The entrance-tower, with the *Puerta Judiciaria (Pl. 5; E, F, 3), which, according to the inscription, was erected in the reign of Yûsuf I. in 1348, and was called by the Moors Bîbush-Sheria (‘gate of justice’), deserves special attention. Like many of the Alhambra towers, this was really an independent building, the road between the gates of which was made tortuous for defensive purposes. About halfway up is the horseshoe-shaped Outer Gate, above which is seen a hand with outstretched fingers, a symbol often used in the East and in S. Europe to avert the evil eye. The Inner Gateway still has its old Moorish doors studded with iron.
A narrow passage ascends thence to the House of Gómes Tortosa (on the right; Pl. 7, E, 3), the conservator of the Alhambra. Into the N. wing is built the *Puerta del Vino, probably once the main W. entrance of the Alta Alhambra (p. [86]). This gate seems to have been once connected by a wall with the Puerta de Hierro (p. [87]), so as to shut off the Alcazaba, the palace, and the mosque from the Alhambra suburb.
At the top of the hill we enter the broad Plaza de los Aljibes (Pl. 8; E, 3), so named from the cistern (al-jibb) filled with water from the Darro. The level of the plaza was raised about 16 ft. when Charles V. built his palace, and it is now adorned with hedges of myrtle. On the E. side rise the Moorish palace (p. [82]) and the handsome building erected by the emperor (p. [86]); on our left is the E. front of the Alcazaba with two towers, the Torre Quebrada and the Torre del Homenaje, 85 ft. in height (Pl. 10, 11; E, 3); to the N. we look down into the Darro Valley.
The Alcazaba (Pl. E, 3; Arabic Al-Kasaba, ‘the citadel’) stands about 460 ft. above the Plaza Nueva (p. [78]). Except on the E. the hill falls away abruptly on all sides, and so suddenly on the N.E., in consequence of a landslip, that the castle-wall seems endangered. The only entrance to the castle is now the Puerta de la Alcazaba (Pl. 9; E, 3), at the S.W. angle of the Plaza de los Aljibes. The interior of the castle is now occupied by gardens. Of the original building scarcely anything remains except the ruined enclosing wall, with its huge towers and external terraces (Adarves). At several points the masonry resembles the concrete work of the Romans (p. [290]).
At the W. extremity of the Alcazaba stands the ‘watch-tower’, the *Torre de la Vela (Pl. 13; E, 3), the Ghafar of the Moors, on which the three ‘pendones’ of Ferdinand and Isabella were displayed for the first time on 2nd Jan., 1492.
The Vela Tower commands a very extensive *View (doorkeeper 30 c.). At our feet lies the entire city; to the left, beyond the Alhambra Park, rise the Torres Bermejas; to the right, beyond the Darro, is the Albaicín; in front of us extends the almost circular green Vega, enclosed by brown and sun-scorched ranges of hills; to the S.E. towers the Sierra Nevada; to the S. and S.W. rise the Sierra de Almijara, Sierra Tejea, and Sierra de Alhama; to the W. are Santa Fe (p. [73]) and the hills of Loja (p. [72]); then, to the N.W., are the Sierra de Parapanda (p. [73]), Sierra de Elvira, and other hills. Lastly, to the E., we see the Moorish Alhambra and the palace of Charles V., the church of Santa María (p. [86]), the Generalife (p. [87]), and the Silla del Moro (p. [88]).
The *Jardín de los Adarves (Pl. 15; E, 3), the S. terrace, overgrown with venerable ivy and vines, is entered by a small door (recognized by the iron scallop-shells on it) to the left of the Alcazaba gate. The view is most picturesque, especially towards evening.
The Moorish **Alhambra Palace (adm., see p. [74]), commonly known as the Casa Real, adjoins the N.E. angle of the Plaza de los Aljibes. Like other Moorish secular buildings it is externally insignificant, and it is quite eclipsed by the huge palace of Charles V. (p. [86]). Like the ancient Greek and Roman dwelling-houses it is entirely closed on the outside, while all the rooms open on an internal court as a common centre. When the house was enlarged a new court had to be added, and so too the kings of Granada built palace after palace, each with its own court and separate entrance.
On these buildings the highest efforts of Moorish art have been expended. Their structural value is small; the materials, chiefly wood and plaster, lack solidity, being often used for effect only; while architectural rules are constantly violated. But the ingenious disposition of the rooms and their sumptuous ornamentation, whose fairy-like effect is too often marred by decay or by faulty restoration, are unrivalled. The slender marble columns by which the light walls are supported recall the tent-poles of the nomads, while the mural decoration with its arabesques and flourishes reminds one of an Oriental carpet. Very curious too is the ‘stalactite’ vaulting, formed by minute and countless projections of the walls, ranged one above the other without visible support. The Semitic abhorrence of any representation of living beings accounts for the absence of sculpture, but some food for reflection was afforded by the inscriptions with which all the wall-spaces are framed, partly in the venerable Cufic characters (p. [150]), partly in Andalusian flowing letters, extolling Allah and the reigning family.