The Magical Alhambra in Granada
11/26/2012 § 1 Comment
Precedents, vol.1
It was first year, first week of studio, when my professor suggested I research the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Off I went to the silent Richter stacks to begin an exercise that would lead me, four years later, to the actual orange courtyards of Andalusia.
I didn’t know then, but I was to soon fall in love with the romanticism of this place and the past it represented.
Of course, the illustrations I found from numerous 19th century Orientalists didn’t help at all! These artists depicted exotic (and at times erotic) notions of what life would have been like in the Alhambra when it was still inhabited by the Nasrid rulers (around 889 – 1492). Claude Debussy wrote songs for it & Washington Irving wrote a collection of stories while living in the complex, called the “Tales of the Alhambra“. There’s no wonder I got this romantic notion about the place that could only be satiated by a flight to Madrid, a rental car, and a road trip South to Andalusia.
What follows is a collection of the 19th century illustrations alongside photos from my trip of the same spaces being depicted. For the most part, they are in consecutive order that I walked through the palace and shot them.
There is so much history and legends surrounding this palace complex I thought it’d be best to leave them to the experts and just wet your appetites with photos. If you’re intrigued and would like to know more about the history of the Alhambra, please visit: Alhambra.org
On the way up the hill to the Alhambra…
The Gate of Justice – by Asselieneau, 1853
The Gate of Justice on a cold day in December…
The Patio del Cuarto Dorado – by Frans Wilhem Odelmark, 1889
The Patio del Cuarto Dorado on a busy afternoon…
Detail on opposite wall of the Patio del Cuarto Dorado…
Patio de Comares – by Asselieneau, 1853
Patio de Comares
Detail of door at Patio de Comares
Sala de Los Embajadores – The Day after a Victory at the Alhambra by Jean Joseph Benjamin Constant, 1882
Detail in the Sala de los Embajadores (at the far end of the Patio de Comares)
Arab Baths on East side of the Palacio de Comares
Patio de los Leones – by Asselineau, 1853
Daguerrotype by N.M.P. Lerebours from mid-1800’s
Patio de los Leones
Sala de las Hermanas – Asselineau, 1853
Sala de los Abencerrajes – Asselineau, 1853
Ceiling at the Sala de las Abencerrajes
The Partal Palace portico
View of Granada, Spain from the Partal
Lower Gardens in the Generalife
Generalife – by Doré
Generalife Lower Gardens
The Main Canal Court in the Generalife
Portico at end of Main Canal Court in the Generalife
Looking back in the Main Canal Courtyard in the Generalife
Sultana Court in the Generalife
Peinador de la Reina (Queen’s Dressing Room)
View of the Alcazaba
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