Stucco work on walls, Court of Mexuar, Alhambra. The Nasrid motto, ‘la ghalib ila Allah,’ (‘No victor except God’) is seen all over the wall. The court of the Mexuar (from the Arabic ‘mashwar,’ meaning to consult) was the place where administrative matters and meetings were held in the palace complex.
The Alhambra as a whole is one of the most fantasized monuments of Islamic Architecture, captivating the imagination of a vast number of writers and artists, including Washington Irving and the French author Chateaubriand, to name just a couple. Indeed, some parts of the Alhambra, such as the Court of the Lions, are commonly written about examples of the most beautiful architecture in the world. The palace-complex as it stands today was built mostly in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries under the Nasrid dynasty (1238-1492), in particular by Yusuf I (1333-54) and his son Muhammad V (1354-59, 1362-1391). Out of six royal palaces, only two survive (the Comares palace and the Palace of the Lions). A summer palace called the Generalife (from the Arabic jannat al-arif, ‘the garden of the architect’) is also extant. – SK
Photograph created 1974. Photograph processed June 1974. Formerly catalogued as B49.202, CS.023. Notes written on the slide or index: Court of the Mexuar (wall decoration).
