Granada information
La Alhambra y el Generalife
The first vestige for the palace of the Alhambra
go back to 9th century, a hundred years alter the Muslims arrived
to the peninsula. However, the greatest buildings of the Alhambra
and its gardens (The Generalife) belong to the Nazarí epoch (12th
century), and Carlos V reign (16th century).
The entire set of buildings that make up the Alhambra and especially
its palaces were built with the aim to reach perfection as described
either by the dominant trend of the Coram or the neoplatonian
style of the renaissance. The Patio de los Leones (Patio of the
Lions) was a Muslim work thought to be built according to the
typical structure of a monastic cloister, which is one of the
most widely used in classic architecture. The Alhambra was built
to show domination, power and beauty all at the same time. From
its battlements, the entire city can be seen. From Granada, the
Alhambra rises up on top of a red hill as a symbol of greatness
of the rulers that lived there, as the place on earth that resembles
the paradise that Islam promises to its faithful believers. That
is why the Alhambra was Acropolis and paradise all at once.
Carlos V also wanted to show his power and he succeeded by building
his palace in the area of the Alhambra. It is a square- shaped
building with its corners pointing to the four cardinal points
symbolizing his earthly power as he ruled over lands almost everywhere
on the Earth, from the Philippines to America and all over Europe.
The central circle- shaped patio symbolizes the divine perfection
since it represents the cuadrature of a circle.