extremity, the Sala del Tribunal, or de la Justicia. This hall consists
of seven chambers opening on to a common vestibule. The four small rooms
are square, and are separated by three larger oblong apartments. The
same gorgeous colouring, the same profusion of geometrical
ornamentation, here as elsewhere in the Alhambra! The arch over the
central small chamber, or divan, is perhaps the finest in the whole
Palace. But what renders this hall the most remarkable in the edifice is
that it contains what are probably the only existing specimens of
mediæval Muslim figure painting. The ceiling of the central alcove or
_alhami_ is adorned by a painting representing ten personages, who were
formerly supposed to be judges, whence the name given to the hall. They
were intended, more probably, to represent the first ten sultans of the
Nasrite dynasty. The painting, like those in the other alcoves, is done
in bright colours (gold, green, red, &c.) on leather prepared with
gypsum. The designs appear to have been sketched in brown. The paintings
in the other _alhamis_ are of an even more interesting character. In the
first, a castle with square towers and battlements is seen; outside it
is a lion led in chains by a maiden, whose hands are rudely grasped by a
savage with shaggy hair and beard. A rescuer hurries to her assistance
in the person of a Christian knight, armed _cap-à-pie_. On the other
side of the picture, the same knight is shown attacked by a Moorish
cavalier, who plunges a lance into his breast. The Moor is evidently out
hunting, for beneath the combatants’ horses his dogs are chasing the
wild boar and fox. From the towers of the castle two fair ladies
observe, with evident pleasure, the Christian’s overthrow. In another
part of the picture both knights are shown, following the chase; and a
page is seen, leaning against a tree, with sword and shield, presumably
awaiting his master’s return.
The second painting is entirely devoted to hunting scenes. Moors are
seen chasing the wild boar, while the Christians occupy themselves with
bears and lions. The huntsmen are also seen returning and offering the
spoils of the chase to their ladies. The Moor greets his sultana with a
benign and condescending air; the Christian warrior kneels to the lady
and offers his prize.
The most competent critics have now arrived at the conclusion that these
paintings are of the fourteenth century, and therefore executed under
the Muslim sovereigns, in defiance of the precepts of the Koran. Whether
they were the work of a Mohammedan it is not so easy to say. Gayangos
has pointed out remarkable similarities between these paintings and
those in the Campo Santo at Pisa; and on the whole it is probable that
they were executed by an Italian artist, whom the Muslims may not have
scrupled to employ to do a thing for them unlawful. A parallel instance
of casuistry is that of London Jews, who on certain feasts employ
Christians to perform forbidden menial offices. It should also be said
that in the opinion of some modern Muslim doctors the prohibition of
sculpture and painting is not to be taken as absolute.
In the Sala de la Justicia was found a basin for ablutions, now in the
Museum, on which are interesting reliefs of lions, deer, and eagles.
According to the inscription, this was designed in 1305 for the service
of the mosque, a fact which seems to support the view of the authorities
just mentioned.
It was in this hall that Ferdinand and Isabel caused Mass to be
celebrated after the Reconquest, and here that the cross was set up by
Cardinal Mendoza. The devices of the Catholic sovereigns--the Yoke and
Sheaf of Arrows--have been introduced into the decoration of the
alcoves.
The ruinous tower and apartment to the south of the Hall of Justice,
called the Rauda, appears to have been the mausoleum of the Sultans. The
niches in which the _turbehs_ were placed may still be distinguished,
and the long, narrow trough used for the purification of the corpse. In
the Museum may be seen three tablets with the epitaphs of the Sultans
Yusuf III. and Mohammed II. and of a prince Abu-l-Hejaj, probably the
former’s son.
Of the few remaining apartments of the Alhambra, the most interesting
perhaps is the Tocador, or Queen’s Dressing-room, at the side of the
Patio de Lindaraja, opposite the Mirador de Lindaraja. This was the
apartment occupied by Washington Irving, according to his own showing:
“On taking up my abode in the Alhambra, one end of a suite of empty
chambers of modern architecture, intended for the residence of the
governor, was fitted up for my reception. It was in front of the
Palace.... I was dissatisfied with being lodged in a modern
apartment.... I found, in a remote gallery, a door communicating
apparently with an extensive apartment locked against the public.... I
procured the key, however, without difficulty; the door opened to a
range of vacant chambers of European architecture, though built over a
Moorish arcade.... This fanciful suite of rooms terminated in an open
gallery with balustrades, which ran at right angles with a side of the
garden.... I found that it was an apartment fitted up at the time when
Philip V. and the beautiful Elizabeth of Parma were expected at the
Alhambra, and was destined for the Queen and the ladies of her train.
One of the loftiest chambers had been her sleeping-room, and a narrow
staircase leading from it ... opened on to the delightful belvedere,
originally a mirador of the Moorish sultanas, which still retains the
name of the _tocador_. I determined at once to take up my quarters in
this apartment. My determination occasioned great surprise, but I was
not diverted from my humour.”
This exquisite apartment is adorned by four sixteenth-century paintings,
representing the legend of Phaëton. On the artesonado ceiling, painted
and gilded, may be read the invocation: “The help and protection of God
and a glorious victory for our Lord, Abu-l-Hejaj, Amir of the Muslims!”
Round the boudoir runs a gallery of nine arches on Arabic pillars,
painted and decorated with the figures of Faith, Hope, and Charity,
Justice, Strength, and Temperance, Jupiter, Neptune, Plenty, and the
Vestals’ Fire. These paintings were the work of two Italians, Giulio
Aquila and Sandro Mainere, both pupils of Raphael.
The charming little garden or patio of Lindaraja or Daraja, which
intervenes between this regal boudoir and the Moorish _mirador_, appears
to have been originally called _Jin Dar Aja_, or garden of the palace of
Ayesha. The old Moorish garden that used to extend as far as the Tower
of Comares is now confined by the walls of the Sala de las Ajimeces and
three arcades of modern construction. The fountain in the centre dates
from the seventeenth century. An enchanting spot is this, with its
cypress, orange, and citron-trees rising from trim hedges of myrtle and
rose.
Between this garden and the court of the Alberca lie the baths--those
indispensable adjuncts to the Muslim household--most skilfully and
artistically restored by Contreras. The plan is that usually followed
throughout the East. Passing through the _Sala de las Cámas_ or Unrobing
Room, where, from a high gallery the songs of the odalisques were wafted
down to the sultan reclining in one of the alcoves, we enter the Sala de
Baños, with its white marble bath and pavement of glazed tiles. This
corresponds with the apartment called by the Arabs, the hararah, or
vapour-bath, and described in Lane’s “Manners and Customs of the Modern
Egyptians”; and it was under the graceful arcades which support the
dome that the bathers underwent the kneading and rubbing processes
lately introduced among us. The chamber is lighted from above through
star-shaped apertures. The inscriptions refer to the felicity awaiting
men in this palace of delight. The bathing-apartments consist of three
halls and two smaller chambers, vulgarly called the Infantas’ Baths.
THE TOWERS AND GATES OF THE ALHAMBRA
“The wall of the Nasrites,” writes Señor Fernández Jiménez, “of which
scarcely a patch remains unimpaired, measured about 1400 metres from one
extremity to the other, and was defended by twenty-six towers, counting
as one the two buttresses that defended the gate of the Siete Suelos. To
this number should properly be added the Torre de las Armas, which is
pierced by a gate common to the Alcazaba and Alhambra, and is therefore
also a Nasrite work. The citadel was fortified, moreover, by five
bastions, corresponding to as many gates, and by various external
defences, of which traces remain in the modern alamedas. The thickness
of the towers varies according to their situation and purpose, the
distance between them ranging from 34 to 64 metres approximately.” At
the present day we can count only fifteen towers, the names of which
are: las Aguas, los Siete Suelos, las Cabezas, la Justicia, la Polvora,
los Hidalgos, la Vela, las Armas, las Gallinas, los Puñales, las Damas,
los Picos, del Candil, de la Cautiva, and las Infantas.
The Puerta de la Justicia is the principal entrance to the Alhambra. It
was built, as the inscription over the arch relates, by the Sultan Yusuf
Abu-l-Hejaj, in 1348. Here justice was administered in Moorish days
after the old patriarchal fashion. Above the arch is carved an open
hand, the signification of which is a matter of controversy. The most
probable explanation is that it is a religious symbol, the five fingers
typifying Faith in God and the Prophet, and the commandments, to pray,
to fast, to give alms, and to make the pilgrimage to Mecca. The inner
arch is beautifully decorated with arabesques, and with the symbol of
the key. The entrance is continued through another gate, with winding
passages contrived so as to embarrass an enemy. The arch which gives
egress from the tower shows some fine enamelling and festoons.
Just outside this gate is the Pilar de Carlos V., a fountain in the
Greco-Roman style, erected by the Alcaide Mendoza in 1545. It is
ornamented with the Imperial arms, and sculptured heads of the river
gods, Genil, Darro, and Beiro.
The double Torre de los Siete Suelos flanks a gateway, now walled up,
which was formerly the principal entrance to the fortress. Through it
the unfortunate Boabdil is said to have passed on his way to exile and
obscurity. The tower is so called because it is believed to descend
seven storeys underground. Four subterranean chambers have been
investigated. Here tradition places the site of much buried treasure,
and fables are told of phantom guards and enchanted sentries.
At the south-eastern angle of the _enceinte_ is the ruinous Torre del
Agua, which derives its name from the aqueduct that at this point spans
the ravine. On the north-eastern side we reach the Torre de las
Infantas, the interior of which is a perfect model of the smaller
Oriental dwelling-house. Through a small vestibule we reach a covered-in
patio with a fountain in the centre, and alcoves opening out on three
sides. The ornamentation is graceful and original. The tower is one of
the most interesting parts of the fortress. Somewhat less complete and
regular in its plan, but even more elegantly decorated with
rose-coloured tiles, is the adjoining Torre de la Cautiva (Captive’s
Tower). Here the inscriptions resound the praises of Abu-l-Hejaj and
refer to the _Lion_ residing within these walls--a very different
occupant from a captive!
The Torre de los Picos seems to have been so styled from the peaked
battlements which crown it. It evidently underwent extensive remodelling
about the time of the Spanish Reconquest, but some relics of the Nasrite
rule remain in the shape of some beautifully moulded twin windows.
The Torre de Ismaïl, or de las Damas (Ladies’ Tower), was given by
Mohammed V. to his son Ismaïl, and has a richly decorated belvedere and
a hall very tastefully ornamented. The ruined tower of Puñales has some
curious stucco decorations, differing from those found in other parts of
the palace.
Between the Torres de los Picos and de las Damas is a little _mihrab_ or
oratory built on the wall. At the Reconquest it was appropriated to the
private use of one Astasio de Bracamonte. Though it has undergone
deplorable “restorations,” the _kiblah_ or easterly niche and other
indications of the Muslim rite can still be made out. Strangely enough,
the portal is guarded by two Moorish lions brought from the old
Mint--the injunctions of the Mohammedan religion being thus ignored in
its own temple!
The parish church of Santa Maria, erected in 1581, occupies the site of
the Mosque of which Al Khattíb appears to speak, writing of the deeds
of Mohammed III. (1302-1309). “And among his great actions, the greatest
and most remarkable was the construction of the great Mosque or Aljama
of the Alhambra, with all that it contained of elegance and decoration,
mosaics, and cements; as well as lamps of pure silver and other great
marvels. In front of the Mosque were the baths, erected with the money
levied from the Christians in his dominions. With the receipts from
these baths the Mosque and its ministers were maintained.” The modern
church is of brick, and contains nothing of note, except a Visigothic
inscription, referring to the construction of three temples, dedicated
to St. Stephen, St. John, and St. Vincent, in the years 594 and 607.
THE PALACE OF CHARLES V.
The forlorn, roofless palace in the classical style, which seems so out
of place amid these Oriental buildings, was begun by order of the
Emperor Charles V. in 1538. It was never completed. The Flemish Cæsar’s
intention seems to have been to establish a permanent residence here,
whence he could contemplate the beauties of the Moorish palace. The
building is a quadrangle of four façades, each seventeen metres high.
The lower storey is of the Tuscan order, the upper, Ionic. Some of the
marble portals are very fine. In the decoration appear allusions to the
campaigns, on sea and land, directed by the Emperor, his motto, _Plus
oultre_, and the emblem of the Golden Fleece.
The interior of the palace is occupied by an imposing circular court,
with a gallery supported by thirty-two columns. The staircase is loftily
designed, and altogether the palace, if it had been completed and built
almost anywhere else, would have been a dignified memorial of Charles’s
reign.
THE GENERALIFE
Across an ivy-draped ravine--a perfect study in green and red--the
Palace of Recreations, the Generalife, overlooks the rugged walls of the
Alhambra. The name is believed to have been derived from Jennatu-l’arif,
“the garden of the architect.” The palace appears to have been built by
a Moor called Omar, from whom it was purchased by the Sultan
Abu-l-Walid. At the Reconquest it became the property of a renegade
prince, Sidi Yahya, who adopted the name of Don Pedro de Granada, and
whose descendants, the family of Campotejar, are to this day the actual
owners.
The Generalife cannot be regarded as an important monument of Moorish
architecture. Through the central court, which measures 48.70 by 12.80
metres, runs the conduit which irrigates the whole estate, and connects
with the Acequia (or canal) de la Alhambra. The arcaded southern façade
and the spacious hall adjoining have been altered in order to make a
large vestibule. The arcade resembles that of the Court of the
Fish-pond, and exhibits a poetical inscription declaring that
Abu-l-Walid restored the palace in the year 1319.
The halls of the Generalife are of little interest in themselves, and
contain several portraits of doubtful authenticity. Those of Ferdinand
and Isabel, of Juana la Loca and her husband, and of the fourth wife of
Philip II., are the most important. Among the portraits of the Granada
family is one supposed to be that of Ben Hud Al Mutawakil, the rival of
Al Ahmar, and ancestor of Sidi Yahya. This seems to be the portrait
which English travellers persist in mistaking for that of Boabdil.
But if the palace is in no way remarkable, the gardens are a veritable
bower of beauty and delight. Water bubbles up everywhere and moistens
the roots of myrtles, cedars, and tall cypresses, the finest trees in
all Spain. The legend of the Abencerrage discovered in dalliance with a
Sultana, beneath one of these cypresses, is absolutely destitute of any
sort of foundation. The nature of the spot--so eminently fitted for love
and lovers’ trysts--may have suggested the story. But the garden is
ill-kept, and many of the magnificent trees have been cut down.
* * * * *
In the city of Granada itself the memorials of the Moorish domination
are scanty and fast disappearing. In the Zacatin, which was in old
times the chief bazaar, is a building formerly styled the Casa del Gallo
de Viento (Weathercock House), and now known by the commonplace
designation of Casa del Carbon (Charcoal House), owing to its having
been appropriated to the storage of that useful product. Tradition avers
that the palace (for such the house at one time was) was built by Badis
Ibn Habus, a governor of Granada, who ruled about 1070 A.D., by whose
direction a vane was made in the shape of a warrior, mounted and armed
with shield and spear. In later years the building served as a corn
exchange. The only notable features are the entrance with its horseshoe
arch and twin-windows, and vestibule with dome and alcoves. Adjacent to
the Casa del Carbon is the house of the Duque de Abrantes. Beneath it is
said to be a subterranean passage communicating with the
Alhambra--blocked up, oddly enough, by the present owner of the site,
without any exploration or examination.
Entered from the Carrera de Darro is the once handsome Moorish bath
house, now in the last stages of dilapidation and neglect. It is
believed to date from the earliest period of Mohammedan rule. The arches
are of the old horseshoe type, and the columns and capitals of a
primitive order. An inscription beginning, “In the Name of God, the
Merciful, the Compassionate ...” may still be made out.
The bath itself, the various chambers of repose and disrobing, the usual
alhamies, can also be traced.
The old Moorish mint was demolished in 1643, and the famous Gate of
Bivarrambla can no longer be described in any sense as a Mohammedan
work.
The effacement of the Moorish character of Granada, as compared with its
survival in Seville, serves to show how much more intense the religious
and racial bias became in Spain during the two hundred and odd years
that elapsed between the conquests of the two cities. The spirit in
which St. Ferdinand, Alfonso el Sabio, and Pedro I. approached the works
of their Mohammedan foes and subjects presented a very favourable
contrast to that manifested by the Catholic sovereigns, Charles V. and
Philip II.
CATHOLIC GRANADA
Almost the first act performed by a Spanish king on his entry into a
conquered Mohammedan city was to convert the chief mosque (aljama) into
a Christian church. This was also done at Granada, but the chapel of the
Alhambra remained for some time the cathedral of the new See. The mosque
in the city, afterwards elevated to that rank, is described by the Abbé
Bertaut of Rouen (quoted by Valladar), writing in 1669, as “square, or
rather longer than wide, without vaults, and the roof covered with
tiles, which for the most part were not even joined. The whole was
supported by a number of small stone columns, harmoniously arranged.”
Jorquera says the mosque was composed of five low naves. Whether or not
it was originally a Visigothic church, as some writers pretend, the
temple probably dated from the earliest centuries of the Muslim
occupation, and the tower which contained the mihrab was long famous as
the Torre Turpiana.
The building, after serving the purposes of the Catholic rite for two
centuries, disappeared between 1705 and 1759 to make room for the
present sacristia (sacristy). As a cathedral, it had been superseded by
the adjoining and existing edifice, dedicated on August 17, 1561.
Older by about a quarter of a century than the foundations of the
cathedral is the Royal Chapel (Capilla Real), which is the most striking
and interesting memorial of the Conquest of Granada. It was begun in
1505 as a mausoleum for the Catholic sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella,
under the direction of the famous Enrique Egas, and completed in the
year 1517--a year after the king’s death and thirteen years after the
queen’s. The chapel is shaped like a Latin cross, and is one of the
latest specimens of the Spanish Gothic style. It is a comparatively
modest and simple building, contrasting strongly with the ornate and
elaborate structures of the succeeding age. The decoration of the
interior consists almost entirely in a frieze bearing a long inscription
in gilt letters which reads: “This chapel was ordered to be built by the
most Catholic Don Ferdinand and Doña Isabella,” &c. &c. There is a
suggestion of Gothic influence in the magnificent railing or grille,
partly of iron, partly gilt, which divides the nave from the transept,
and was made in 1522 by Maestre Bartolome. The kneeling figures of the
Catholic sovereigns are seen on either side of the high altar. These,
says Ford, “are very remarkable, being exact representations of their
faces, forms, and costumes: behind Ferdinand is the victorious banner of
Castile, while the absorbing policy for which both lived and died--the
conquest of the Moor and the conversion of the infidel--are embodied
beneath them in singular painted carvings; these have been attributed to
Felipe Vigarny, and are certainly of the highest antiquarian interest.
In that which illustrates the surrender of the Alhambra, Isabel is
represented riding on a white palfrey between Ferdinand and the great
Cardinal Mendoza, who sits on his trapped mule, like Wolsey. He alone
wears gloves; his pinched aquiline face contrasts with the chubbiness of
the king and queen. He opens his hand to receive the key, which the
dismounted Boabdil presents, holding it by the wards. Behind are ladies,
knights, and halberdiers, while captives come out of the gates in pairs.
Few things of the kind in Spain are more interesting. The other
basso-relievo records the ‘Conversion of the Infidel’; in it the
reluctant flock is represented as undergoing the ceremony of wholesale
baptism, the principal actors being shorn monks. The mufflers and
leg-wrappers of the women--the Roman _fasciæ_--are precisely those still
worn at Tetuan by their descendants.”
These reliefs are unquestionably more vigorous and artistic, and also
more in harmony with the structure generally, than the gorgeous
Renaissance cenotaphs of Ferdinand and Isabella--most probably the work
of the Spanish sculptor, Bartolome Ordoñez. The two great sovereigns are
shown lying side by side, the faces expressing infinite dignity and
repose. At each corner of the sepulchre is seated one of the four
Doctors of the Church, below whom is a Sphinx. Medallions on two of the
four sides represent respectively the Baptism and Resurrection of Jesus,
and St. George and St. James. Beautifully done are the figures of the
Twelve Apostles, the escutcheons, and, in fact, all the details of this
grandiose but unimpressive monument.
The adjacent sepulchre of Ferdinand and Isabella’s daughter, the unhappy
Queen Juana, and of her husband, Philip I., the Handsome, is inferior in
design and execution. The heads of the recumbent figures are not
faithful portraits. The reliefs represent the Nativity, the Adoration of
the Magi, the Agony in the Garden, and the Entombment. In the niches are
figures of the Cardinal Virtues (not conspicuous in Philip during life),
and at the corners the statues of Saints Michael, George, Andrew, and
John the Divine. Very beautiful are the figures of children, and much of
the heraldic decoration. The whole is in the most florid style of the
Renaissance, and was carved at Genoa by order of Juana’s son, Charles
V.