No other monument in Spain attracts more visitors each year than the Alhambra. This walled city of opulent Moorish palaces dates back as far as the 9th century. The Emirs of the Nasrid Dynasty built these palaces to be a “Heaven on Earth.” In addition to their exquisite beauty and tranquility, features such as columns and reflective pools are intended to create the impression of being suspended above the Earth and looking down upon the sky. The use of mocárabe, or “stalactite” ornaments, and the points of light cast by the latticed windows give one the feeling of being up among the stars. Coming from the deserts of Arabia and Africa, water was also a symbol of paradise. In addition to the reflective pools, there are dozens of fountains and acequias (waterways) spread through the Alhambra.
The Alhambra has had a significant influence on art, music, literature, and, of course, architecture. When the famous American author Washington Irving (author of “Rip Van Winkle” and “Sleepy Hollow”) first visited Granada, he described it as “a most picturesque and beautiful city, situated in one of the loveliest landscapes that I have ever seen.” He was preparing a book called A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, a history of the years 1478–1492. But when he visited the Alhambra, he was so moved that he immediately began writing a series of essays and fictional short stories called Tales of the Alhambra.
A sketch by M. C. Escher entitled "Alhambra Sketch"
The geometry, symmetry and mathematics of the art of M. C. Escher were directly inspired by his visit to the Alhambra in the 1930′s. His interest in these concepts began in 1936, when he traveled to Granada and viewed the tile patterns used in the Alhambra. He spent many days sketching these tilings, and later stated that this “was the richest source of inspiration that I have ever tapped.”
The fitting together of congruent figures whose shapes evoke in the observer an association with an object or a living creature intrigued me increasingly after that first Spanish visit in 1922.
- Escher, 1941, in an article in De Delver, an art periodical
The fountain in the Court of the Lions at the Irvine Spectrum Center
The unusual architecture and design of the Irvine Spectrum Center in Irvine, California, is modeled after the Alhambra. The Court of the Lions and the Court of the Myrtles in the Irvine Spectrum Center are postmodern versions of the Patio de los Leones and the Patio de los Arrayanes in the Alhambra. The arch over the Center’s Gibraltar Court features an imprint of a hand and a key just as on the arch above the Puerta de la Justicia in the Alhambra.
If you’re from Irvine, you absolutely must come to Granada and experience the palaces and courtyards that inspired one of Irvine’s biggest attractions.
