38 GRANADA 



fagade, much disfigured by a modern gallery. 

 The walls are adorned with the oft-recurring 

 device, " God alone is Conqueror," and with 

 sentences extolling the sultans, in various sorts 

 of arabesques. The inscription round the central 

 window refers to Mohammed V. (1354-1391). 



The grand Mosque of the Alhambra was built 

 in 1308 by Mohammed III., and was in good 

 preservation until the occupation of the French, 

 who, according to Gayangos, entirely destroyed it. 

 An account of it has been left to us by Ibn-ul- 

 Khattib, the Wizir of Yusuf I. : " It is orna- 

 mented with mosaic work and tracery of the most 

 beautiful and intricate patterns intermixed with 

 silver flowers and graceful arches, supported by 

 innumerable pillars of polished marble ; indeed, 

 what with the solidity of the structure which the 

 Sultan inspected in person, the elegance of the 

 design, and the beauty of the proportions, the 

 building has not its like in this country, and I have 

 frequently heard our best architects say that 

 they have never seen or heard of a building which 

 can be compared with it." Little more remains 

 of this superb temple than the small oratory 

 entered through a door in the wall opposite the 

 altar of the chapel. Here the mihrab is still 

 to be distinguished. Before it, Yusuf I., in the 

 act of prayer, fell a victim to the poniard of an 

 assassin in the year 1354. 



