Alhambra’s Generalife Gardens
The Alhambra Palace was started, originally, on the remains of Roman fortifications around 889 AD, and then largely ignored until its ruins were renovated hundreds of years later. Once discovered, these gardens were incorporated as part of the new palace complex.
The gardens were started in the 13th century and are a core part of today’s Alhambra (or ”The Red One”) towering above Granada, Spain. The name also refers to the sun-dried bricks that the outer palace walls are made of.
The current gardens were rebuilt in the mid-13th century by the Emirate of Granada during the reign of Muhammed II (1273-1302), Sultan of Granada, and later by Muhammed III (1302–1309). They were later redecorated shortly after by Abu I-Walid Isma’il (1313–1324).
Much of the garden however, is a 19th & 20th century reconstruction of dubious authenticity according to scholars. The final present-day gardens were started in 1931 and completed for visitors by Francisco Prieto Moreno in 1951.
But the end result is that the Generalife is one of the oldest surviving Moorish gardens in Europe, so it is still not to be missed when in southern Spain.
Moorish poets described it as a ‘pearl set in emeralds‘
This grand description was an allusion to the color of its buildings and the woods around them. The palace complex was designed by the Moors with the mountainous site in mind and many forms of technology were considered. Each new section that was added followed the consistent theme of “paradise on earth”.
Panoramic walkways, fountains with running water, and reflecting pools add to the aesthetic and functional complexity. Water is everywhere: reflecting, irrigating, moving, bubbling, spurting, bubbling, and even bathing the native birds.
The park has a multitude of nightingales and is usually filled with the sound of running water from several fountains and cascades. These are supplied through a conduit 8 km (5.0 mi) long, which is connected with the Darro at the abandoned monastery of Jesus del Valle above Granada.
The palace was originally linked to the Alhambra by a covered walkway across the ravine that now divides them, as seen in the picture above. In spite of everything, the Generalife survives as one of the oldest surviving Moorish gardens.
There is also an adjacent park (Alameda de la Alhambra), which is overgrown with wildflowers and grass in the spring, was planted by the Moors with roses, oranges, and myrtles; its most characteristic feature, however, is the dense wood of English elms brought by the Duke of Wellington in 1812.
In every case, the building & wall exteriors were left plain and austere, but sun and wind were freely admitted. More detail is at the Alhambra post.
Blue, red, and a golden yellow, (all somewhat faded through lapse of time and exposure,) are the colors chiefly employed in the buildings as the pictures show. But the gardens burst forth with pinks, medium reds, whites, oranges, yellows, & 20 shades of green.
Source: Wikipedia 2017 : : Pictures are my own.
