Granada

This will be the first of several posts about Spain, where I got to spend a month this summer leading a study abroad program. While I was there, I wondered about the appropriateness of  writing about the colonizer in a blog dedicated to its colonial legacy. Then I strolled through the National Archaeology Museum in Madrid. It is set up in chronological order, starting with early pre-history, moving to Celtiberian tools and art, giving way to the remains of Greek, Roman, Visigothic, Moorish civilizations. I also toured towns like Toledo and Granada, where mosques and synagogues have been converted into Christian churches, just like some Aztec and Inca temples in the New World. It occurred to me that Spain's history is fundamentally about waves of conquest and colonization. Modern Spaniards are only the most recent colonizers of the Iberian peninsula, and they did it at basically the same time that they colonized the Americas. Few places reveal this process better than the last Moorish stronghold to fall to Christian forces: Granada.

Granada in many ways fits the Romanticized view of Spain: mountains, sunshine, and whitewashed buildings with red-tile roofs.

Granada is home to the most visited tourist site in all of Europe: La Alhambra. If Granada was the last Moorish kingdom in Spain, the Alhambra was its stronghold. Although it fell into neglect for many centuries, Irving Washington's Tales of the Alhambra in the nineteenth century led to efforts to restore and preserve it. Today it is one of the most beautiful places on earth.

The park where the Alhambra is located actually contains two sites, the Alhambra proper and the Generalife, a gorgeous palace and garden complex. Here is a panoramic view of the Generalife.

 

The immense gardens in front of the Generalife form a maze that is worth getting lost in. 

The palace contains some of the most ornate examples of Moorish decorative art, based primarily on calligraphy and geometric patterns.

It also where you start to get a sense of the importance of water in the Alhambra. Since Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula, water is essential to its concept of Heaven, and the Alhambra is meant to be an approximation of Heaven. Here is a staircase with cold water running in the handrail.

One of the most iconic views of the Alhambra proper can be seen from the Generalife. For a Spanish professor, the medieval ballad "Abenámar y el rey don Juan" immediately comes to mind. In it, King John marvels at the red towers and metaphorically proposes marriage to Granada. The city speaks back, politely declining the proposal because of how well her Moorish husband treats her.

Getting there from the Generalife is a matter of crossing a bridge. Parts of the Alhambra have been left unrestored.

Other parts are reminders of the fact that the Moorish kingdoms in the peninsula were being colonized at precisely the same time that the New World was. For example, here is a Christian church built right in the middle of the last Moorish stronghold.

Next to it is Carlos V's palace, one of the most outstanding examples of Spanish Renaissance architecture. It is elegant and imposing, and would have been one of my favorite buildings in Spain if it stood anywhere else. Normally for me everything related to the Renaissance represents optimism and faith in humanity. The fact that this palace is in the middle of the Alhambra, however, makes it seem awkward. Its austere style clashes with the florid design of Moorish buildings, making it symbolize instead the arrogance of the conqueror.

Fortunately, Carlos V kept his hands off some of the most stunning parts of the Alhambra, including the alcazaba, or citadel, perched on the edge of the hill standing guard. It's easy to see how Granada was able to hold out against Christian invaders for so long.

Here is a view from inside the citadel.

And here is the view of the modern city of Granada from one of its towers. The dome in the middle of the photograph is the cathedral, which Carlos V began building in the sixteenth century, and it wasn't completed until the eighteenth century.

The gem of the whole complex is the Nasrid palace. In fact, when you buy your tickets for the Alhambra, you have sign up for a time slot to see the Nasrid palace, and they do not let you into it at any other time. It's worth the hassle, though. It has some of the most exquisite examples of Islamic art in the world.

In a way, the Nasrid palace encapsulates the motifs that characterize the entire Alhambra. Certainly water is as important here as anywhere in the complex.

The most emblematic monument in the Nasrid palace (and the Alhambra as a whole) is the Patio of Lions. As Murphy's Law would have it, the lions were undergoing restoration during my visit. This is all there is to see in the patio right now (although the lions are on display indoors--where photography is prohibited).

Disappointed as I was, the bright side is that it gives me an excuse to go back!