Short description of the monument
The “Peinador de la Reina”, also called “Tocador” or “Mirador”, was constructed towards 1537 over the Tower of Abu l-Hayyay, and it gets its name from the fact that these were the rooms of the Empress “Isabel”, wife of Carlos V. The tower of Abu l-Hayyay, built over the rampart, and from where you can see all the “Darro” valley, was decorated by Yusuf I and finished by Mohamed V. It was part of the palace and it had a defensive function. The access to this tower was through the covered passage under the “Embajadores” lounge. The wall reached the windowsill of the balconies of the “Peinador”, but after being destroyed in 1831, it was reconstructed with less height and a secret staircase was discovered, which goes through the lower part of the tower and finishes at a clearing of the woods at its base.
History of the monumentbr>
The entrance to the tower has a wooden carved lintel and on top: plaster voussoirs and a rectangle with embossment of stars. Unfortunately, the inscriptions that existed all round the gate, are not complete, but at least we know (through the fragments that remain) that these inscriptions are praises to God and to Mohamed V.
The south side has a semicircular arch which was joined with the “Peinador”. At the other sides, we can find an open corridor. At the right side of the entrance, we find a kind of burner, consisting on a marble slab with holes, through which the essence perfumes came out, once they were burnt in a chimney from a lower room. For this reason this tower was also called “Estufa” Tower (the Stove Tower). The frescoes paintings, probably from 1539 and 1546, are remarkable for their historical importance, above all those that represent the expedition of Carlos V to Tunisia in 1535, divided in several pictures: the ships leaving from the harbour in “Cagiliari”, the journey to Africa, the development of the military operations, and the retreat of the troops and their arrival in Sicily. We can also find other paintings representing, from allegories of “Virtues” to the fable of Phaeton.
The architectural structure of the “Peinador” complex was at first an Arab construction, modified in the 16th century after the conquest. The tower is built over the wall and has a square floor plan (8,10 meters by 5,75 meters). The interior measures 7x5 meters, divided by columns into another central space which is elevated by a lantern towards an Arab armour. The second upper space was built by the Christians around 1537, used as the room of the Empress “Isabel”. From there onwards, the tower was called “Mirador” or “Tocador de la Reina” (the Queen’s dressing room), and in the 18th century it was named “Peinador”.
This space has an antechamber, sometimes called the stove. The “Tocador” or the lady’s private sitting room, has recuperated its function as a lantern of the exterior galleries. This “tocador” (dressing room) keeps the primitive nine Arab semicircular windows, that during the Empire period, had grisaille glass (decorative painted glass) with grotesques ornamentals. The walls of the
rooms were decorated between 1539 and 1546, based on Pompeian style by “Julio Aquiles” and “Alexander Mayner”. At the antechamber, the expedition of Carlos V to Tunisia in 1535, is represented in eight squares.
The decoration of the central room or “Peinador” starts from some socles which are divided, as in previous rooms, in rectangles framing vegetal motifs. Then, a strip with naturalistic elements gives way to the central spaces, where the windows are framed by floral ornaments, as well as small figures, animals and other fanciful details over a red and white background, typical style of the Vatican period.
From the antechamber you accede to the gallery, where grotesque motifs are represented as well as some figures related to the theological and cardinal virtues, placed in niches. The paintings were by “Alexandre” as well as the main figures of the complex. It was the painter “Julio” who was in charge of grotesques painted on the socles and friezes.
There are four panelled ceilings complementing the roof frames. Three of them, which correspond to the exterior gallery and to the antechamber, belong to the spaces created after the Christian conquest of the Alhambra and have a similar construction.
They consist of rafters and fillets placed at the extrados of these, to conform rectangular troughs limited by placing mouldings and a carved rose. The fillet is accompanied by a classic flume and at the perimeter, a moulding.
The fourth panelled ceiling, is placed directly over what was the “Tocador de la Reina”. This panel ceiling has a square shape and has hips at its angles, decorated with bow motifs and completed with an “al-musat” (flat horizontal part of a panelled ceiling with principal rafters and joists). At the “ar-rukab” (like a decorative frieze at the base of this panelled ceiling) there is an Arabic inscription: <>.
The stone materials that we find inside the compound, correspond to columns, windowsills of the galleries, windowsills from the windows of the “Peinador” and the slab of the old perfuming chimney of the antechamber. The marble columns are at the entry gallery and at the exterior galleries of the “Peinador”. These are Arab materials which were re-used, and they consist of base, fust, capital and cymatium. The capitals have carved vegetal and geometric motifs.
The slab of the old perfuming chimney is located on the ground, on the southwest end of the antechamber, and was constructed by “Oliver Hurtado” in 1540, as a complement of another perfuming chimney located on the lower rooms. It is made of marble and it measures: 82 centimeters by 74 centimeters, and has 16 holes of 3 centimeters diameter.
Bibliography
• Eduardo Blázquez Mateos: “El Peinador de la Reina en La Alhambra. Los paisajes testimoniales de conquistas”
Source book: Cuadernos de arte de la Universidad de Granada, ISSN 0210-962X, Nº 25, 1994 , pages. 11-24
• “Granada en tus manos. Alhambra y Generalife”. Author: Carlos Vílchez Vílchez. Ideal – 2006.
Web sites:
• http://www.alhambradegranada.org/historia/alhambraPeReina.asp
• http://agorarestauraciones.com/peinador_de_la_reina.htm |
