Granada - Alhambra - Paradise on Earth

Like most of the world's best monumental sites, Alhambra... that sits on the hill overlooking Granada... has been constructed over millennium... by different cultures and different rules... all wanting to emphasise their irreplaceable contribution to humanity. Interestingly, many of the builders of Alhambra shared a common goal... to display paradise on earth.

Despite long neglect, willful vandalism and some ill-judged restoration, the Alhambra has endured as an example of Muslim culture in its final European stages. We have just come from Córdoba where Moorish architecture appeared in a very different form. In Córdoba the Emirs brought in the best artists from Damascus to design their monumental buildings. In Granada, the Emirs of the Nasrid dynasty built what they wanted... without confusing themselves through talking to world experts. The three remaining palaces at Alhambra are quadrangular in plan... with all the rooms opening on to a central court... and connected with each other by smaller rooms and passages.

Fountains with running water, and reflecting pools were used to convey 'paradise on earth'... the Nasrids seemed to be more besotted with water than the Romans... water running down handrails of stairs... water bringing sparkle to sunlight... water breaking the silence with its tinkering music.

In the Moorish way, the exterior of palaces was left plain and austere. Sun and wind were freely admitted. Blue, red, and a golden yellow, all somewhat faded through lapse of time... are the colors chiefly employed in tiling and painted marble.

Nasrid culture showed is richness by placing intricate markings on small objects. Reception rooms had ceilings of the most intricate and intense designs. Marble tiles bore evidence of many hundreds of hours of labour... each tile fitted into complex patterns... window arches carrying poems written in Arab script... reflecting the glory of the ruler who paid for its construction.

We couldn't get enough of this art... and neither could the other 6,000 people visiting that day... a bit of a squeeze.

Then, along came the catholic kings. Poor old Charles V (from a Hamburg dynasty) made the mistake of putting his efforts at architecture within the Nasrid palaces. He prided himself on godly simplicity... no decoration. But he wanted his buildings to have pride of place, so he knocked down some of the fancy-prancy nonsense of the Nasrid builders. Military conquerers do not always bring enlightenment... modern technology... improved art. Charles V bought none of these... he bought catapults that could throw rocks further... but his men didn't know how to release beauty hidden within the rock.

History is always written by the victors... our knowledge of the Moorish culture and history is far from complete. Speculate, if you will, on the course of world history... if the Moorish civilisation had prevailed and spread throughout Europe. Would the Renaissance Period have occurred a century earlier? Would building resources have been focused on more useful goals than putting million dollar cathedrals into every poverty stricken village in Europe? Would science and mathematics be advanced by a century?

Just asking!