. 



AIIIVMBRA, 



AI.IIAMHRA. 



flanked with *quar* towers, and comprising an area of .bout 85 

 term. TJw Alhambra U thus nalac* within a fortrea*. The wall U 

 boot 40 feet high and 6 feet thick, strongly constructed of a red- 

 oloond eonor***. The towers and the wall, of the palace an 

 mostly built of the Mm* material, which U called tapia. The name 

 Alhambnt innir to hare been derived from the red appearance of 

 the original walli and tower* (' Kaasaba-al-Hambra,' the Red Inclosure). 

 Thi fortified inelomre wai probably built by Habus-Ibn-M4kesen, 

 who in 1019 chone the present site of Qranada for hi* capital, using 

 tit* former town, Illiberia, which stood on the Sierra Elvira, ai a 

 quarry. Within the red inolocure Ibn-ul-Ahmar commenced the 

 cniMtructiun of the ' Kasr-al Hambra' (the Red Palace), which wan 

 extended and cmbelliahed by successive kings of Qranada. 



Nothing can b* more severe, plain, and unattractive than the 

 exterior of the Alhambra, The interior, on the contrary, when in iU 



Gate of Justice, from Murphy's Arabian Antiquities of Spain.' 



. tM probably the most gorgeous specimen of Moorish 

 architecture and decoration that has ever existed. It was injured to 

 extent during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella 1>\ tin- 



made many alterations for the worse in the portion which remained. 

 It Menu afterwards to have suffered no very material injury, . 

 from neglect and decay, till Sebastian] obtained possession of Qranada 

 in January 1810, and occupied it with his troops. During the ] 

 of the occupation of this city by the French, a very great amount of 

 demolition and injury was done to the Alhambra ; and when tiny 

 letieatod. Sept 17th, 1812, they undermined and blew up eight of 

 the towers, and intended to have destroyed the whole of them, if 

 time had been allowed for completing their operations. 



The Alhambra hill is most easily ascended from the Puerta de las 

 Qranadas, or Pomegranate Gate, and the entrance to the palace is 

 beneath a square gate-tower, named La Torre de JusticU. The gate- 

 way is surmounted by an arch of horse-shoe form, and conducts 

 through a porch to an inner doorway. In this porch the king or hu 

 judge sat to administer justice, whence the name Tower of Justice. 

 "Then he made a porch where he might judge, even the porch of 

 judgment." (1 Kings, vii., 7.) Thence a narrow passage leads to an 

 open place, the Plant de lot Alyiba (Square of the Cisterns). The 

 cisterns are below the pavement, and are filled from the stream of 

 the Darro, which is conveyed by an aqueduct to the hill of !, 

 Alhambra across the ravine which separates it from the Cerro 

 del Sol. This Plaza, only a few yean ago, was used as a prison, .,T ; ,| 

 contained a crowd of criminals in chains, sometimes as many as 200, 

 mingled with beggars and gipsies. It is now occupied by afew invalid 

 soldiers. 



The Alhambra originally consisted of a summer palace and winter 

 palace. The Plaza de los Algibes was intermediate. The w int. r 

 palace, which occupied one side, was pulled down to make room fur 

 the palace of Charles V. The greater part of the summer palace 

 remains, but in a condition more or less ruinous. 



The palace of Charles V. is a square, each side of which is 200 

 Caxtilian feet, or 185 English feet, in length, with a large circular area 

 in the centre. The walls were raised to the eave-atone, but it was 

 never roofed in. The architecture is Italian. It was begun in 1526, 

 and was continued till 1633, when it was left unfinished in its present 

 state. 



The Moorish palace is entered from the Plaza de los Algibes by a 

 small doorway of Spanish construction. The palace consists of 

 courts, colonnades, halls, saloons, and various smaller apartmeuto, 

 paved with marble, and formerly supplied with fountains and baths. 

 The walls are beautifully wrought in arabesques intermingled with 

 inscriptions, and richly painted and gilt. Most of the ceilings are 

 formed in compartments with raised mouldings, or in small cupolas 

 with innumerable pendant ornaments ; others are of carved timber. 

 YiiHuf I., who was stabbed by an assassin in 1532, repainted and rogilt 

 the whole palace, which must then have realised the splendours of 

 Arabian fiction. 



Leaving the Plaza de los Algibes by the small Spanish- portal, the 



1 ' I IHC IJoM l/Wterf 



