As an inseparable part of the Alhambra and Generalife palaces and enclosures, the gardens and cultivated spaces, elements of adornment, perfection, symbolism, follow each other in every corner of the monument, providing a transcendent component, in the territory and in time, to the landscape of this place.
The trace that the passage of the centuries has left in the Red Hill has multiplied and enriched the variety of the gardens with diverse forms and gardener tastes, at the same time a reflection of epochs and different sensibilities.
Some highlights about Alhambra and Generalife Gardens, in Granada (Spain)
UNESCO World Heritage Designation. 1984, 314bis
C/ Real de la Alhambra s/n, 18009 Granada
Andalusia, Spain
Coordinates: 37.17422, -3.58733
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Check the Alhambra and Generalife website
Web: alhambra-patronato.es
Email: jardines.pag@juntadeandalucia.es
Phone: 0034 958 027 900
From Granada: Public transport, tourist transport and by car.
The Arabs respected Roman cities and roads by expanding them and adding new foundations. In the 9th century there are mentions of constructions on the hill of Sabika, where the Alhambra will rise later, although it is believed that in Roman times and even before there was some buildings. After the civil war in the Caliphate of Córdoba (1031), the capital of the until then province of Granada moves from Elvira to Granada, with the kingdom of Granada’s Taifa of the Ziríes. They establish their court in the Alcazaba Cadima or Old, located in the Albaicín neighborhood.
In its foothills there was an important population center, mainly Jewish, around which the development of the city of Granada takes place. Prime Minister Samuel ibnNagrella, rebuilds the abandoned buildings of the Sabika Hill and installs his Palace.
In the 12th century, the successive waves of Almorávides and Almohades cause in Granada several fights that have as their scenario the Albaicín Alcazaba and the constructions that existed on the Sabika hill. This one served as a refuge for local Andalusian supporters as well as others to North African invaders.
Al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid Dynasty, settles in 1238 in the Albaicín Old Alcazaba. The ruins of the Alhambra hill caught his attention and he decides to start his reconstruction and install the seat of the court, starting the building of the Alhambra that we know today.
The Alhambra was a palace, citadel and fortress, residence of the Nasrid sultans and high officials, servants of the court and elite soldiers. It reaches its splendor in the second half of the 14th century, coinciding with the sultanates of Yusuf I (1333-1354) and the second reign of Muhammad V (1362-1391).
Granada, capital of the Nasrid kingdom, is gradually receiving Muslim populations because of the advance of the Christian conquest. The city is growing, changing, creating new neighborhoods and expanding the fences and walls practically until its conquest at the end of the 15th century.
After 1492, the Alhambra was established as a Royal House with exempt jurisdiction in charge of the Count of Tendilla. The Catholic Monarchs ordered intense reparations using mostly Moorish artisans.
In 1526, Emperor Charles V decides to build the palace that bears his name, along with other very significant constructions with Roman Renaissance taste. The Austrian house continued from Philip II (1556-1598) and his successors in charge of the conservation of the Alhambra, admired by humanists and artists such as Andrea Navaggiero (1524), Venice’s ambassador to the Court of Charles V.
In the first decades of the 18th century, Felipe V (1700-1746) dispossessed the Marquis of Mondéjar, heir to the Count of Tendilla, beginning a stage of abandonment practically until the reign of Carlos IV (1788-1808).
The Napoleonic occupation was a negative episode for the Alhambra, due to the blasting produced in 1812, when the French army retired. Only the courage of a Spanish soldier prevented its almost total destruction.
To a stage of vindications about the state of the monument, actively seconded by Washington Irving (1783-1859), is added a growing interest of society for the gardens of the Alhambra and orientalism that evokes in the romantic imaginary, very well reflected in the plastic arts of the moment.
After the revolution of 1868, the Alhambra is detached from the Crown and passes into the domain of the State, declaring itself in 1870 as a “national monument”.
In the early 20th century, the care of the Alhambra is entrusted to a Commission (1905), replaced in 1913 by a Board of Trustees that in 1915 becomes dependent on the General Directorate of Fine Arts. In 1944, a new Board of Trustees is created and maintained until the functions and services of the State in matters of culture are transfered to the Autonomous Region of Andalusia.
As an inseparable part of the Alhambra and Generalife palaces and enclosures, the gardens and cultivated spaces, elements of adornment, perfection, symbolism, follow each other in every corner of the monument, providing a transcendent component, in the territory and in time, to the landscape of this place.
The trace that the passage of the centuries has left in the Red Hill has multiplied and enriched the variety of the gardens with diverse forms and gardener tastes, at the same time a reflection of epochs and different sensibilities.
The medieval gardens, created in the Nasrid stage, are the ones with the greatest fame and importance, due to their remote origin, the refined character with which they integrate the vegetation, the water and the buildings that frame them, and because of the close relationship they awoke in their conception with the desired Quranic paradise. Thus the Alhambra has medieval gardens (Patio Arrayanes, Lions and Patio de la Acequia), Renaissance XVI – XVII (patios of the Reja or Lindaraja, modified this one in the 19th century), from the 17th century (Garden of the Adarves, in the Alcazaba), 19th century (from the XIX High Gardens of the Generalife) and Contemporary Gardens of the 20th century (Jardines del Partal and Nuevos del Generalife) or even 21st century (Theater environment).
Among those used in medieval times, showy flower plants acquire a special and habitual presence in the Hispanic-Islamic gardens, many of them also fragrant, such as roses (Rosa sp.), Carnations (Dianthussp.), Violets (Viola odorata ), wallflower (Erysimumcheiri and Mathiolaincana), lilies (Iris germanica), oleanders (Neriumoleander) or water lilies (Nymphaea alba).
Other plants lacking flowers were selected exclusively for their aroma, such as basil (Ocimumbasilicum), oregano (Origanumsp.), Melissa (Melissa officinalis), mints (Menthasp.), Thyme (Thymussp.), Rosemary ( Rosmarinusofficinalis) or lavender (Lavandulasp.). Among them, jasmine (Jasminumsp.), Citrus fruits (Citrus sp.), or cypresses (Cupressussempervirens) played a leading role in the medieval Islamic gardening tradition.
The vegetation of the Monument has been modified over the centuries, not only in terms of the number and variety of species, but also in terms of cultivation and maintenance techniques and styles. To the traditionally used species in the Nasrid era, such as wallflower, lily, jasmine, cypress, bitter orange or lily; many others from different regions and continents have been incorporated and are now considered fully rooted in Granada’s gardening, such as boxwood, macassar, geranium, aspidistra, wisteria or pitimini rose.
Among all of them, if any species could represent these gardens, the myrtle would be the chosen one without a doubt. This shrub, considered in the Arab world as a plant with “báraka” (with blessing, hidden and invisible), of dense and fragrant foliage, used as an isolated specimen and trimmed in hedges, has been used at all times and in almost all Alhambra gardens.
The name comes from the Arabic al-rayhan, “the aromatic one”, due to the smell that its leaves give off when rubbed, due to its fine texture, its relatively rapid growth, its delicate and scented whitish flowers, and its ability to accept pruning for the formation of hedges and other topiary forms (the art of the Topiaria is a gardening practice that consists of giving artistic forms to the plants by trimming with pruning shears).
The Alhambra Museum occupies the south wing of the ground floor of the Carlos V Palace. It is distributed in seven rooms, the first one with thematic content and the rest in chronological order.
From the first moments the Alhambra palaces were inhabited by the Catholic Monarchs, the remaining trousseau was protected, reused and enjoyed in the new Court. Over the centuries, preserved architectural objects and remains were arranged decorating the rooms and were also stored in different spaces of the Precinct. Subsequently, those findings from the excavations carried out in the Alhambra were gathered for conservation.
The number and quality of the Alhambra Museum Funds makes it the best existing collection of Hispano-Muslim art and especially Nazari Art.
The Archaeological Museum of the Alhambra was created in 1940, in 1962 it was renamed the National Museum of Spanish-Muslim Art and since 1994 it was attached to the Board of the Alhambra and the Generalife, with the name of the Alhambra Museum.
Assemblage of Gardens from Middle Age, Renaissance, XIX Century and XX-XXI Centuries.