58 GRANADA 



and refer to the Lion residing within these walls 

 a very different occupant from a captive ! 



The Torre de los Picos seems to have been so 

 styled from the peaked battlements which crown 

 it. It evidently underwent extensive remodelling 

 about the time of the Spanish Reconquest, but 

 some relics of the Nasrite rule remain in the 

 shape of some beautifully moulded twin windows. 



The Torre de Ismail, or de las Damas (Ladies' 

 Tower), was given by Mohammed V. to his son 

 Ismail, and has a richly decorated belvedere 

 and a hall very tastefully ornamented. The 

 ruined tower of Pufiales has some curious stucco 

 decorations, differing from those found in other 

 parts of the palace. 



Between the Torres de los Picos and de las 

 Damas is a little mihrab or oratory built on the 

 wall. At the Reconquest it was appropriated to 

 the private use of one Astasio de Bracamonte. 

 Though it has undergone deplorable " restora- 

 tions," the kiblah or easterly niche and other 

 indications of the Muslim rite can still be made 

 out. Strangely enough, the portal is guarded by 

 two Moorish lions brought from the old Mint 

 the injunctions of the Mohammedan religion 

 being thus ignored in its own temple ! 



The parish church of Santa Maria, erected in 

 1581, occupies the site of the Mosque of which 

 Al Khattib appears to speak, writing of the deeds 



