PATIO DE LA ALBERCA—THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
This Court was called in former times Patio de los Arrayanes—the Court of the Myrtles—by reason of its beautiful flowering shrubs which gem either side of the Fishpond; trim myrtle hedges, and orange trees rising beside the water.
To enter the Court of the Fish-pond is to be straightway translated to the palace of Haroun-al-raschid: Granada changes to Damascus. The Moorish arches, springing from slender palm-tree shafts, are of bewildering beauty; the walls, no longer forbidding blocks of stone, but pierced trellises, that turn sunlight and moonlight into patterns resembling so much Venetian filigree. “Surely they are needle-work turned to stone,” says a traveller of long ago; “or some great Sultán has built them with panels cut from caskets of Indian ivory, though the piecing be not seen. The myrtles grow green and glossy round the great marble tank, 150 feet long, which flows with mellow water, in which burnished fish—some apparently red-hot, others of molten silver—steer, flirt, skim, and splash. Never stop to think that the dry, whity-brown, tubular-tiled, sloping roofs
NORTH SIDE OF THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
ELEVATION OF AN ALCOVE IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
ELEVATION OF THE ARCADE ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
SECTION THROUGH PART OF THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND
AND THE HALL OF THE AMBASSADORS.
THE BATHS, HALL OF REPOSE.
Explanation of the Letters of Reference in this Plate.
A A A. Entrances to the quarter of the Palace containing the baths.
B B B B B B. Passages communicating with the different apartments and baths.
C C. Apartments, looking into.
D D. A Court with a fountain in its centre.
E E Baths and dressing-rooms.
F F F. Warm baths.
G G G. The place where the water was heated. The copper vessels anciently employed for this purpose were sold many years ago by the then Governor of the Alhambra for the sum of 14,000 reals, about £350 sterling. From these coppers, the warm water was conducted between the walls to the different baths by means of pipes communicating with them, and which are distinctly shown by the white line.
I I I I I I. Other baths and apartments. The lines a a a a a a a a a a a designate steps by which the bathers descended into the water.
K. The great Hall of the Baths.
GROUND PLAN OF THE BATHS IN THE ALHAMBRA.
SECTION OF THE HALL OF THE BATHS.
A SECTION OF THE BATHS IN THE ALHAMBRA.
THE SULTÁNA’S BATH.
THE SULTÁN’S BATH.
THE HALL OF THE BATHS.
CEILING OF THE HALL OF THE BATHS.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH THE BATHS.
PLATE XXXIII.
No. 42.
Cornice to the roof, Court of The Mosque.
PLATE XXXIV.
No. 43.
Divan, Court of The Fish Pond.
PLATE XXXV.
No. 44.
Actual state of the Colours.
PLATE XXXVI.
No. 45.
Windows in the Alcove, Hall of The Two Sisters.
PLATE XXXVII.
No. 46.
The Vase.
PLATE XXXVIII.
No. 47.
Details of one of the Arches, Hall of Justice.
PLATE XXXIX.
No. 48.
Details of the Arches, Hall of the Abencerrages.
PLATE XL.
No. 49.
Centre Painting on the Ceiling, Hall of Justice.
THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES.
GALLERY, THE COURT OF THE MYRTLES.
THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES.
DETAILS OF THE GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES.
COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
ORNAMENT IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
ought to be flat, and are not now Moorish; do not pause to imagine the pierced marble balustrade that once walled-in this bathing-place of the dark-skinned people; nor picture glowing Bathsebas—Rubens’ group of floating, and laughing Sultánas, with female black slaves watching their gambols from under the shady portico. Air and water are the perpetual treasures of this place, and I tasted them both gratefully as I strode under the pointed arches, away from the burning lashes of the sun that drove me under cover.”
THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES.
The transverse section of the Court, looking towards the palace of Charles V. (see p. 356), forms a beautiful arcade: the slender columns which support the arches would appear unequal to their superincumbent weight were not the spandrils lightened by perforations. The construction of these arches is remarkable for its simplicity. Over the columns, which are of white marble, are built brick piers, and the spandrils of the arches are filled in with tiles placed diagonally. To these are attached perforated plaster ornaments, which give a singularly light and elegant appearance to the arches, and at the same time, by freely admitting currents of air, distribute a delicious coolness through the Courts.
It will be observed that the ornaments in plaster, with which the walls of the Court of the Fish-pond are covered, are in a better state of preservation than similar decorations in other parts of the Palace.
The windows over the entrance doorway are formed of ribs of plaster, and it is thought that these were once filled with stained glass. No traces of such glazing can now be discovered; the conjecture seems to have arisen from the fact that a wall here, next the Hall of Ambassadors, has similar blank windows in which small spaces are painted of various colours. Between the windows, and at the angles, are four escutcheons of the Kings of Granada with the oft-repeated motto: “There is no Conqueror but God;” the whole being enclosed within a cipher, formed by the word signifying “Grace” written twice in Cufic characters, and so interwoven that it may be read from right to left, and from left to right. On the ribs of the window is the word signifying “Blessing,” in Cufic characters, with this peculiarity, that the first two letters are enclosed within a cipher formed by the two last. This device also is so ingeniously written that the word may be read both ways. On six escutcheons, at the sides, the word signifying “Blessing” is treated in the same skilful manner.
Immediately over the Mosaic under the gallery is an inscription of twelve verses in African characters, full of Oriental hyperbole, but perhaps inferior in composition to those already selected from the Hall of The Two Sisters.
Under the galleries, at the north and south ends of the Court, are four recesses, profusely ornamented, elaborate, and
THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND.
beautiful; well preserved, and retaining much of their original colour.
From amongst the inscriptions of the Court of the Fish-pond it may be permitted to print two or three:
“Go and tell true believers that Divine help and ready victory are reserved for them. (From the sixty-first chapter of the Koràn).
“I am like the nuptial array of a bride, endowed with every beauty and perfection.
“Truly, Ibn Nasr is the sun, shining in splendour;
“May he continue in the noon-tide of his glory even unto the period of his decline.”
GALLERY IN THE COURT OF THE FISH-POND; OR, OF THE MYRTLES.
In the Court of the Fish-pond is an arch which differs in character from all others existing in the Alhambra: it has the peculiarity of presenting one surface only of decoration, with a principal or guiding figure made out by colours. The ornaments bear a much nearer resemblance to natural forms than in other parts of the Palace; and the whole arch has more of the Persian character of decoration.