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So many people have heard of the Alhambra, a great Moorish fortress in Granada overlooking the beautiful ANDALUCIA VILLAS below. Muhammed Ibn Nasra was the founder of the Nasrid dynasty; he was forced to flee to Granada in order to avoid persecution by King Ferdinand and his supporters during attempts to rid Spain of Moorish dominion. After retreating to Granada, Ibn Nasr took up residence at the Palace of Badis in the Alhambra. After residing there a few months, he commenced a re-construction of a new Alhambra, only this time it would be fit for a king. According to an ancient Arabic manuscript published as the Anonimo de Granada y Copenhague: “This year 1238 Abdallah ibn al-Ahmar climbed to the place called the Alhambra, inspected it, laid out the foundations of a castle and left someone in charge of its construction.” The eventual design included plans for just six palaces; five of them were grouped in the north east quadrant to create a royal quarter with two towers on the walls and numerous bathhouses. Over the reign of the Nasrid dynasty, the Alhambra was slowly transformed into a palatine city. It had been built complete with an irrigation system which effectively gave water to the residents and fed the lush and beautiful gardens of the Generalife which can be found outside the fortress. Previously, the old Alhambra structure had been dependent upon rainwater collected from a cistern and from the river below that what could be brought up from the Albaicin. The creation of the Sultan’s Canal solidified the identity of the Alhambra into a sumptuous palace with a city inside, rather than just a defensive and ascetic building. The name Alhambra comes from the Arabic words “al hamra” meaning “the red”. It is a reference to the colour of the red clay which the bricks that have been used to build fortress are made of. The English word “amber” comes from a related word also in old Arabic: “anbar”. The first reference to the Qal’at al Hamra was during the battles between the Moors and the Muladies during the rule of the Abdallah who was the then king from 888 until 912. In one particularly fierce and bloody battle, the Muladies defeated the Moors who were then forced to take shelter in the Alhambra. At the time the Alhambra was little more than a small castle. According to surviving documents from the time, the red castle was quite small at that time and evidence from Moorish texts suggests that the building was extended to its present size some time later, as mentioned earlier during the Nasrid dynasty. No other historical references exist about the Alhambra until the eleventh century at which time it had been left for nearly a hundred years gathering dust. Its ruins were eventually renovated and rebuilt by Samuel ibn Naghralla, who was vizier to King Badis of the Zirid Dynasty. At the time there was a small Jewish settlement also on the Sabikah hill where the fortress now stands overlooking those beautiful ANDALUCIA VILLAS and the city of Granada below.
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