08.09.09 - nst.com.my - Chandra Devi Renganayar

Red Castle, or Alhambra, the ancient megastructure is seen today as a testament to the genius and beauty of Muslim art and design.

ON the southeastern border of the city of Granada, Spain, a brooding citadel dominates the skyline.

This exquisite beauty, with 37 gigantic towers, reddish walls and Moorish architecture is a place of wonder for tourists from all around the world.

Known as Alhambra or Red Castle, the ancient megastructure is seen today as a testament to the genius and beauty of Muslim art and design.

Built by a succession of sultans across 150 years, it developed beyond a fortress to become a network of palaces and a city surrounded by a beautiful suite of gardens, cooled by pools and fountains fed by fresh mountain water.

The Alhambrass outer walls are made from a mixture of dark red clay, sand and stone found on site and known as the Alhambra conglomerate.

The Hispano-Muslim architects who designed the Alhambra used a unit of measurement from classical architecture called the rashshashid codo.

It is with the use of this that the architects were able to create astounding intricacy and exact geometry to the patterns on the walls to establish effects that have overwhelmed visitors from ancient times.

According to historian Dr Amira Bennison, the construction of the Alhambra dates back to the 13th century when the rising Christian kingdoms became a threat to the 500-year-old Muslim empire in Spain.

It was intended to make a military statement, to show the strength of the rulers of the Nasrid Dynasty.

Muhammad Ibn Nazir, also known as Muhammad I (1237-1273), one of the many sultans warring over the fading Muslim empire, took over Granada and decided to build a fortress to safeguard his family from the Christian advance.

He found the perfect site on the Sabika Hill, framed by the mountains of the Sierra Nevada where an ancient Arab castle, the Alcazaba, was situated.To fight off marauding attackers, Muhammad built watchtowers for the last Muslim bastion in Spain. The Torre dela Vela is the first tower he built and is unlike anything that existed in Europe at that time.

Beyond the Alcazaba, Muhammad planned a suite of palaces that would eventually house his family and followers, along with gardens and a mini-township to support them.

The gardens that surround the Alhambra were designed to grow food as well as flowers, and were intended to symbolise the power of the Nasrid Dynasty.

Water supply to the fortress was made possible with the construction of a dam six kilometres away in the hills above Alhambra.

This was an engineering feat which saw engineers burrowing into the hills and building an aqueduct to bring water to every part of the Alhambra.

In the 100 years that followed Muhammad Is death in 1273, each of his successors constructed a new palace or carried out renovations to make their own mark.

This gradually created a whole network of palaces and together, they form one of the most impressive palace complexes still standing in Europe today.

Among them, Torre de Comares, a huge defensive tower on Alhambrass north wall built by Sultan Yusuf, stands majestic at 45 metres tall.

At its heart is the Hall of the Ambassadors. The complex stucco work contains repeated Arabic inscriptions in praise of Allah.

The ceiling 23 metres above contains more than 8,000 individual pieces of cedar wood, painted to resemble the Seven Heavens of Islam, said Bennison.

The influence of Christian architecture is also seen on the Alhambra and this started during the reign of Sultan Mohammed V who forged an alliance with the Christian king of Castile, Pedro the Cruel.

This rulers Palace and Court of the Lions imitated and, in some ways, surpassed the beauty of Pedros palace.

Pedro the Cruel and Mohammed V clearly had a friendship which was based to some extent on shared intellectual and artistic interests.The Christian architectural mark on Alhambra was further stamped after Granadas fall into the hands of the Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon which united to form the Kingdom of Spain in 1469.

Get a picturesque point of view and learn more about the history of this ancient Muslim engineering wonder on the National Geographic Channels Ancient Megastructures: Alhambra on Astro Channel 553 tomorrow at 9pm.

di