which the "Hall of the Ambassadors"
is located, with deeply-recessed windows on three sides giving views of the town beneath,
and you could be here in this chamber admiring the garden but you could be surveilling the
landscape to see if any intruders are coming, so you have these vantage points
stipulating throughout the building. And notice that in this room, the windows have
an element that is frequently used in Islamic architecture called latticework, and latticework
is very functional for places that have a warm climate, because it allows light and airflow
through the area without letting in direct sunlight, and since Islamic architecture is very
introvert and introspective, latticework is also used to add privacy, as you can see through
it only if you’re inside of the building. This hall is crowned by a polygonal
dome with arabesque decorations. This dome is a wooden
masterpiece of craftsmanship. It is formed by cedar wood decorations
covered by interlacing patterns, and it’s a representation of the Seven Heavens of the
Islamic Paradise, with God’s throne in the middle. The other main court, the “Court of Lions”,
is the most elaborate. The pillars are alternately single and coupled and
crowned with capitals peculiar to the Alhambra. The arcading is of wood, covered
with richly-stuccoed decoration. It’s important to mention that Islamic
architecture is obsessed with integrating water into the architecture, so water, is the essential
element in this incredible palace of the Alhambra, and the combination of water and light creates
a space that’s a real pleasure for the senses. In this courtyard, we find the device we saw at
the Great Mosque in Cordoba, linear troughs of water that begin to issue forth and irrigate
the garden and bring life to the garden, and a fountain in the middle,
and this is spectacular, it's almost literal building of a model
of the paradise gardens in the Quran. A bounded precinct with water crossing through it, subdividing its world into four quadrants
with these lions here, and these fountains penetrate into these chambers on all sides
and become fountains there too, it's great. We saw in the mosque of Cordoba the
beginning of a kind of pointed arch work, this horseshoe arch, or these multi-foil arches. And it's becoming even more
specifically pointed when we get to some of the courtyard
arcades here at the Alhambra. Also, a type of column capital with a square
upper portion and long necking was evolved. The columns supporting these are very
slender, the height being twelve diameters. The capitals in the Alhambra are either
treated with conventional scrolls, or are formed with a stalactite treatment. Such capitals have an upward continuation, of
post-like shape, against the sides of which the stilted arch abuts, being supported
by a piece of stalactite corbelling. The “Hall of Kings” is at the
Eastern end of this courtyard. It receives its name because we find paintings on the ceilings with representations of
the first ten kings of the dynasty. These are painted on leather and they have
a clear influence on Christian Gothic art, since we don’t usually see
images of people in Islamic art, it’s even been suggested that these were
actually painted by Christian artists. And on either side of the courtyard are
the smaller halls of the “Two Sisters” and of the “Abencerrages” with roofs
covered with stalactite decoration. These stalactites are known as
muqarnas, or mocárabes in Spanish, and they are an integral form
of ornamented Islamic vaults. They originated from the squinch, an architectural element used in medieval architecture
to translate a square into an octagon. So looking at these vaults is just astonishing,
because of all the detail that it has. Notice the toughness of the
exterior of the Alhambra, because this building is almost like
a geode, a geode looks like a rock on the outside and you crack it open and
it's this kind of sparkling crystal. So you look at the exterior of
the Alhambra and it seems solid, it seems tough, it seems fortified, but
when you crack that tough masonry shell, you get the same light diaphanous collection
of screens that we observed in the mosques. You find this dematerialized,
extremely light architecture. And the effect is really amazing because
you're in the shade, you're protected, but you have this amazing transparency of
view through the whole space, it’s phenomenal. The richly modeled geometric plaster decoration, brilliantly painted and gilded,
has probably never been surpassed. And here’s just another detail of the fountain
of the lions, it consists of a large basin surrounded by eight lion sculptures,
all carved from marble, and you can see the water coming out of their mouths and then
conducted into the complex system of channels. Past the courtyard of the lions
is a corridor with a small hall known as the Mirador de Lindaraja, which
overlooks a courtyard with the same name, a kind of court of oranges
that you would see in a mosque. This entire corridor is a work of art, where you can take a closer look at
the rich details of these windows. And in the next corridor, you can see through
one of the windows the brick vaults of the baths, which have small holes with octagonal stars
to illuminate the space with a dim light. The vaults are supported by
columns and horseshoe arches. This small courtyard called Patio de la Reja,
has probably the best view of the entire palace, because you see the entire medieval quarter
of the city of Granada, the Albaicín. And walking in this district is very special,
because of the architectural character of the buildings, and because of its medieval urban
layout, you really get the feeling of living in another time, and there’s a small square
there from which you can see the citadel. The oldest palace that is preserved is the Partal
in front of which we find a large rectangular pool with a layout similar to what we saw in the Court
of Myrtles, and also a set of small garden areas, again integrating the water into the
architecture to irrigate the gardens. The relaxing sound of the water
is the music of the Alhambra. There are just so many astonishing
views in the Alhambra that make this piece of architecture a great
pleasure for all the senses. On the adjoining hill, we have the Generalife,
which is a country estate from the Nasrid era. To get there you have to cross
a bridge and walk through a big garden with terraces, pools and water channels. When you get to the Generalife,
you walk through an arcade terrace. From there you can see in the
distance the Alhambra as a whole. The Generalife features several rectangular garden
courtyards with decorated pavilions at either end, and it’s representing the fusion
between nature and architecture. You can see on these stairs how the water
is integrated even into the railing, and that’s just the essence of the Alhambra: water, nature, and architecture, all as one, where you can feel the freshness
even in this warm weather. Now you might have noticed this square-shaped building with a hole in the center, this is the Palace of Charles V. It was erected in 1527 by architect Pedro
Machuca, a disciple of Michelangelo himself, and it’s an important structure. In plan, it is a square, 205 feet each way, inclosing an open circular
court 100 feet in diameter. The external façade is two stories in height, the lower being rusticated, and
the upper having Ionic columns. Both basement and upper story have
circular windows above the lower openings, so that mezzanines could be
lighted where these occur. The circular internal elevation is
an open colonnade in two stories, with the Doric order to the lower, and the Ionic
order, of small height, to the upper story. The structure is built in a golden-colored stone, the central feature of the two visible
façades being in colored marbles. The whole design, which is of the Bramante school,
is the purest example of Renaissance in Spain. The palace was never occupied, and it wasn’t
even roofed in until the 20th century, but it’s really a very beautiful space. This is no doubt one of the most important
and spectacular architectural complexes of medieval Islamic architecture, and it’s
one of the best preserved too, so what you see when you visit the Alhambra is mostly
what you would have seen in the Middle Ages. So that’s the Alhambra, seen from
an architectural point of view. I hope you have enjoyed this episode
because it took me months to make, so please make sure you leave a like in this
video because it helps me a lot to continue. Remember that you can watch my
other videos of Spain on my channel, I have a full playlist with videos of Spain such
as the Mosque of Cordoba or the Sagrada Familia. So make sure you subscribe so you get
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you very soon in another episode. Goodbye!
