(For the Alhambra preview, please click
here.)
Remember that time you got circumcised
and your father's official poet wrote a 146-verse poem in celebration? And then decorated a room by inscribing twenty-four of
these verses prominently? No? Then I guess you're not Prince Abd Allah, son of the 8th sultan of the Nasrid dynasty, Mohammed V, in the 14th Century. A prince who I'm pretty sure tried to avoid inviting his
friends back home too often - don't go into that room! If
you're wondering what a decorative poem about circumcision looks
like, then here you are:
My Arabic isn't quite fluent, but I make that top line to be : Oh! Skin of Son, you have been cut; Go! Lie down, I bet it hurts. Or something like that.
That's
the fancifully-named "Hall of Two Sisters" in the Nasrid
Palace of the Alhambra. If you're to believe the legend, the name
comes from two sisters imprisoned in the room who one day happened to
spot an amorous couple going at it hammer-and-tongs in a nearby
garden. It must have been some session, for both sisters promptly
died of desire. That's the legend made up by 19th Century tourists, fancifully based upon the room's name
which was coined some time after the 15th Century fall of the Nasrid dynasty
and the departure of Islam from Spain, and which actually refers to two large
slabs of marble set in the floor of the room. Neither the name or story have any basis in fact. It's been suggested that the room
may have been used for Koran recitals, or musical gatherings of some
kind, due to the good acoustics - but it's just speculation. How
about other parts of the palace, and of the overall Alhambra? We've got the
Tower of the Ladies, the Palace of the Court of the Myrtles, the
Court of Lions, and many more. Are these the real names? Nope, all
made up later. How about the Hall of the Mocarabes, that is, the
Harem? Surely the harem? But no, another piece of fiction, or a guess
at best. There's no evidence at all. As the author Robert Irwin
states about the Alhambra's main palace, the Nasrid Palace, “We
simply do not know how this palace was inhabited.” He later goes on
to add: "We are dealing not so much with a body of knowledge as
with a body of wild guesses.”
The Alhambra's details, therefore, are
a bit of a mystery. But the wider picture is a little more clear. In
essence, the Alhambra is a combination of fortress, palaces, and
gardens, set atop a plateau about half a mile long but just 168 metres
at its widest. The rocky plateau is a baby offshoot from the snow-capped Sierra Nevada
mountain range which sit like a painted film set in the background. The fortress overlooks the extensive warren of cobbles and alleys that comprise
the city of Granada. The city's souvenir-lined - but still awfully
charming - streets make it clear that today it worships tourism, but
back in the day it worshipped Allah. From the early 8th to the late
15th Century, it was a Moorish city, the Moors essentially being what we called Spanish Muslims back in medieval times,
with the Alhambra going down in legend - this time a true one - as
the last Islamic palace in Spain.
For this Wonder visit, as well as my
wife, now a veteran of 27 Wonders, I was joined by my brother, Ian,
and his wife, Katherine, both on their official debuts. Ian brings
with him an uncommon knowledge of warfare and fortifications, and so
visiting a giant fortress - albeit one that never that never actually
saw a battle - was ideal, next only to anything Roman, of which his
knowledge of battle tactics would make him a military genius if only he'd lived 2000 years earlier. His next greatest
passion in life, as referred to in my Mont Saint-Michel review, are
flails, the handle with three spiked balls attached. Ever since his
disappointment, aged 14, at being cruelly denied ownership by our (surely unduly cautious. Surely?) parents, Ian's greatest wish in
life has been to own a flail, and he suggested that he would be
willing to give the Alhambra very high points if it sold one. Well, I
can officially reveal that the Alhambra... does not sell flails.
However, Granada does! We found a small shop in the centre with a
flail for sale. Ian's delight turned to pain, however, upon realising
that Easyjet would surely not allow this in his hand luggage. The
north of Scotland, at least, has been saved a messy, albeit
unintentional, massacre.
Ian knows a lot about fortifications
and big walls, and he was impressed by the Alhambra's. It would have
been almost impossible to defeat back in its time, the steep slope of
the cliff-side being lined with seriously heavy-duty walls. These days
the slopes are covered in trees, but Ian pointed out that this would
have been madness from a defensive point of view - it just gives any
invaders a place to hide, as well as material for fire or
construction. The Duke of Wellington, as well as famously defeating Napoleon, giving his name to New Zealand's capital city, and giving us
the Wellington boot, was responsible
for much of this, planting English elms in 1812. The Moors would have
had the area clear, or perhaps planted rose and myrtles in
some areas.
Whatever you can see today in the
Alhambra, it was primarily a fortress, and for many centuries only a
fortress. Its position on a rocky outcrop of land make it an obvious
choice for defence, and the very first records hinting at something being there date from the 8th
Century. By 860AD, there is mention of a Red Citadel. Probably - but
not definitely - this is where the name derives: Al-hamra in
Arabic means "the red", not referring to the citadel but to the reddish colour of the clay of the hill and surrounding land, which then of course were bare rather than full of green trees. Funnily
enough, the buildings of the Alhambra were whitewashed by the Moors, so the colours we'd have seen back then would be very different to what we see now: white-on-red rather than red-on-green. It wasn't really a
significant construction then, but by the 11th Century it was rebuilt
in a more significant manner by a new Moorish dynasty. But this version of the Alhambra was still nothing fancy, just some sturdy walls. The beginning of the
Alhambra we celebrate today starts a little later, with the definite date of 1238.
That
was when a man called Mohammed ibn Nasr moved into the old version of the
Alhambra. He was the founder and first sultan of a new dynasty - the
Nasrids. But it wasn't a good time for a new dynasty. The Moorish
rule in Spain had been falling apart for a couple of hundred years,
split by factions, then each separate principality being picked off
by a more organised and united Christian force. Despite making some initial territorial gains, ibn Nasr wasn't a match for the warpath of Ferdinand III of Castile. The Nasrid Kingdom of Granada was formed but all else was falling. With Cordoba being captured in 1236,
then Seville in 1248, it became the only Muslim territory remaining. The Moors as a force were
over. But yet, they survived another 250 years. Why? Because it was convenient for
the Christians. Granada effectively became a reservation for the
country's remaining Muslims, lacking any significant power but paying
tribute to the Christian monarchs.
Nonetheless, ibn Nasr had his kingdom, and upon moving in in 1238 he began to develop
the Alhambra into a fine palace and complex fit for a mighty sultan -
or a cowed and obedient one, at least. With 35 acres at his disposal,
as well as the expected big walls, there was room for six palaces, a
barracks, a mosque, a zoo, and a small town, accommodating anything
up to 40,000 people. This emerged over a couple of hundred years and
not all of this survives today, but it was a magnificent final fling
by the last Moors of Spain, a glorious tribute to their pride and
might at the very time their pride and might was lost. The glory of the Alhambra is tinged with more than a little irony.
The
Nasrid Palace is really a series of palaces, a complex of
palaces within itself, and is one of the clear highlights of the overall
Alhambra complex. We chose to first visit it at night. This is
touted as being a more mystical, evocative experience, although the
place is still overrun with tourists so I wouldn't exactly call it a
romantic moonlit stroll. Limited - although not that
limited - tickets are available daily, to restrict numbers, as the
individual rooms and courtyards of the palaces aren't massive: get a
few tour groups and some boisterous families and you've got yourself
a Versailles-style gridlock in a revolting orgy of tourist flesh. Instead, entry to the Nasrid
Palaces are drip-fed, groups of people let in every half hour. Sure,
even at night, you've got to strain yourself to imagine the Nasrid
sultans walking these quiet corridors of powers, pacing by the pools
of water and manicured lawns, gazing at the elaborate calligraphy
proclaiming the wonders of religion and circumcision,
pondering their rule; but it's not difficult to find yourself alone
in a room and enjoy a stolen sense of peace among beautiful
surroundings.
From
the outside, the Nasrid Palaces are pretty plain, and deliberately
so. Parallels have been made to the burka worn by some Muslim women
- anonymous and unassuming on the outside, designed for modesty. The
delights are inside, hidden for only the select few to see. Tourism
may well and truly have unveiled the Alhambra, but once upon a time
the beauty of the Nasrid Palaces would have been known only to a
select few. And they really are beautiful. I can safely say it is the
most gorgeous Islamic decoration I've ever seen, putting the (still
very nice) Ottoman stuff I saw recently in Istanbul in its place. With figurative art
effectively banned, Islamic art depends upon patterns and very
stylised Arabic calligraphy, and while I find it pretty, I often
don't find it that compelling. Not so with the Alhambra. Carved into the walls, the patterns are intricate and on a vast canvass. It's like
staring into a different world.
There
are various halls and courtyards and rooms and the majority of them
are filled with these wonderful carvings. Ceilings have huge stars
cut into them with giant domes rising above, lined with windows, and the eye is overwhelmed by an intricate honeycomb effect that appears to drip down like
geometrically-identical stalactites - the style of architecture is called mocarabes. Walls have poems and praise
etched into them, surrounded by exquisitely detailed abstract forms.
I have no idea of the meaning of it all, but the best art doesn't
demand understanding for appreciation - close up or gazed at as a
whole, it looks beautiful regardless. The interior of the Alhambra's
Nasrid Palaces is among the world's best art.
Part of it is textual. Much of the
decor is plaster and its harder cousin stucco, cool to the touch, seemingly
inviting you to trace the grooves of the pattern. Except, of course,
get a million tourists doing this every year and soon enough the
Alhambra will be worn away. Which is why, very cleverly, at various
stages throughout the palaces, these "touching boards" are
placed: the Alhambra is a Wonder for more than just the one sense.
Once, the rooms and corridors would
have been jam-packed full of lavish furnishings, but this is long
gone, the clutter once filling the corridors now replaced with a
thousand clicking cameras. I could have spent a lot longer examining
the lifetime of decoration within the palaces, but the Alhambra has
other distractions. Within the Nasrid Palaces are lots of very
pleasant little gardens, which are a prelude to the considerably more
extensive gardens outside. These gardens certainly existed in Moorish
time, but in a different and unknown for. All the gardens we see
today are anachronistic: it has been said that the gardens of the
Alhambra reflect the horticultural tastes of 1920s Spain. They are
very nice though.
On the day visit to the Nasrid Palaces, the exit deposited us at the foot of the gardens and we took a very enjoyable stroll among manicured bushes and well-placed flowers, all still guarded by mighty fortress walls clinging to the hillside. This stroll leads to the weirdly-named Generalife. Despite sounding like an insurance corporation, the name is actually derived from the Arabic "Jennat al Arif", which means "Garden of the Architect". Technically, this is outside the Alhambra complex, but it is directly linked and is an essential part of the experience, with UNESCO putting both under the same World Heritage site banner. It was simply a summer palace for the Nasrid sultans with lots of shade and water features to cool them in the heat. For visitors today, it's enough to just know: it's really pretty. And it gives some nice views of the Alhambra.
If the Nasrid Palaces and the various
gardens are two-thirds of the visiting experience, the final third is
certainly the alcazaba, or the fortifications. From afar, visually,
these are the dominant feature, and dominance is the impression they
were designed to give. For a forts-and-war lover like Ian, this was
the highlight of the Alhambra, and they may have been
so for me too. I've seen quite a few big walls, and they are always
hefty but necessarily functional things, but the Alhambra's were a
lot more impressive than I expected. The alcazaba doesn't go in for
the fancy flourishes of the Nasrid Palaces, inside or out, but it
doesn't need to: it's the beefy part of the Alhambra. It's also the
oldest part, some stuff dating from pre-Nasrid times, and with the
Alhambra ultimately being a fortress, it's the raison d'etre
of it all. Probably too, it's the most fun part of the visiting
experience. Climbing along defensive walls and up big towers, with
great views of Granada and the countryside - it's just good fun. It's
all very well admiring fine art and pretty flowers, but
sometimes you just want to climb up a big wall.
In the
past, the Alhambra would have contained a mosque, a zoo, a small
town, and whatever, but the 21st Century Alhambra is no longer an
exclusively Islamic complex, it's a Christian one too, not to mention
a capitalist one. In 1492, the Alhambra had what some might call "a
moment". It followed what others might call a "brainfart":
in 1481, the 22nd Nasrid sultan captured a Castile castle. Bad move,
Moors. It took eleven years, in fairness a pretty good defensive effort,
but eventually the Castilians had captured all Nasrid territory but
Alhambra itself. They surrounded, made some threats - and the sultan
gave up and let them in. He was packed off to a quiet estate where he couldn't do any more damage, although he soon went off to Morocco in exile and built a new palace, living till an old age. The Alhambra was spared.
And it
was considered quite a prize by Ferdinand and Isabella, who wanted
to keep it, and restored it using Muslim craftsmen. Adapted to Christian tastes, it was converted into a royal
palace, a status that remained until 1868 when it became state owned.
The following century, the old mosque was removed and replaced with a church. Their grandson, Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire (and also Charles I of the new Spanish Empire) continued this, and
got carried away with himself by building a gigantic Renaissance
palace right in the middle, one which he never bothered finishing or moving into. It
was only eventually completed in the 20th Century. Most
people regard his palace as a bit of a blot on the landscape, but I
rather like it. It's pompous and unsubtle from the outside, but
inside... it's really unusual. A big square block on the outside,
inside it turns into an open circular courtyard, a balcony running
along the inside making it look like an arena.
From the 17th Century, the Alhambra was
hit by earthquakes and fires and was used as a prison and an animal
pen. Tourists stole "souvenirs" in the 19th Century, and
Napoleon tried to blow the whole thing up. Frustrated by his attempts
to rule the Spanish, he blew up parts of the walls and towers as he
retreated, and it took the bravery of a Spanish soldier to cut the
fuses of more explosives, that would have given the complex a
Hollywood-style finale - or so a legend has it anyway. It was declared a national
monument in 1820, but this didn't prevent some very reckless
attempts at restoration in the 19th and 20th Centuries, which did
little to even attempt authenticity; one such restorer, Leopoldo
Torres Balbas took so many liberties
that he could now legitimately be regarded as an "original"
architect of the Alhambra. In 1984, it was made a UNESCO World
Heritage Site, which means it's in much safer hands.
There's still room for a couple of discreet hotels in the overall
grounds though.
As a tourist, the Alhambra is both a
terrific and very frustrating experience. It's terrific because,
despite being a popular attraction, there's the space to dilute the
numbers. Sometimes it feels crowded, but it's never as bad as
Versailles or the Cristo Redentor. There's a lot of variety and
plenty to see. The frustration comes with the poor organisation and
lack of information available. Collecting our night ticket at the main gate -
after waiting ages behind a queue of others collecting theirs from
the single ticket machine available - we waited almost an hour before
it became apparent we had to go to an entirely different entrance
point to find the Nasrid Palaces. Danielle asked a security guard,
who basically did little more than grunt - and gave her entirely
wrong information. Finding an audio guide proved impossible - a solo
girl standing outside the Charles V Palace was dispensing them, but
at no point during the day were any available. She kept telling me to
try again later, when someone returned theirs. It looked like she
only had enough space for twenty - given that thousands visit
daily and that a visit can take many hours, this is a peculiar
oversight. Information boards around the site are also sorely lacking
- it would be entirely possible to visit the Alhambra and be none the
wiser as to what it is. Added to that the number of buildings, areas,
and gardens cordoned off without explanation or apparent good
reason, and we've got a tremendous site badly run.
I often find that fortifications, or
other such sprawling complexes, can lack focus. Variety is all very
nice, but it can reduce a potential Wonder to being "bitty".
A more focussed grandeur usually impresses more. Agra Fort, for
example, was a collection of nice buildings with great historical
importance but little visual oomph. Edinburgh Castle certainly has
visual oomph, from a distance, but the numerous buildings that
comprise it are less compelling as a visit. The Alhambra avoids these pitfalls.
From a distance, it looks great. Stand on the popular viewpoint of Mirador de San Nicolas facing the Alhambra - wow, it looks great: a jumbled mass of walls and turrets and
places, surrounded by woods as though floating on a cloud of trees.
Close up, it has some great set pieces, with enough variety to never
become dull. The Forbidden City, to pull another example, has a
series of majestic pavilions, but after the third near-identical one,
it's getting a little samey; add to that about a thousand smaller
versions and a trace of boredom seeps in. But the Alhambra isn't more
of the same, it has interesting and varied set pieces. I like the
mish-mash of Islamic and Christian styles, although the Islamic stuff
is a lot more interesting. Even a child would like the walls and
towers, and maybe the gardens too; probably not the detailed
calligraphy, I'll grant you; if so, you've got a weird kid.
At the same time though, the Nasrids'
focus on internal beauty rather than external means that - as they
intended of course, they weren't trying to impress me
after all - from the outside, the palaces aren't a knockout. They
look like a continuation of the fortifications. The fortifications,
although impressive, aren't particularly any more recognisable than other
walls - most forts are built on hills. The very best Wonders have an
unworldly charm, as though testing the possibilities of mankind,
whether artistically or technically, and from the outside the
Alhambra doesn't really have this (from the inside though, I think it
could be argued that the Nasrid Palaces do). It's just a really
big, really great, really interesting fort.
Some criteria then.
Size: The highest tower is 46 metres high, but the Alhambra is more about sprawl and bulk, taking up 35 acres, and with some big boy defensive walls. It takes up a
hilltop basically - that's big enough, I think.
Engineering: A succession of
additions and changes, all done extremely competently but without
pushing boundaries.
Artistry: The interior of the
Nasrid Palaces is exquisite. The complex's form otherwise is
functional, but nonetheless impressive.
Age: With 9th Century roots, but
what we see essentially dates from the 13th Century.
Fame/Iconicity: I wonder about
this one. It pulls in large crowds, and is one of Spain's best known
attractions. But is it world known? I don't think so, probably
because it doesn't have that visual stamp of identity that the
world's best known have.
Context: On
a hill, overlooking the delightful city of Granada, with the awesome
Sierra Nevada range in the background. Wonderful surroundings.
Back Story: A fascinating tale
of Spain in very different times, with its last remaining Islamic
power, surrounded by myths and mysteries.
Originality: The
Nasrid Palace interiors excepted, not particularly so, but done on a
grand scale.
Wow Factor: It
makes for an impressive first glimpse, followed by many moments more
of taking in the sight, noticing more details, appreciating it in the
context of its surroundings. A good wow moment, in other words.
The
Alhambra is great. It is never boring. From a distance, it looks
gorgeous in its setting; close up, it offers plenty to enjoy and
admire. If you visit Granada and the Alhambra and you don't have a great time, then you've done something wrong. As a Wonder, it
overcomes many of the pitfalls that fortifications do, but I wouldn't say
it quite transcends its roots. Although with many fabulous details
and interesting quirks, it is still, from the outside, a fortress,
and looks a lot like other fortresses. And that's the chief reason it
can't be included among the very biggest hitters. Nonetheless, as I've
said, it's great, and so I would wedge it in between two of London's big hitters, just below the Houses of Parliament and above St Paul's Cathedral.
Marvels
Notable Landmarks (or National Wonders)
The Seven Wonders of the World So
Far
1. Taj Mahal
2. Great Wall of
China
3. Machu Picchu
4. Easter Island
5. Mont Saint-Michel
6. The Eiffel
Tower
7. The Millau Viaduct
7. The Millau Viaduct
Other Wonders
Angkor Wat
Bagan
Hagia
Sophia
Sydney Opera House
Borobudur
Marvels
Chartres Cathedral
The Houses of
Parliament and Big Ben
The Alhambra
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Paris
Meteora
Meteora
The Parthenon
Cristo Redentor
The Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles
Carcassonne
Ellora
The
Blue Mosque
Akshardham
Petronas Towers
Notable Landmarks (or National Wonders)
The Golden
Temple
Amiens Cathedral
Amiens Cathedral
Shwedagon Pagoda
Forbidden City
Edinburgh Castle
Thiepval Memorial
Thiepval Memorial
Tower Bridge
The Sacre-Coeur
Bodhi Tataung
Standing Buddha
Banaue Rice
Terraces
Temple of the
Emerald Buddha
Interesting
Places
Terracotta Army
Leshan Giant Buddha
Nazca Lines
Marina Bay Sands
Non-essential
Agra Fort
Ayutthaya Historic
Park
Lotus Temple
Three Gorges Dam
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