It is not such a step as it may seem from the Taj Mahal to the Alhambra
(al-ham'-bra). Both are oriental. Both are the products of Mohammedan
art, and mark in a way its Eastern and its Western expressions. As
early as the eighth century of our era the Moors of northern Africa
crossed to Spain and made the Iberian peninsula a Moorish califate
or kingdom. Its capital and last stronghold was Granada. And here on
a lofty hill, overlooking the city, King or Calif Al Hamar began the
mighty fortress of the Alhambra in the early years of the thirteenth
century.
[Illustration: COURT OF THE MYRTLES, ALHAMBRA
_The pool is bordered on both sides by beautiful old hedges._]
As is the case with almost every Mohammedan building, its exterior
is extremely plain. But once the door is passed one seems to have
stepped from Europe to the Orient. Courtyards and porticos, halls and
passages, open before the visitor in a truly oriental maze of color and
decoration. The first important court is known as that of the Myrtles.
In its center is a marble basin a hundred and thirty feet long,
bordered with trees of myrtle and orange, and flanked at both ends by
two-storied pavilions with slender marble shafts and graceful Moorish
arches. From one of these pavilions opens the Hall of the Ambassadors,
the throne room of the califs, and the largest chamber in the palace.