Lamp Niche

Abstract

A lamp niche in the Alhambra in the north end of the Comares court, framed heavily in elaborate stucco work featuring Arabic inscriptions and muqarnas or stalactite vaulting.

Description

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

Image Notes

Photograph created 1963. Photograph processed September 1963. Formerly catalogued as B49.240, BV.039. Notes written on the slide or index: Lamp niche.

Identifier CS.059
Collection CS: Granada
Location Granada, Spain
Year 1963
Batch Stamp SEP 63
Written Date 1963
Printed Date September, 1963
Index Notes Lamp niche