Places and Spots in the Alhambra: The Golden Room courtyard (Alhambra)

The Golden Room courtyard (Alhambra)

Short description of the monument

TIt takes its name from the ”grotesques” of the Arab ceiling, which was repainted in gold during the Catholic Kings period. It opens to the courtyard through a porticoe with three arches; the columns have beautiful capitals with volutes, original of the “almoravide” (Moslem) tradition. In the middle of the courtyard there is a low fountain made with marble. At one side a gate leads to the guards vaulted walk that communicates this courtyard with the “Reja” courtyard.

History of the monument

This famous courtyard can be seen in prints of the 19th century converted into dwellings with new balconies, in a very bad state. This bad condition was due to the abandon of the 18th century and the first part of the 19th century. “Rafael Contreras” intervened in the 19th century, “Modesto Cendoya” between 1906 and 1907 and “D. Leopoldo” between 1926 and 1930.

In front of the porticoe of the Golden Room, the most important façade of the palace was built: the magnificent “Comares” façade. It was Mohamed V who ordered its construction to commemorate the conquest of Algeciras in 1369. this façade was the entrance to the residential private area of the palace. The door at the right of this façade gave access to the service areas and the door at the left gave access to the private rooms, as the inscription on the “ar-rukab” or wooden frieze says. On the upper floor there are the private rooms of the women, closed with lattice windows to preserve their intimacy.

At this courtyard, the sultan received the subjects who had a special audience. These would stand in the Golden Room, separated from the sultan who was protected by the guards that made a security cord in front of the porticoe. At the central part of the façade, between both doors, the sultan would sit on a type of folding chair with curved legs and leather pieces for the seat and the back beneath the great eave, which was like the canopy that crowned him, as the inscription says. This eave is one of the main works of the “nazarie” carpentry. This is how they achieved the theatrical effect for the arrival of the monarch: the subjects could talk and make their petitions to the sultan over the heads of the soldiers, while the women would discretely observe all the ceremony behind the lattice windows of the upper floors.

Bibliography

• “Granada en tus manos. Alhambra y Generalife”. Author: Carlos Vílchez Vílchez. Ideal – 2006.

The Royal Palace

Introduction

Mexuar

Oratory

The Golden Room Courtyard

Golden Room

The Comares Palace

The Arrayanes Courtyard

The Barca Hall

The Comares Tower

The Embajadores Hall

The Lion’s Palace