The Book of Curiosities

by John Platts

This place was the residence of the Moorish monarchs of Grenada. It derives its name from the red colour of the materials with which it was originally built, Alhambra signifying a red house. It appears to a traveller as huge a heap of ugly buildings as can well be seen, all huddled together, seemingly without the least intention of forming one habitation out of them. The walls are entirely unornamented, consisting chiefly of gravel and pebbles, daubed over with plaster in a very coarse manner: yet this was the palace of the Moorish kings of Grenada, and it is indisputably the most curious place that exists in Spain, perhaps in the world. In many countries may be seen excellent modern, as well as ancient architecture, both entire and in ruins; but nothing to be met with any where else, can convey an idea of this edifice, except the decorations of an opera, or the tales of the genii.

Passing round the corner of the emperor’s palace, one is admitted at a plain unornamented door in a corner. “On my first visit, (says Mr. Swinburne, in his Travels in Spain,) I confess I was struck with amazement, as I stepped over the threshold, to find myself on a sudden transported into a species of fairy land. The first place you come to is the court called the Communa, or Delmesucar, that is, the common baths; an oblong square, with a deep bason of clear water in the middle; two flights of marble steps leading down to the bottom; on each side a parterre of flowers, and a row of orange trees. Round the court runs a peristyle paved with marble; the arches bear upon very slight pillars, in proportions and style different from all the regular orders of architecture. The ceilings and walls are incrusted with fretwork in stucco, so minute and intricate, that the most patient draughtsman would find it difficult to follow it, unless he made himself master of the general plan. This would facilitate the operation exceedingly; for all this work is frequently and regularly repeated at certain distances, and has been executed by means of square moulds applied successively, and the parts joined together with the utmost nicety. In every division are Arabic sentences of different lengths, most of them expressive of the following meanings; ‘There is no conqueror but God;’ or, ‘Obedience and honour to our lord Abouabdoula.’ The ceilings are gilt or painted, and time has caused no diminution in the freshness of their colours, though constantly exposed to the air. The lower part of the wall is mosaic, disposed in fantastic knots and festoons. The porches at the end are more like grotto-work than any thing else to which they can be compared. That on the right hand opens into an octagon vault, under the emperor’s palace, and forms a perfect whispering gallery, meant to be a communication between the offices of both houses. Opposite to the door of the Communa through which you enter, is another leading into the Quarto de los leones, or apartment of the lions, which is an oblong court, one hundred feet in length, and fifty in breadth, environed with a colonnade, seven feet broad on the sides, and ten at the end. Two porticos or cabinets, about fifteen feet square, project into the court at the two extremities. The square is covered with coloured tiles; the colonnade, with white marble. The walls are covered, five feet up from the ground, with blue and yellow tiles, disposed chequerwise. Above and below is a border of small escutcheons, enamelled blue and gold, with an Arabic motto on a bend, signifying, “No conqueror but God.” The columns that support the roof and gallery are of white marble, very slender, and fantastically adorned. They are nine feet high, including base and capital, and eight and a half inches diameter. They are very irregularly placed; sometimes singly, at others, in groups of three, but more frequently two together. The width of the horse-shoe arches above them, is four feet two inches for the large ones, and three for the smaller. The ceiling of the portico is finished in a much finer and more complicated manner than that of the Communa, and the stucco laid on the walls with inimitable delicacy; in the ceiling it is so artfully frosted and handled, as to exceed belief. The capitals are of various designs, though each design is repeated several times in the circumference of the court, but not the least attention has been paid to placing them regularly, or opposite to each other. Not the smallest representation of animal life can be discovered amidst the variety of foliages, grotesques, and strange ornaments. About each arch is a large square of arabesques, surrounded with a rim of characters, that are generally quotations from the Koran. Over the pillars is another square of delightful foliage work. Higher up is a wooden rim, or kind of cornice, as much enriched with carving as the stucco that covers the part underneath. Over this projects a roof of red tiles, the only thing that disfigures this beautiful square. This ugly covering is modern, put on by order of Mr. Wall, the late prime minister. In the centre of the court are twelve ill-made lions, muzzled, their fore parts smooth, their hind parts rough; which bear upon their backs an enormous bason, out of which a lesser rises. While the pipes were kept in good order, a great volume of water was thrown up, that, falling down into the basons, passed through the beasts, and issued out of their mouths into a large reservoir, where it communicated by channels with the jets d’eau in the apartments. This fountain is of white marble, embellished with many festoons and Arabic distichs, complimenting the monarch and his princess.

“Passing along the colonnade, and keeping on the south side, you come to a circular room, used by the men as a place for drinking coffee and forbets in. A fountain in the middle refreshed the apartment in summer. The form of this hall, the elegance of its cupola, the cheerful distribution of light from above, and the exquisite manner in which the stucco is designed, painted, and finished, exceed all powers of description. Every thing in it inspires the most pleasing voluptuous ideas; yet in this sweet retreat, they say, that Abouabdoula assembled the Abbencarrages, and caused their heads to be struck off into the fountain.

“Continuing your walk round, you are next brought to a couple of rooms at the head of the court, which are supposed to have been tribunals, or audience chambers.

“Opposite to the Sala de los Abbencarrages, is the entrance into the Torre de las dos Hermanas, or the tower of the Two Sisters; so named from two very beautiful pieces of marble laid as flags in the pavement. This gate exceeds all the rest in profusion of ornaments, and in the beauty of prospect which it affords through a range of apartments, where a multitude of arches terminate in a large window open to the country. In a gleam of sunshine, the variety of tints and lights thrown upon this enfilade, are uncommonly rich. The first hall is the concert-room, where the women sat; the musicians played above in four balconies. In the middle is a jet d’eau. The marble pavement is equal to the finest existing, for the size of the flags and evenness of the colour. The two sisters are slabs, that measure fifteen feet by seven and a half, without flaw or stain. The walls, up to a certain height, are mosaic, and above are divided into very neat compartments of stucco, all of one design, which is also followed in many of the adjacent halls and galleries. The ceiling is a fretted cove. To preserve this vaulted roof, as well as some of the other principal cupolas, the outward walls of the towers are raised ten feet above the top of the dome, and support another roof over all, by which means no damage can ever be caused by wet weather, or excessive heat and cold.

“From this hall you pass round the little myrtle garden of Lindarax, into an additional building made to the east end by Charles V. The rooms are small and low. His favourite motto, ‘Plus outrè,’ appears on every beam. This leads to a tower, projecting from the line of the north wall, call El Tocador, or the dressing-room of the sultana. It is a small square cabinet, in the middle of an open gallery, from which it received light by a door and three windows. The view is charming. In one corner is a large marble flag, drilled full of holes, through which the smoke of perfumes ascended from furnaces below; and here, it is presumed, the Moorish queen was wont to sit, to fumigate and sweeten her person. The emperor caused this pretty room to be painted with representations of his wars, and a great variety of grotesques, which appear to be copies, or at least imitations, of those in the lobby of the Vatican.

“From hence you go through a long passage to the hall of ambassadors, which is magnificently decorated with innumerable varieties of mosaics, and the mottos of all the kings of Grenada. This long narrow antichamber opens into the Communa on the left hand, and on the right into the great audience hall in the tower of Comares; a noble apartment, thirty-six feet square, thirty-six high up to the cornice, and eighteen from thence to the centre of the cupola. The walls on three sides are fifteen feet thick, on the other nine; the lower range of windows thirteen feet high. The wall is inlaid with mosaic of many colours, disposed in intricate knots, stars, and other figures. In every part, various Arabic sentences are repeated.

“Having completed the tour of the upper apartments, which are upon a level with the offices of the new palace, you descend to the lower floor, which consisted of bedchambers and summer rooms: the back stairs and passages, that facilitated the intercourse between them, are without number. The most remarkable room below is the king’s bedchamber, which communicated, by means of a gallery, with the upper story. The beds were placed in two alcoves, upon a raised pavement of blue and white tiles; but as it was repaired by Philip V. who passed some time here, it cannot be said how it may have been in former times. A fountain played in the middle, to refresh the apartment in hot weather.

“Behind the alcoves are small doors, that conduct you to the royal baths. These consist of one small closet, with marble cisterns for washing children, two rooms for grown-up persons, and vaults for boilers and furnaces, that supplied the baths with water, and the stoves with vapour. The troughs are formed of large slabs of white marble; the walls are ornamented with party-coloured earthenware, and light is admitted by holes in the ceiling. Hard by, is a whispering gallery, and a kind of gallery, said to have been made for the diversion of the women and children. One of the passages of communication is fenced off with a strong iron gate, and called the Prison of the Sultana; but it seems more probable that it was put up to prevent any body from climbing up into the women’s quarter.

“Under the council-room is a long slip, called the King’s Study: and adjoining to it are several vaults, said to be the place of burial of the royal family. In the year 1574, four sepulchres were opened, but, as they contained nothing but bones and ashes, were immediately closed again.”