The city of Granada[252] has twelve gates; and is about eight miles
round, defended by high walls, flanked with a multitude of towers. Its
situation is of a mixed kind; some parts of it being upon the mountain,
and other parts in the plain. The mountainous part stands upon three
small eminences; the one is called Albrezzin; which was inhabited by the
Moors that were driven out of Baezza by the Christians. The second is
called Alcazebe; and the third Alhambra. This last is separated from the
other parts by a valley, through which the river Darro runs; and it is
also fortified with strong walls, in such a manner as to command all the
rest of the city. The greatest part of this fortified spot of ground is
taken up with a most sumptuous palace of the Moorish kings. This palace
is built with square stones of great dimensions; and is fortified with
strong walls and prodigious large towers; and the whole is of such an
extent as to be capable of holding a very numerous garrison. The outside
has exactly the appearance of an immense romantic old castle; but it is
exceedingly magnificent within.
But before we enter, we must take notice of a remarkable piece of
sculpture over the great gate; there is the figure of a large key of a
castle-gate, and at some distance above it, there is an arm reaching
towards it; and the signification of this emblematical marble
basso-relief is this:--that the castles will never be taken till the arm
can reach the key.
Upon entering, not only the portico is of marble, but the apartments
also are incrusted with marble, jasper, and porphyry, and the beams
curiously carved, painted, and gilt; and the ceilings ornamented with
pieces of foliage in stucco. The next place you come to is an
oblong-square court, paved with marble, at each angle of which there is
a fountain, and in the middle there is a very fine canal of running
water. The baths and chambers, where they cooled themselves and reposed,
are incrusted with alabaster and marble. There is an exceeding venerable
tower, called La Toure Comazey; in which are noble saloons, and fine
apartments; and all perfectly well supplied with water. In the time of
the Moors, there was a kind of espalier, or cut hedge of myrtle,
accompanied with a row of orange trees, which went round the canal.
From thence you pass into an exceeding fine square, which is called the
Square of Lions, from a noble fountain, which is adorned with twelve
lions cut in marble, pouring out a vast torrent of water at its mouth;
and when the water is turned off, and ceases to run, if you whisper ever
so low at the mouth of any one of them, you may hear what is said by
applying your ear to the mouth of any one of the rest. Above the lions,
there is another basin, and a grand jet-d'eau. The court is paved with
marble, and has a portico quite round it, which is supported by one
hundred and seventeen high columns of alabaster. In one of the saloons,
if you whisper ever so low, it will be distinctly heard at the further
end; and this they call the Chamber of Secrets. This sumptuous palace
was built by Mahomed Mir, king of Granada, in 1278.
"There is no part of the edifice," says Washington Irving, "that gives
us a more complete idea of its original beauty and magnificence, than
the Hall of Lions, for none has suffered so little from the ravages of
time. In the centre stands the fountain, famous in song and story. The
alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops; and the twelve lions,
which support them, cast forth their crystal streams as in the days of
Boabdil. The court is laid out in flower-beds, surrounded by high
Arabian arcades of open filagree work, supported by slender pillars of
white marble. The architecture, like that of all the other parts of the
palace, is characterised by elegance rather than grandeur; bespeaking a
delicate and graceful taste, and a disposition to indolent enjoyment.
When one looks upon the fair tracery of the peristyles, and the
apparently fragile fretwork of the walls, it is difficult to believe
that so much has survived the wear and tear of centuries, the shock of
earthquakes, the violence of war, and the quiet and no less baneful
pilfering of the tasteful traveller.
There is a Moorish tradition, that a king who built this mighty pile was
skilled in the occult sciences, and furnished himself with gold and
silver for the purpose by means of alchymy; certainly never was there an
edifice accomplished in a superior style of barbaric magnificence; and
the stranger who, even at the present day, wanders among its silent and
deserted courts and ruined halls, gazes with astonishment at its gilded
and fretted domes and luxurious decorations, still retaining their
brilliancy and beauty in spite of the ravages of time.
The Alhamr[=a], usually, but erroneously, denominated the Alhambra, is a
vast pile of building about two thousand three hundred English feet in
length; and its breadth, which is the same throughout, is about six
hundred feet. It was erected by M[=u]hammed Ab[=u] Abdill[=a]h, surnamed
Algh[=a]lib Bill[=a]h, who superintended the edifice himself, and, when
it was completed, made it the royal residence.
Although the glory and prosperity of Granada may be said to have
departed with its old inhabitants, yet, happily, it still retains, in
pretty good preservation, what formed its chief ornament in the time of
the Moors. This is the Alhambra, the royal alcazar, or fortress and
palace, which was founded by M[=u]hammed Ab[=u]. Abdill[=a]h Ben Nasz,
the second sovereign of Granada, defrayed the expense of the works by a
tribute imposed upon his conquered subjects. He superintended the
building in person, and when it was completed, he made it a royal
residence[253]. The immediate successors of this prince also took
delight in embellishing and making additions to the fabric. Since the
conquest of Granada by the Christians, the Alhambra has undergone some
alterations. It was for a time occasionally inhabited by the kings of
Spain. Charles the Fifth caused a magnificent palace to be commenced
within the walls; but owing to his wars and frequent absences from
Spain, or, as some accounts say, to repeated shocks of earthquakes, a
splendid suite of apartments, in the Spanish style, is all that resulted
from an alleged intention to eclipse the palace of the Moslem kings.
Like the rest of the Alhambra, it is falling rapidly to decay through
neglect. At present the walls are defaced, the paintings faded, the
wood-work is decayed, and festoons of cobwebs are seen hanging from the
ceiling. In the works of the Arabs, on the contrary, the walls remain
unaltered, except by the injuries inflicted by the hand of man. The
beams and wood-work of the ceiling present no signs of decay; and
spiders, flies, and all other insects, shun their apartments at every
season. The art of rendering timber and paints durable, and of making
porcelain, mosaics, arabesques, and other ornaments, began and ended in
western Europe with the Spanish Arabs.
The palace has had no royal residents since the beginning of the last
century, when Philip the Fifth was there for a short time with his
queen.
The Alhambra is generally spoken of as a palace, but it is to be
understood, that, in the extensive sense, the name applies to a
fortress, a sort of city in itself.
The palace, situated upon the northern brow of a steep hill, overlooks
the city of Granada on one side, and on the other commands an extensive
view over a most charming country. All the wonders of this palace lie
within its walls. Externally, according to the account of Swinburne, it
appears as a large mass of irregular buildings, all huddled together
without any apparent intention of forming _one_ habitation. The walls
are entirely unornamented, of gravel and pebbles coarsely daubed over
with plaster. We cannot trace the successive courts and apartments,
through which the visiter passes as he penetrates to the interior, or
attempt to enumerate their separate claims to notice.
The general arrangement of the buildings which compose the palace is
exceedingly simple. The courts, for instance, which in our mansions are
dull and uninteresting, are here so planned, as to seem a continuation
of a series of apartments; and as the whole is on the same level
throughout, the prospect through the building, in its perfect state,
must have been like a scene of enchantment or a dream; halls and
galleries, porticoes and columns, arches, mosaics, with plants and
flowers of various hues, being seen in various extensive views, through
the haze arising from the spray of the fountains. In every part of the
palace its inmates had water in abundance, with a perfect command over
it, making it high, low, visible, or invisible, at pleasure.
In every department two currents of air were continually in motion.
Also, by means of tubes of baked earth placed in the walls, warmth was
diffused from subterranean furnaces; not only through the whole range of
the baths, but to all the contiguous upper apartments where warmth was
required. The doors were large, but rather sparingly introduced; and,
except on the side towards the precipice, where the prospect is very
grand, the windows are so placed as to confine the view to the interior
of the palace. The object of this is declared in an inscription in one
of the apartments, which says--"My windows admit the light, but exclude
the view of external objects, lest the beauties of Nature should divert
attention from the beauties of my work."
In this mansion the elaborate arabesques and mosaics which cover the
ceilings, walls, and floor, give a consequence and interest even to the
smallest apartment. Instead of being papered and wainscoted, the walls
are provided with the peculiar ornament which, from the Arabs, has been
denominated "arabesque." The receding ornaments are illuminated in just
gradation with leaf-gold, pink, light blue, and dusky purple: the first
colour is the nearest, the last is the most distant, from the eye; but
the general surface is white. The domes and arcades are also covered
with ornamented casts, which are as light as wood, and as durable as
marble.
Besides the inscriptions above alluded to, there are various others. In
the king's bath, and in various other parts of the Alhambra, is, "There
is no conqueror but God;" and "Glory to our Lord, Sultan Ab[=u]
Abdall[=a]h!"
Over the principal door of the golden saloon, or hall of ambassadors:
"By the sun and its rising brightness; by the moon, when she followeth
him; by the day, when he showeth his splendour; by the night, when it
covereth him into darkness; by the heaven, and Him who created it; by
the earth, and Him who spread it forth; by the soul, and Him who
completely formed it: there is no other God but God."
The gate of judgment was erected by Sultan Abu Yusuff, A.H. 749. or A.D.
1348, as appears from an Arabic inscription over it. On each side of
that inscription is a block of marble, containing (in Arabic) "Praise be
to God. There is no God but God, and Mahomet is his prophet. There is no
strength but from God."
In one of the windows on the right hand of the saloon are the following
verses, descriptive of its elegance:--
"I am the ornamented seat of the bride, endowed with beauty and
perfection.
"Dost thou doubt it? Look, then, at this basin, and thou wilt be
fully convinced of the truth of my assertion.
"Regard, also, my tiara; thou wilt find it resembling that of the
crescent moon.
"And Ibn Nasr is the sun of my orb, in the splendour of beauty.
"May he continue in the (noon-tide) altitude of glory, secure
(from change) whilst the sun sets and disappears."
At the entrance of the tower of Comares: "The kingdom is God's;" "The
tower is God's;" "Durability is God's."
In the middle of the golden saloon: "There is no God but God, the
Sovereign, the True, the Manifest. Muhamud is the just, the faithful
messenger of God. I flee to God for protection from Satan: the pelted
with stones.. In the name of God the merciful, the forgiving; there is
no God but He, the living, the eternal; sleep nor slumber seizeth Him.
To Him (belongeth) whatever is in the heavens, and whatever is in the
earth; who is there who shall intercede with him except by His
permission? He knoweth what is before them, and what is behind them; and
they comprehend not His wisdom, except what he pleaseth. He hath
extended His throne, the heavens, and the earth; the protection of which
incommodeth Him not; and he is the exalted, the great! There is no
forcing in the faith. Truly, righteousness is distinguished from error.
He, therefore, who disbelieveth in (the idol) T[=a]g[=u]t, and believeth
in God, hath taken hold of a sure handle, that cannot be broken. God
heareth, knoweth the truth of God."
The walls of the alcoves in the Court del Aqua, present, also, various
effusions of the Muse, which have been inscribed by various travellers;
amongst which this:--
"When these famed walls did Pagan rites admit,
Here reigned unrivalled breeding, science, wit.
Christ's standard came, the prophet's flag assailed,
And fix'd true worship where the false prevailed:
And, such the zeal its pious followers bore,
Wit, science, breeding, perished with the Moor."
"On looking from the royal villa or pleasure-house of Ál Generalife,"
says Mr. Murphy, "the spectator beholds the side of the Alhambra that
commands the quarter of the city called the Albrezzin. The massive
towers are connected by solid walls, constructed upon the system of
fortification, which generally prevailed in the middle ages. Those walls
and towers follow all the turnings and windings of the mountain; and
previously to the invention of gunpowder and artillery, this fortress
must have been almost impregnable. The situation of this edifice is the
most delightful and commanding that can be conceived. Wherever the
spectator may turn his eyes, it is impossible for him not to be struck
with admiration at the picturesque beauty and fertility of the
surrounding country. On the north and west, as far as the eye can reach,
a lovely plain presents itself, which is covered with an immense number
of trees laden with fruit and blossoms; while, on the south, it is
bounded by mountains, whose lofty summits are crowned with perpetual
snows, whence issue the springs and streams that diffuse both health and
coolness through the city of Granada."
"But," in the language of Mr. Swinburne, "the glories of Granada have
passed away; its streets are choked with filth; its woods destroyed; its
territory depopulated; its trade lost. In a word, everything, except
the church and the law, is in the most deplorable condition[254]."