Art of Islam. Gaston Migeon

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      The Alhambra

      Despite the frequent restoration and damage it has experienced, the Alhambra is still the most remarkable Islamic monument of the 14th and 15th centuries.

      This palace is built on a long hill overlooking Granada. Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, destroyed a weak part of it to construct a palace in his taste. Despite these damages, it remains an attractive structure exuding elegance and luxury.

      The creation of the thick walls generally included packed earth or backfilled blocks, joined by brick courses. Its porticos are, however, made of very light materials. The construction is based on half-timberings finished in plaster, which support roof framings. The entire structure is supported by columns with bases and marble capitals. Owing to the relatively mild Andalusian climate and the care with which the materials were assembled, these delicate buildings have endured for five centuries, with no damages other than the fading of the gold and colours which gave them their lustre.

      Decoration consisted of excavated and carved plaster, whose richness is perhaps exaggerated. Stalactites are heavily used in the consoles and corbels and as stunning capitals. They are also used to make cornices, and in big halls they are used to make pendentives to change from the square to the semi-circular shape. In the Hall of the Ambassadors and the Hall of the Two Sisters, they accentuate vaults with cavities whose lavishness is staggering and sophisticated.

      Ceilings, doors made of gold-plated and painted wood and decorated with interlaced rosettes, faience inlays, abundant marbles, stained-glass windows set in plaster networks, arabesques laid out like a precious and coloured lace on all the walls – these and other features demonstrate the amazing resources the architects used in an ingenious way that reflects supreme taste. The Alhambra was decorated in rare and attractive shades. Whereas the patina of time has taken its toll on the brightness of the colours, the frankness of the original hues and the skill with which Muslim artisans were able to blend them are testimony to the structure’s original splendour.

      The light and elevated interior design of the apartments exude charm and elegance. There is a strong contrast between the whiteness of the whitewash and the tinting of painted ceilings or faience panellings. It should equally come as no surprise that the skilled artisans who decorated the Alhambra sought to reduce this contrast by painting some portions of its stucco panelling blue, red, green and even gold. Even the white-painted sections have acquired a patina of old ivory which mitigates any inconsistency possibly resulting from these diverse tonalities.

      To imagine this palace how it orginally was, it is essential to add to its current beauty the water effects of the fountain in the Court of the Myrtles. The gentle noise they made in the halls, the reflection of the big pools, the bright silk clothing worn by sultans and their guests, brocade draperies and exquisite carpets completed the architecture’s enchanting aspect. Not to be left out are the diversity and harmony of tone produced in its entire interior through the shady light of stained-glass windows in ajouré plaster – the light generally came in through tiny bays. These pools, which embellished the halls and courtyards, also ornamented beautiful gardens, with thick shades of cypress, flower parterres, and the lush and opulent greenery of orange and lemon trees. Kiosks, like those described by historians in Tunis, Morocco, and the courtyard of the Karaouyine Mosque in Fez, line the Court of the Lions.

      The Alhambra, 12th-14th centuries.

      Granada.

      In addition to the reception halls, rooms, parlours and mosque, the Alhambra is decorated with sumptuous pools. Unfortunately, only a section of the palace has survived, as Emperor Charles V made the ill-judged royal decision to tear down one wing to construct a formless palace on an elliptical plan.

      The gardens of the Alhambra, like those of Medina Azahara or Islamic structures in Morocco, were replications of Baghdad’s gardens, which in turn emulated the paradise gardens of Sassanid kings. Splendid gardens appear frequently in Muslim architecture. Indeed, for these children of the desert, after suffering from the effects of heat, thirst, extreme exposure to light and drought, nothing could be more gratifying than relaxing under cool shades, listening to the soft sound of water spewing from fountains, and being able to stroll around admiring the greenery and gorgeous flowers, with a light softened by the canopy of large trees. So wherever it was possible, they sought to create gardens with water effects.

      The small palace of the Generalife in Granada still has some of these gardens which, despite their small size, give an idea of how those of large Moorish palaces could be. Water spurted by many tiny, vertical, hydraulic nozzles collects in a narrow basin running the entire length of the compound. The water then flows into the gardens through a canal. Ducts covered with large half-round tiles are placed on each side to form miniature cascades of flowing water. At each stage, the canal widens into full basins of gushing water. This is a relative depiction of the Alhambra gardens as they used to be.

      This plan can also be likened to that of the famous Abu Fehr garden, designed in 1253 by Andalusian gardeners for one of the Hafsid monarchs of Tunis, El-Mostanser. According to Ibn Khaldun, it includes: numerous kiosks, and a massive pool which receives water through the ancient aqueduct – a colossal structure which channels the waters of the Zaghouan right to Carthage. This enters the garden in the form of a wall, in such a way that water first gushes out of a wide opening and then cascades into a huge and deep square pool. This decorative pool was so huge that the sultan’s wives could go boating there. At each extremity is a pavilion, supported by white marble columns lined with marble mosaic. The ceilings were made of sculpted wood and decorated with painted and gilded arabesques. The kiosks, porticos, the garden’s pools, the multi-storey palaces, the streams that flowed in the shade of its trees, all the luxury at this captivating site were so precious to the sultan that, in order to enjoy them fully, he abandoned other pleasure palaces built by his predecessors.

      Court of the Myrtles in the Comares Palace, Alhambra, 1333–1354.

      Granada.

      C–Iran and the Persian School

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