Stucco work gracing the capitals and spandrels of a seven-arched portico in the Court of the Myrtles in the Comares palace. The courtyard was one of the most important architectural features of Islamic houses, and the same is true for this palace. A shallow pool of water runs the length of the courtyard, flanked by myrtle bushes (hence the name “Court of the Myrtles”). Adjoining the courtyard are a number of rooms which functioned as the rooms of the King’s wives. At the ends are elaborate seven-arched porticoes, one of which is the subject of this slide.
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 1963. Photograph processed September 1963. Formerly catalogued as B49.206, BV.015. Notes written on the slide or index: Court of the Myrtles.