The Comares Palace and some history

"The only conquerer is God"

We are back in Dundas, pretty much back in this time zone, finished sorting through the mail and gathered together our tax information for delivery to the those who will make sense of it. So there is time to get back to thinking about the Alhambra.

I have written the long commentary in this post to remind myself about a bit of the history of the people who created this place which fascinates me so much. I know it is too long and way more than you want to read or know. But you will miss some interesting bits if you skip it.

By the way, the quote above is present on the walls throughout the Alhambra.

I have been puzzled about the people who were responsible for creating the Alhambra. This is obviously related to my appalling lack of knowledge about their history but also to some inconsistencies that I have heard from guides and read in sketchy historical descriptions.

A word about the photo left before we get to my disquisition. This is one of many small, beautifully sculpted marble or gesso niches, located in the jambs of arches, which were for keeping jars of water, perfume or vases of flowers, but almost always water, as a symbol of hospitality, according to the verses written around them. The decorative patterns in this photo and the one above and throughout the palaces are usually made from gesso, a mix of plaster, marble dust and water shaped by molds. Unlike stone or marble, they are relatively soft and easily damaged, but also quite easy to repair or change.

Back to my question about the people.  For example, our excellent guide in the Alhambra specifically emphasized that this place was not created by "Arabs". Muslims - yes, but according to him, "Spanish" Muslims, not Arabs. Spanish? It seems that, in the 14th and and early 15th centuries when much of the Alhambra was built, Spain was not an entity but rather two or three Catholic Kingdoms (Castile and Aragon and perhaps Navarre) and the Muslim "Kingdom of Granada",  created in 1238 when the first Nazrid Sultan swore allegiance to King Ferdinand III of Castile.

Such bits of confusing information motivated me to explore this puzzle a bit further.

Possibly this insistence that those who built the Alhambra were not "Arabs", stems from the ambivalence prevalent among Portuguese and Spanish Christians concerning the "Moors". For more than 500 years (from 711 to the 13th century), the Moors ruled much of the Iberian peninsula (what is now Portugal and Spain) and created a culture of inclusion and assimilation which flourished during that period. The resentment of the Moors by the Portuguese and Spanish seems related to the notion that the Moors, who were Muslims (and often referred to as Arabs), were intruders, therefore temporary occupiers in land that 'rightfully' belonged to the Christians who had laid claim to the territory before the Moors moved in.

The other side of this ambivalence can be seen in the esteem and acceptance by the Christians of many things "Moorish", demonstrated by the adoption of Moorish contributions such as architectural and decorative styles (See my blog posts on decorative tiles and chimney pots) as well as agricultural products like oranges, lemons, almonds, figs, etc.

From the Real Alcazar in Seville

Indeed, the Real Alcazar in Seville, built by Christians, is styled, in part, on Muslim/Moorish architecture such that, while it incorporates architectural styles from other periods, a substantial portion of it resembles the character of the Alhambra itself.

But, who exactly were these "Moors"? As Moors are not a distinct or self-defined people the term has limited ethnological value but Medieval and early modern Europeans applied it to the Berbers, North African Arabs, Muslim Iberians and West Africans who had been absorbed into the Almoravids of north Africa. Several sources indicate that the Berbers from north west Africa, generally considered to be agrarian or nomadic people, having converted to Islam during the Arab expansion into that region, had been persuaded to spread the teachings of Islam. So in 711, in pursuit of that goal, they invaded the Iberian Peninsula and within a relatively short time seized control of much of what is now Spain and Portugal, which they called Al-Andalus.

And, over time, the Berbers and the Arabs mixed with the population of the Iberian Peninsula such that by the 1400's the people who created the [subsequent] civilization of Spain and were proud of their pure blood, were actually "a mix of Celts, Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Visigoths, Vandals, Arabs, Berbers and Jews." (The Reformation by Will Durant)

Comares Palace Throne Room

During the period of rule by the Moors most of the Iberian populace converted to Islam bringing this rich mix of people, from an array of cultures, within the sphere of Islamic philosophy. And a central component of Islamic philosophy, in stark contrast to the Christians, was the pursuit of literacy and learning for all including the exchange of information and ideas through the creation of extensive libraries and centres of higher learning, like Toledo. This environment undoubtedly provided the basis for the development of engineering, architectural and artistic vision and skills necessary to envision, plan and build the Alhambra as well as great cities like Córdoba and Toledo.

Over the centuries of rule by the Moors, almost continuous conflicts were initiated by the Christians in the interest of driving the Muslims back to North Africa and, ultimately, they succeeded. I have used the term "Muslim" here as the battles and the entire process of eliminating the Moors was essentially religiously motivated; Christianity versus Islam.

Comares Palace Throne Room ceiling

After Isabella and Ferdinand conquered Granada in 1492 there was apparently a brief period of tolerance but, in the end, elimination of the Muslims was vigorously pursued and any who refused to convert to Catholicism were either executed or driven out. Remember the Spanish Inquisition?

OK - now that I feel I understand a bit about who created it, let's get back to the beauty and fascination of the Comares Palace in the Alhambra.

The ceiling or cupola of the Throne room in this Palace (above) represents the culmination of Nasrid carpentry. It is made from over 8000 pieces of wood arranged in seven concentric circles and ornamented with superimposed cedar wood. Notice that the windows in the top of this room are the major source of light which highlights the cupola but makes this, by design, a fairly dark room at floor level. There are windows at floor level but they are covered with grill work with inset coloured glass to subdue the light.

There are several small alcove rooms like these which open onto the large central portion of the Throne room. The set up of natural lighting in these alcoves allowed the Sultan to sit on his cushion in relative darkness in one of these spaces where, bathed in light from behind, he could clearly see his supplicants in the large central room while their view of him was limited to a mysterious silhouette. This arrangement gave the Sultan significant advantage in negotiations. In the photo to the right you can see the grill work in the window, but the coloured inserts are no longer present.

This image looks from the Throne room through the Hall of the Boat (an ante room to the Throne room) to the Courtyard of the Myrtles and the south gallery at the far end.











The photo below is a view, through the last of the arches shown in the photo to the left,  of the Courtyard of the Myrtles -

once more with the south gallery at the far end of the reflecting pool.

Look carefully at the arch in the photo above - it has quite prominent projections in the decorative pattern of the arch. These are meant to represent stalactites, which I will say more about later in relationship to other images. Also, a close look at the vertical portion of this archway, especially on the right, reveals the niche for water, perfume, etc., details of which are shown in the second photo from the top.

And, when we move to the south gallery and look toward the north with the sun shining on the arches of the north gallery and the Comares tower (location of the Throne Room) we are rewarded with this spectacular image!

From the beautiful Comares Palace we move next to the even more magnificent Palace of the Lions.