The Alhambra

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cid_2455747.150.jpg The Alhambra
Designer unknown
Location Granada, Spain
Date 1338 to 1390
Building Type palace
Climate mediterranean
Context urban
Architectural Style Moorish (Islamic)
Street Address
Notes Palace of Nasrid dynasty.
At Great Buildings http://www.GreatBuildings.com/buildings/The_Alhambra.html

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UNESCO World Heritage Sites
Name Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada
UNESCO State Party Spain
Region Europe and North America
Type Cultural
Criteria i, iii, iv
UNESCO Site ID 314
Year of Listing 1984
Extensions' 1994



Commentary

"On a hill overlooking Granada, the Alhambra—a sprawling palace-citadel that comprised royal residential quarters, court complexes flanked by official chambers, a bath, and a mosque—was begun in the thirteenth century by Ibn al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid dynasty, and was continued by his successors in the fourteenth century. Its most celebrated portions—a series of courtyards surrounded by rooms—present a varied repetoire of Moorish arched, columnar, and domical forms. The romantic imagination of centuries of visitors has been captivated by the special combination of the slender columnar arcades, fountains, and light-reflecting water basins found in those courtyards—the Lion Court in particular; this combination is understood from inscriptions to be a physical realization of descriptions of Paradise in Islamic poetry."

— Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. p219.


"Mohammed I, the first king of the Nasriden – a Moorish dynasty in Granada - converted a 9th-century castle into his private royal residence, and it is this which we now know as the Alhambra. The structure, which covers an area of 13 hectares, is renowned for its stunning frescoes and interior detail. The building is one of the finest examples of Moorish architecture in the world and is among Europe’s most-visited tourist attractions." — http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=387

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Alhambra


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[edit] References

Francis D. K. Ching. Architecture: Form, Space, and Order. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1979. ISBN 0-442-21535-5. LC 79-18045. NA2760.C46. plan drawing, p194.— A nice graphic introduction to architectural ideas. Updated 1996 edition available at Amazon.com

Donald Corner and Jenny Young. Slide from photographer's collection. PCD.2260.1012.1841.088. PCD.2260.1012.1841.087

Howard Davis. Slide from photographer's collection. Photo May 1987.PCD.2260.1012.1537.064. PCD.2260.1012.1537.063. PCD.2260.1012.1537.061. PCD.2260.1012.1537.059. PCD.2260.1012.1537.060. PCD.2260.1012.1537.062

Sir Banister Fletcher. A History of Architecture. London: The Butterworth Group, 1987. ISBN 0-408-01587-X. LC 86-31761. NA200.F63 1987. section drawing, fig f, p566. — The classic text of architectural history. Expanded 1996 edition available at Amazon.com

Oleg Grabar. The Alhambra. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1978. ISBN 0-647-01556-8. LC 77-24555. NA387.G73. ground plan drawing, endpaper. site plan drawing, f7, p31.

Spiro Kostof. A History of Architecture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1985. ISBN 0-19-503472-4. LC 84-25375. NA200.K65 1985.   Available at Amazon.com

John Julius Norwich, ed. Great Architecture of the World. New York: Random House, 1975. color photo of the interior of the Hall of Judgement, p139. Reprint edition: Da Capo Press, April 1991. ISBN 0-3068-0436-0. — An accessible, inspiring and informative overview of world architecture, with lots of full-color cutaway drawings, and clear explanations. Available at Amazon.com

A. Rosengarten. A Handbook of Architectural Styles. London: Chatto and Windus, 1910. NA200.R7 1910. elevation detail drawing of court superstructure, fig296, p211.

Russell Sturgis. The Architecture Sourcebook. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1984. ISBN 0-442-20831-9. LC 84-7275. NA2840.S78. Alhambra view from the south, p13. Alhambra construction detail drawing, p12.

Marvin Trachtenberg and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture, from Prehistory to Post-Modernism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986. ISBN 0-13-044702-1. NA200.T7. discussion p219.— available at Amazon.com

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