The precincts of the city gained, every thing bears the marks of Moslem hands. The narrow streets and gushing fountains, the lofty, flat-roofed houses, and heavy projecting balconies, are all quite oriental; whilst, here and there, the entrance of some old mosque, or ruined bath, bears, in its horse-shoe arch, the peculiar stamp of the Morisco.
Granada may certainly lay claim to the title of the most Moorish city of Spain. Some few, whose glories had passed away ere it rose to distinction, may have surpassed it in wealth, extent, and even population; and others were doubtless more distinguished for the cultivation of those arts and sciences which were cherished with such peculiar care by the Arabian conquerors of Spain. But, when the Moslem rule was drawing towards its close, and Granada had to contend alone with the Christians for existence, her monarchs, in their distress, naturally turned for help to their uncivilized brethren of Mauritania; and, as each fresh graft was taken from the original savage stock, the character of the people of Granada became more decidedly Moorish; until, at last, from the frequency of these calls, they came to differ but little from the wild nomad tribes, whose assistance they had invoked.
At its commencement, however, the new kingdom founded on the ruins of Cordoba, Seville, and Valencia, gave promise of reviving the brilliant days of the early Mohammedans—its sovereigns of rivalling the fame of the Abdalrahmans and Almanzors. The countless minarets of the renovated city selected for its capital resounded with the Muezzeem’s cries, awakening the dozing fanaticism of “the faithful;” and the bright watch-tower[133] of its proud Alhambra served as a beacon to point out where what remained of wealth and learning, in the wreck of Musa’s mighty empire, would find a safe place of refuge. But the crimes which soon soiled the throne of Alhamar, the fierce contentions of the Princes of the Royal house, and the interminable civil wars to which their pretentions led, so exhausted Granada’s strength, that, stripped one by one of her bulwarks, cut off from external succour, and torn by intestine dissension, she at length fell an easy prey to her persevering enemies; and, at her fall, expired the flickering light of Mohammedan civilization;—a civilization, which, considering the withering tendency of the Arabian impostor’s scheme of religion, furnishes much greater cause for surprise, than even the rapid propagation and wide spread of the pernicious creed itself.
The decadence of the arts kept pace with that in the manners of the inhabitants of this fair region;—both being natural consequences of the internal struggles by which it was agitated. The olive tree could not thrive in soil moistened only with the blood of its cultivators.
During this period of progressive deterioration were erected most of the Moslem buildings, whose remains are yet scattered throughout the city; and, whilst in some points of character these monuments exhibit a marked difference from the Arabian structures of the East, they are more purely Moorish than any other Saracenic edifices to be met with in Spain, and are infinitely superior, in every respect, to such as were erected in Barbary at a yet more recent date.
The literature of the Moors of Spain would doubtless have exhibited a similar decadence and peculiarity of character; but on these points we have not the means of judging, the fanatic destroyer of the celebrated library of the Ptolemies having, seven centuries afterwards, found an unworthy imitator in Cardinal Ximenes—at whose instigation every scrap of Mohammedan literature found within the captured city of Granada was, with intolerant fury, committed to the flames.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ALHAMBRA AND GENERALIFE—OTHER RELIQUES OF THE MOORS CONTAINED WITHIN THE CITY—THE CATHEDRAL OF GRANADA—CHAPEL OF THE CATHOLIC KINGS—ANTIQUITY OF THE CHURCH OF ELIBERI—TOMB OF GONZALVO DE CORDOBA—CHURCHES OF SAN JUAN DE DIOS AND SAN DOMINGO—CARTHUSIAN CONVENT—HERMITA DE SAN ANTON.
THE famed Alhambra[134] was the first object to which we bent our steps, after depositing our effects at the Fonda del Comercio, and sending our horses to the Posada de las Tablas. It is perched on the summit of a steep but narrow ridge, which, falling precipitously to the north, along the left bank of the Darro, terminates in a rugged point, overhanging the city, to the west; and, as I have already noticed, is supposed to have been erected by the exiled inhabitants of a town of the same name in La Mancha, captured by San Fernando about the year of our Lord 1224.
The walls of the fortress follow the various sinuosities of the scarped cliffs that bound the rocky ledge on three sides, and enclose a plateau, 770 yards in length, and 200 wide in its greatest breadth. But the form of the enceinte is very irregular, and its ground plan bears a strong resemblance to the elongated leaf of the prickly pear; the numerous towers studding the walls of the Moorish stronghold having all the appearance of the inattackable fruit that grows round the edge of the Spanish vegetable monster. The principal entrance is by the gate of judgment, situated in one of the towers on the southern front of the fortress. The approach to this gate is by a wide and well kept carriage road, which, shadowed over by luxuriant forest trees, winds up a narrow ravine, that, on this side, divides the Alhambra hill from another steep mound, which projects, in like manner, towards the city, and is occupied by the ruins of other old Moorish fortifications, called Las Torres bermejas. Both hills form part of the Cerro de Santa Elena.