fortress. Like all the other towers of the Alhambra, it is built of
concrete, the jambs of the doorway being of white marble, and the
elegant horseshoe arch and spandrils of brick.
The Gate of Justice was erected in 1338 by the Sultán Yúsuf, and was so
called because (in accordance with ancient practice all over the East)
the Kings of Granada occasionally sat under it to administer justice to
every class of their subjects. The hand and key, which are seen in
relievo upon the stone, have given rise to a variety of conjectures,
more or less plausible.
The quaint open hand, carved over the outer arch, has a talismanic and
Arabian Nights effect. Some authorities say it typifies the hand of God,
the symbol of power and providence; others suppose it to be a type of
the five commandments of Islam--to fast; to give alms; to smite the
infidel; to make the pilgrimage to Mecca; and to perform purifications.
But it is, in all likelihood, the old Roman talisman against the Evil
Eye, such as we see in coral on Neapolitan lockets. The Evil Eye is
especially dreaded by Orientals, and the Spaniards tremble at its
influence even now.[8]
Over the inner arch is a sculptured key: there was an old legend
believed in through the centuries anterior to the Expulsion, that the
Christians would never take the “red castle” until the outer hand had
grasped the inner key. It was also agreed that the key was an emblem of
the Prophet’s power to open the gates of hell or heaven. The truth is,
that the key was an old Cufic emblem, intimating Allah’s power to open
the hearts of true believers. It was also a badge on the Almohades’
banners, and is seen in many Moorish castles.
[Illustration: THE GATE OF JUSTICE, ERECTED BY YÚSUF I.]
Washington Irving says of these strange symbols: “According to
tradition, the hand and key were magical devices on which the fate of
the Alhambra depended. The Moorish king who built it was a great
magician, or, as some believed, had sold himself to the devil, and had
laid the whole fortress under an evil spell. By this means it had
remained standing for several hundred years, in defiance of storms and
earthquakes, whilst almost all other buildings of the Moors had fallen
to ruin and disappeared. This spell, the tradition went on to say, would
last until the hand on the outer arch should reach down and grasp the
key, when the whole pile would tumble to pieces, and all the treasures
buried beneath it by the Moors would be revealed.”
SALA DEL TRIBUNAL--HALL OF JUSTICE.
The Hall of Justice has three court-rooms, or apses, now blazoned with
the royal Spanish badges of the yoke and the bundle of arrows, familiar
to us as the badge of Katharine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and
Isabella, the first queen of our much-married monarch, Henry VIII.
Of the many beautiful arches which adorn the Palace, the one forming the
entrance to the central alcove, or divan, of the Hall of Justice is
perhaps the most remarkable; the exquisite form of the arch and
richly-ornamented spandril with the poetic inscription which encloses
it--“May power everlasting and imperishable glory be the destiny of the
owner of this Palace”--and the slender porcelaine columns from which it
springs, exciting the deepest admiration.
In this Hall are the famous paintings on leather, ascribed to the end of
the fourteenth century. The painting of a group of Moslems, apparently
congregated in Council, merits close attention, as giving the veritable
costume of the Moors in Granada of the fourteenth century, at which
period the delineations were certainly made, and, in all probability, by
an Italian artist working under Moslem direction. Other paintings
portray various chivalrous or amatory subjects; or they may be taken to
represent romantic episodes as legendary as the story of the Chinese
lovers on a willow-pattern plate. One scene (see p. 47) represents a
wicked magician, or wild man of the woods,
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE AND COURT OF THE LIONS.]
coercing a Christian maiden, who, nevertheless, is holding a docile lion
by a leading chain; the compliant animal meanwhile permitting domestic
fowl and other pretty wantons to play undismayed around him. A Christian
warrior on horseback makes short work of the wild man; but, alas! for
the maiden, a valiant Moor comes galloping up, at once transfixes the
Christian rescuer with his spear, and presumably claims the beautiful
captive as the reward of his prowess. This episode of a Moor killing a
Christian may be taken as a strong presumption of the paintings being
wrought under Mohammedan influence, as it appears most unlikely that it
would have been so represented by a Spaniard after the conquest of
Granada. Some spectators in the upper chamber of a tower in the
background seem to heartily approve of the whole proceeding.
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE.]
However fantastic these pictures may be, they are at least unique, and,
as such, must be regarded with the utmost interest. We may conjecture
that the painter fell into the hands of the Moors by the fortune of war;
or, on the other hand, came by invitation to Granada.
Much difference of opinion exists amongst writers who have described the
Alhambra with respect to these three curious paintings on leather which
are found in the domes of the alcoves of the Hall of Justice. It is said
by many that they are not the work of Moorish artists, but were executed
posterior to the Conquest of Granada by Spanish painters. This opinion
is founded chiefly on the injunctions contained in the Korán, forbidding
the representation of animated beings; but that this law was disregarded
by the builders of the Alhambra is fully proved by the fountain of the
Court of Lions, and the bas-relief which forms part of a fountain now in
the Museum of the Palace.
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE, SHOWING FOUNTAIN OF COURT OF THE LIONS.]
There is evidently much more analogy between these paintings and the
bas-relief than between them and the works of the Spaniards after the
Expulsion; witness the bas-reliefs from the royal chapel of Granada,
built by Ferdinand and Isabella, which represent their entrance into the
Alhambra, and evidently belong to a later period of Art.
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE.]
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE AND PART OF COURT OF THE LIONS.]
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE.--THREE FIGURES FROM THE PICTURE OF THE
MOORISH TRIBUNAL.]
The ornaments, moreover, which are introduced into these paintings are
strictly of a Moorish character.
The subject on the centre alcove is considered by the Spaniards to
represent a Tribunal, whence they have called this Hall. From the
different colours of the beards and dresses of the figures, they would
appear to represent the chiefs of the
[Illustration: PART OF PICTURE IN THE HALL OF JUSTICE REPRESENTING A
CHRISTIAN KNIGHT RESCUING A MAIDEN FROM A WICKED MAGICIAN, OR
WILD-MAN-O’-THE-WOODS. THE CHRISTIAN KNIGHT IS, IN TURN, SLAIN BY A
MOORISH WARRIOR.]
tribes of Granada. One head traced from this picture is given on page
48.
These paintings are of bright colours, but in flat tints, without
shadow, and were first drawn in outline of a brown colour. They are
painted on skins of animals sewn together, and nailed to the wooden
dome; a fine coating of gypsum forming the surface to receive the
painting. The ornaments on the gold ground are in relief.
PAINTING ON THE CEILING OF THE LEFT ALCOVE.
To determine whether the subject of this picture be legendary or
historical is difficult. Christians appear to be engaged in hunting the
lion and the bear, while the Moslems confine their attentions to the
wild boar. The spoils of the chase are presented at the feet of both
Christian and Moslem ladies--the humility with which the Christian
knight, who is upon his knees, offers his share of the spoil to his
lady, may be contrasted with the more commanding attitude of the Moslem,
as finely exhibiting the estimation in which women were held by their
respective nations. Many hounds--one of which has the luck to fall in
with a stray fox--take part in the
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE.--MOOR’S HEAD.
(_From a tracing by M. Jules Goury, a celebrated French architect, from
the painting representing a Moorish Tribunal._)]
chase, and the ladies are attended by lap-dogs. The huntsmen are on
horseback and on foot. When the wild boar is slain, he is hoisted on the
back of a mule by attendants, and borne triumphantly home. A great
variety of birds and trees--amid the branches of which monkeys partially
conceal themselves--make up the various scenes. In spite of the want of
perspective, there is much spirit in the details, and the female figures
especially are most graceful.
That these unique relics should be taken from their present
[Illustration: FAÇADE, COURT OF THE MOSQUE, BUILT BY YÚSUF I.]
[Illustration: “WA LA GHÁLIB ILA ALÁ!”--THERE IS NO CONQUEROR BUT
GOD!--THE FAMOUS MOTTO OF MOHAMMED I. AND HIS SUCCESSORS. AN EXAMPLE
FROM THE HALL OF AMBASSADORS.]
[Illustration: ELEVATION OF THE ANCIENT GATE OF JUSTICE.]
[Illustration: 1. SECTION OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE (_looking East_).]
[Illustration: 2. SECTION OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE (_looking towards the
Court of the Lions_).]
[Illustration: PAINTING ON THE CEILING OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE. No 1.]
[Illustration: PAINTING ON THE CEILING OF THE HALL OF JUSTICE.]
[Illustration: PART OF PICTURE IN THE HALL OF JUSTICE.--THE MOOR’S
RETURN FROM HUNTING.]
[Illustration: HALL OF JUSTICE--THE DEATH OF THE LION AT THE HANDS OF A
CHRISTIAN KNIGHT.]
[Illustration: PART OF PICTURE IN HALL OF JUSTICE.--MOORISH HUNTSMAN
SLAYING THE WILD BOAR.]
position and preserved under glass, is a consummation devoutly to be
wished.
LAS DOS HERMANAS--THE TWO SISTERS.
Perhaps the most interesting, as it certainly is the loveliest apartment
in this palace of enchantment, is the HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS, a title,
the guide books would fain have us believe,
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS, FROM THE COURT OF
THE LIONS.]
conferred by reason of two enormous slabs of white marble laid in the
pavement, precisely alike in form, and without flaw or stain; but the
surpassing splendour of this chamber forbids us to accept a reason so
inadequate for the designation. There is nothing so very extraordinary
in two huge blocks of stone, be they never so faultless; that is only a
matter of quarrying: if such objects are to excite wonder, we may turn,
with more profit, to the Pyramids of Egypt. Let us rather concern
ourselves with the beauty and symmetry of this unequalled spot.
First, then, the gate of the tower exceeds all other gates in
[Illustration: HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS, FROM ENTRANCE DOOR.]
profusion of ornament, and in the beauty of the prospect from the
entrance through a range of apartments, where a multitude of arches
terminate in a large window affording a view of open country. In
sunshine, the variety of tints thrown upon this _enfilade_ are
surprisingly beautiful. In all probability the Hall of The Two Sisters
formed part of the private apartments of the Moorish kings. The alcoves,
or divans, on either side of the Hall, with the charming retiring rooms
on the upper floor, give it the character of a residence; just as the
Hall of Ambassadors, as its aspect shows, and its traditional name
implies, was destined only for public receptions. It may reasonably be
declared that the Hall of The Two Sisters, together with the corridors
and alcoves which surround it, cannot be equalled even by other parts of
the Palace. Its stalactite ceilings are the most perfect examples
remaining of this curious and interesting kind of decoration. To
preserve them, the outer walls are raised ten feet above the dome, and
support an encasing roof over all. Nothing can exceed the glory of the
honeycomb vaultings, with thousands of fantastic cell formations, each
one differing from the other, yet all combining in uniformity. The
effect
[Illustration: HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
is as if the architect had been assisted in his work by swarms of
Brobdingnagian bees.
At the upper end of the Hall of The Two Sisters, but separated from it
by a corridor, is an alcove, once overlooking a beautiful garden, as we
learn from a verse in the room. It is known as The _Mirador_ or Balcony
of “Lindaraja.” On this favoured spot the poets, painters, and
architects of that day lavished their most exalted efforts. All the
varieties of form and colour which adorn other portions of the Palace
have here been blended with the happiest effect. The delighted observer
is spell-bound, and finds it difficult to remove himself from the
fascination of the place.
The lattice window of the upper story gives light to a corridor leading
to apartments appropriated to the fair odalisques. It was through these
lattices that the beauties of the hareem viewed
[Illustration: UPPER BALCONY OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
the splendid fêtes enacted for their entertainment in the great hall
below, but in which they could participate only as distant spectators.
These gratings are precisely similar in their construction to those
which are now seen in the hareems of the East.
The long series of inscriptions in the Hall of The Two Sisters were much
mutilated, and in some cases utterly destroyed, in a barbarous attempt
at decoration--_rien n’est sacré pour un sapeur_--made by the
Ayuntamiento of Granada in 1832, when the Infante, Don Francisco de
Paula visited the city. Fortunately, so far as the text goes, the
sentences may be found in _Antigüedades Arabes de España_.[9] The
greatest pains have been expended upon the inscriptions which address
themselves to the eye of the connoisseur by the beautiful forms of the
characters; exercise his intellect by the effort of deciphering their
curious and
[Illustration: HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS, FROM THE “LINDARAJA” BALCONY.]
complex involutions, and reward his imagination by the beauty of the
sentiments and the music of their composition.
Many will be grateful to see some specimens of the verses from the Hall
of The Two Sisters:--
“I am the garden, and every morn am I revealed in new beauty. Observe
attentively how I am adorn’d, and thou wilt reap the benefit of a
commentary on decoration;
“For, by Allah! the elegant structures around me assuredly surpass all
other edifices by the happy presage attending their foundation.
“How many delightful prospects I enfold! Prospects, in the contemplation
of which a mind enlightened finds the gratification of its desire.
“Look upon this wonderful cupola, at sight of whose perfection all other
domes must pale and disappear;
“To which the Constellation of the Twins extends the hand of salutation;
and, for communion, the Full Moon deserts her station in the heavens.
“Nay, more; were they to take these aisles for their abiding place,
those heavenly bodies would render constant homage to their beauty.
“No wonder, then, if the stars grow pale in their high stations, and if
a limit be put to the duration of their light.
“Here also behold the portico, unfolding every beauty. Indeed, had this
palace no other ornament, it would still surpass the firmament in
splendour:
“For manifold are the gorgeous habilaments in which thou, O Sultán! hast
arrayed it, surpassing in brilliancy the lustrous robes of Yemen!
“To look at them, one would imagine them to be planets revolving in
their orbits, and throwing into shade the sunburst of morning.
“Here are columns ornamented to absolute perfection; the beauty of which
has become glorified: columns
[Illustration: BALCONY OF THE FAVOURITE, “LINDARAJA.”]
[Illustration: DETAILS OF THE GLAZED TILES IN THE DADO OF THE HALL OF
THE TWO SISTERS.]
“Which, when struck by the earliest beam celestial, may be likened,
notwithstanding their vastness, to many blocks of pearl.
“Indeed, there is no palace more imposing in its elevation, nor so
brilliantly decorated; nor having more extensive apartments;
“They may be compared to markets where the richest comers are overpaid
in beauty, and where the arbiter of elegance presides eternally to
pronounce his award;
“And where the sigh of the zephyr is inhaled by the noontide ray whose
scintillating beam is more refulgent than all other light.
“Between myself and the most high fortune the closest relationship
exists, and the greatest resemblance between us lies in the splendour of
our destiny.
“Every art has laid its gifts upon me; nay, all have united in
conferring perfection.
“By those who are permitted to behold me I am regarded as the Queen of
Beauty who bestoweth the prize upon her well-beloved;
“Indeed, when the enraptured observer has feasted his eyes upon me, he
will find reality surpassing the most extravagant flights of fancy;
“He will see the moon-beam start from my orbs, and its scintillation
leave me only to enter the mansions of the blest.
“The palace is a palace of transparent crystal; it appears to be
illimitable as the boundless ocean;
“And yet I am not the sole marvel of this heaven upon earth; for I
overlook with ecstacy a garden, the like of which no human eye has
contemplated.
“I was built by the Imam Ibn Nasr. May Allah uphold his majesty as a
pattern to other kings!”
The last half-dozen verses, printed _supra_, are inscribed on the jambs
of the doorway which gives entrance to the exquisite little chamber
already described. The windows of the _Mirador_ still overlook the
garden eulogised in the penultimate verse. The dado of the Hall of The
Two Sisters is a most beautiful Mosaic, presenting the same general form
on all four sides of the Hall, but differing considerably in the filling
up of the patterns.
[Illustration: THE FAVOURITE’S BALCONY.]
In the Hall of The Two Sisters formerly stood the famous Arab vase (_el
jarro_) [see pp. 77 and 95] which tradition says was discovered in one
of the subterranean chambers of the palace, “full of gold.” It is now
placed in the Museum. The vase is of the fourteenth century, and is
exquisitely enamelled in white, blue and gold. The decorations are
Hispano-Moresque, and are fully described in the work on pottery by
Peter Davillier. Another lovely amphora, is engraved in the Spanish work
_Antigüedades Arabes de España_,[10] the equal, indeed, the companion
[Illustration: EL JARRO. THE ARABIAN VASE AND NICHE IN WHICH IT FORMERLY
STOOD, HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS. THE VASE, CONSIDERABLY MUTILATED, IS NOW
IN THE MUSEUM OF THE PALACE. (_See p. 95._)]
[Illustration: HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
[Illustration: VIEW IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
[Illustration: DETAIL OF THE UPPER STORY, HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
[Illustration: SECTION OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS, AND]
[Illustration: SECTION OF PART OF THE COURT OF THE LIONS.]
[Illustration: INSCRIPTION IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
[Illustration: INSCRIPTIONS IN THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
[Illustration: PANEL, ORNAMENT, AND INSCRIPTIONS IN THE HALL OF THE TWO
SISTERS.]
[Illustration: DETAILS ON THE FRONT OF “LINDARAJA’S” BALCONY.]
[Illustration: EL JARRO. ARAB VASE OF METALLIC LUSTRE, PROBABLY FROM THE
BALEARIC ISLES (MAJORCA). THIS VASE NOW STANDS IN THE MUSEUM OF THE
PALACE.]
[Illustration: PLATE I.
No. 1.
Ornament in panels on the Walls, Hall of the Ambassadors.]
[Illustration: PLATE II.
No. 2.
Soffit of an arch, Court of the Fishpond.]
[Illustration: PLATE III.
No. 3.
Ornament over doorway at the entrance, Court of the Lions.]
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
No. 4.
Ornament in doorway at the entrance to the Ventana, Hall of the Two
Sisters.]
[Illustration: PLATE V.
No. 5.
Ornament on the side of windows, upper story, Hall of the Two Sisters.]
[Illustration: PLATE VI.
No. 6.
Ornament in spandrils of arches, Hall of the Two Sisters.
No. 7.
Ornaments in spandrils of arches, Hall of the Abencerrages]
[Illustration: PLATE VII.
No. 8.
Ornaments in panels, Hall of the Ambassadors.]
[Illustration: PLATE VIII.
No. 9.
Ornaments in panels, Court of the Mosque.]
[Illustration: DETAILS AT THE EXIT OF THE HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
to _el jarro_, formerly existed in the Palace, but it was unfortunately
broken about the year 1837, and the pieces sold to a passing traveller.
It is here figured from Murphy’s _Arabian Antiquities_, 1815.
[Illustration: AN ARAB VASE OF THE XIVTH CENTURY IN THE NICHE WHEREIN IT
STOOD UNTIL THE YEAR 1837.]
The Hall of The Two Sisters fairly intoxicates one with the fragile yet
imperishable beauty of the place. The eye soars upward, and flutters in
and out of those flower-cup cells which seem the first creative types of
some fresh world. Architects--Owen Jones amongst the number--inform us
that the thing is very simple: it is a beauty put together by mere
receipt proceeding from three primary figures--the right-angled
triangle, the rectangle, and the isosceles triangle: capable of millions
of combinations, just like the three primary colours, or the seven notes
of the musical scale. “A simple receipt,” says an anonymous writer on
the glories of the Alhambra; “but who, nowadays,
[Illustration: MOSAIC IN DADO OF THE ENTRANCE TO THE HALL OF THE TWO
SISTERS.]
can cook anything like it?” The same writer goes on to say that in
devising the Alhambra, the Moors were always thinking of the Arab tent.
They wanted air and lightness. The marble pillars are the tent spears,
but of stone. The net-work lace veil that filigrees every wall with
cobwebs of harmonious colour, is the old tent tapestry, the
Córdovan-stamped leather hangings are the Indian shawls that canopied
the wandering and victorious horseman’s tent. They wanted mere pendant
flowers woven together into roof and gossamer-pierced panels that
hardly
[Illustration: MOSAIC IN DADO OF RECESS, HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
[Illustration: MOSAIC IN DADO, HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS.]
arrest the air. Everything must float and sway; they would not bar out
the chirp of the dripping silver water. They thinned and shaved the
pillars till they were no longer cylinders of marble, but tender
saplings, or flower-stalks, slender as spear-shafts. The spandrils are
not corbelled beams, faced with gargoyle monsters, but perforated
supports as to some fairy’s cabinet. There is nothing to hold up, only
ivory-patterned walls, and a honeycombed dome that seems to float in
mid-air.
HALL OF THE ABENCERRAGES.
Here it is said that thirty-six cavaliers of the heroic line of
Abencerrage were sacrificed to appease the jealousy or allay the fears
of a tyrant. The fountain ran red with the noblest blood of Granada; and
a deep stain on the marble pavement is pointed out by the _cicerone_ of
the pile as a sanguinary record of the massacre. The discolourations
must be regarded with the same perfect faith with which one looks upon
the traditional stains of Rizzio’s blood on the floor of the chamber of
the unhappy Queen Mary at Holyrood. Who desires to be sceptical on such
points of popular belief? The enlightenment of the happy reader of De
Foe’s immortal romance--happy in the masterly illusion of the
author--robbed him of one of the chief delights of his life. If there is
any country in Europe where it is easy to live in the romantic and
fabulous traditions of the past, it is in legendary, proud-spirited,
romantic Spain, where the old, magnificent, barbaric spirit even now
contends with modern innovation.