WonderLandscape architecture fact

The Alhambra, the hilltop palace and fortress of the Nasrid sultans of Granada in Spain, is threaded with channels, pools and fountains that cool its courtyards, mirror its buildings and water the Generalife gardens beside it.

Granada, 13th–14th century

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The story behind the card

The Nasrids, the last Muslim dynasty in Spain, ruled Granada from 1238 to 1492. Their founder, Muhammad I, began the palace complex, and water reached the dry hilltop through the Acequia Real, the Royal Channel, which draws on the Darro River several kilometres upstream and runs by gravity along the hillside. The Generalife, a summer palace with terraced gardens, was built in the early fourteenth century. In the Court of the Lions, from the later fourteenth century, twelve marble lions carry a fountain whose water runs out in four channels, echoing the Islamic image of paradise as a garden watered by four rivers. Some of the original channels still water the gardens today.

Türkçe oku

Elhamra, İspanya'nın Granada kentinde Nasri sultanlarının bir tepenin üzerine kurduğu saray ve kaledir; baştan başa kanallar, havuzlar ve çeşmelerle donatılmıştır. Su avluları serinletir, yapıları yansıtır ve hemen yanındaki Generalife bahçelerini sular.

Granada, 13.–14. yüzyıl

İspanya'daki son Müslüman hanedan olan Nasriler, Granada'yı 1238'den 1492'ye kadar yönetti. Saray yapılarına hanedanın kurucusu I. Muhammed başladı. Kurak tepeye su, Darro Nehri'nden birkaç kilometre yukarıda alınan ve yamaç boyunca yerçekimiyle akan Kraliyet Kanalı'yla (Acequia Real) getirildi. Teraslı bahçeleriyle bir yazlık saray olan Generalife, 14. yüzyılın başında yapıldı. 14. yüzyılın ikinci yarısında yapılan Aslanlı Avlu'da on iki mermer aslan bir çeşmeyi taşır; çeşmenin suyu dört kanala ayrılarak akar ve İslam geleneğinde dört nehirle sulanan bir bahçe olarak düşünülen cenneti hatırlatır. Özgün kanalların bir kısmı bahçeleri bugün hâlâ sular.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Alhambra

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The Alhambra, the hilltop palace and fortress of the Nasrid sultans of Granada in Spain, is threaded with channels, pools and fountains that cool its courtyards, mirror its buildings and water the Generalife gardens beside it.

The story behind the card

Sources and further reading

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