The Alhambra is a
palace and fortress complex located in Granada, Andalusia, Spain.
It was originally constructed as a small fortress in AD 889 on
the remains of Roman fortifications, and then largely ignored
until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt in the mid-13th
century by the Nasrid emir Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate
of Granada, who built its current palace and walls. It was
converted into a royal palace in 1333 by Yusuf I, Sultan of
Granada. After the conclusion of the Christian Reconquista in
1492, the site became the Royal Court of Ferdinand and Isabella
and the palaces were partially altered in the Renaissance style.
In 1526 Charles I & V commissioned a new Renaissance palace
better befitting the Holy Roman Emperor in the revolutionary
Mannerist style influenced by Humanist philosophy in direct
juxtaposition with the Nasrid Andalusian architecture, but it was
ultimately never completed due to Morisco rebellions in Granada.
Alhambra's last
flowering of Islamic palaces were built for the last Muslim emirs
in Spain during the decline of the Nasrid dynasty, who were
increasingly subject to the Christian Kings of Castile. After
being allowed to fall into disrepair for centuries, the buildings
occupied by squatters, Alhambra was rediscovered following the
defeat of Napoleon, who had conducted retaliatory destruction of
the site. The rediscoverers were first British intellectuals and
then other north European Romantic travelers. It is now one of
Spain's major tourist attractions, exhibiting the country's most
significant and well-known Islamic architecture, together with
16th-century and later Christian building and garden
interventions. The Alhambra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and
the inspiration for many songs and stories.
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