By Chandler Wiggins
Some curiosities beg a story. Why are there 12 months in a year? Why does a region in Spain speak with a lisp? Why did the king of Spain live in a palace that was not Spanish, or even European? In Granada, Spain, the palace of Alhambra explains a vital piece of Spanish history.
Built by the Moors, Alhambra reflects Muslim modesty, exemplifies Moor mastery of engineering and demonstrates Arabic attention to comfort. Muslim culture dictates that extravagance should be veiled. They abhor ostentatious behavior and believe glory should be experienced privately. The same belief behind the women’s dress code extends to the palace of the sultan.
On the outside, Alhambra is a collection of right angles and blank, red walls; “alhambra” means red fortress in Aramaic. Inside, it displays breathtaking detail in and a myriad of colored ceramic tiles, including purple, yellow, green and many shades of blues.
In the Middle Ages, the color blue was only created by lapis lazuli which could only be harvested in Afghanistan. It was exuberantly expensive and an indicator of wealth and power. The Arabs dwelled primarily in the desert where water was worth its weight in gold, so the color blue carried even more value.As a result, the palace has a massive amount of water incorporated into its architecture, in addition to blue tiles.
Bubbling fountains or placid pools were placed in courtyards between nearly every room. Water utilization like this exemplifies engineering excellence in many different streams of thought. Twelve miles away from Granada stands the Sierra Nevada, a massive mountain that collects snow 9-12 months out of the year. The engineers directed the water runoff to nourish the whole city and pressurized it into the fountains found around Alhambra.
So despite its dry, dusty setting, Alhambra and the rest of Granada boasts greenery all year round. Southern Spain generates hellish temperatures, much too hot for a sultan or a king. Cleverly, the engineers developed a “natural air conditioning” and replicated paradise with three ingredients, all produced by Sierra Nevada.
The first is cool, running water. Alhambra exhibits typical fountains and pools and tiny canals webbing across the entire palace. Guests had to watch where they stepped! The next ingredient for air conditioning is lush tree-cover. Palm trees, bitter orange trees and cypress trees were commonly featured. While that would reduce temperatures considerably, the final ingredient ushers paradise into the palace: When planning the Alhambra, engineers designed large, north-facing windows adjacent to pools and fountains to generate a perpetual cool breeze throughout the rooms. Because the water was colder than the air, the temperature difference created a vacuum sucking air through the windows.
To top things off, engineers built niches in the hallways to hold jars of perfume that would waft pleasant aromas into the “air conditioning.” During its intended use, the rooms held rugs, thrones and plush beds; Alhambra’s comfort appealed to every sense and produced tranquility with every inch.
Different from all other European architecture, which typically incorporated animal or human bodies, Alhambra is adorned with geometric designs in accordance with classic Islamic design. Complex, patterned mosaics or extremely intricate carvings covered every space.
Some architectural themes included: caves, because of Mohammed’s angel encounter inside a cave; keys and keyholes, a symbol of power and ownership; and the absolute favorite design in Islamic architecture: the eight-point star. Made by overlapping two squares, it signified perfection and heaven. It is impossible to look in any direction and not see an eight-point star.
Ironically, there are a few allusions to Catholicism in the designs added after the Moors surrendered the city to the Spanish in 1492. After that victory, the Spanish fully eradicated the Muslim religion from their country, but gems like Alhambra will always reflect Spain’s ambivalent history and explain a piece of its rich culture.
Chandler Wiggins, a UF in Valencia alumnus, is a computer science student at the University of Florida.