The Alhambra

Wonders of the World

by Robert Irwin

The Alhambra has long been a byword for exotic and melancholy beauty. In his absorbing new book, Robert Irwin, Arabist and novelist, examines its history and allure.

The Alhambra is the only Muslim palace to have survived since the Middle Ages. Built by a threatened dynasty of Muslim Spain, it was preserved as a monument to the triumph of Christianity. Every day thousands of tourists enter this magnificent site to be awestruck by its towers and courts, its fountained gardens, its honeycombed ceilings and intricate tile work. It is a complex full of mysteries--even its purpose is unclear. Its sophisticated ornamentation is not indiscriminate but full of hidden meaning. Its most impressive buildings were designed not by architects, but by philosophers and poets. The Alhambra, which resembles a fairy-tale palace, was constructed by slave labor in an era of economic decline, plague, and political violence. Its sumptuously appointed halls have lain witness to murder and mayhem. Yet its influence on art and on literature--including Orientalist painting and the architecture of cinemas, Washington Irving and Jorge Luis Borges--has been lasting and significant. As our guide to this architectural masterpiece, Robert Irwin allows us to fully understand the impact of the Alhambra.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Spain, Architecture, Travel, Art, Medieval

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2004

About the author

Robert Graham Irwin was a British historian, novelist, and writer on Arabic literature.

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully irritable monograph, which is motivated primarily by Robert Irwin's annoyance over how other writers of poetry, fiction and guidebooks have treated the Alhambra: as a grand Romantic symbol, the pretext for a lot of ubi sunt wistfulness, and the setting of innumerable historical factoids whose veracity is questionable. Irwin brushes away ninety percent of Alhambra writers as

intellectually lazy, romantic hacks, who were so bound up by cliché and possessed by the picturesque that they were blind to the realities of the land they pretended to write about.

This is quite some put-down coming from the author of Prayer-Cushions of the Flesh, which is pure Orientalist fantasy! The furthest Irwin will concede, when retailing some guidebook explanation of the site, is to say, ‘Well, it is possible, I suppose,’ or some variant thereof. Instead, he is at pains to stress our near-total lack of knowledge on almost every aspect of the place, from its function to its inhabitants.

We are dealing not so much with a body of knowledge as with a body of wild guesses.

The Alhambra was the seat of a Muslim dynasty called the Nasrids, who ruled the kingdom of Granada. Most of it, as it exists today, was built in the mid-to-late fourteenth century, i.e. about a century before the final sultan, known in the west as Boabdil, sighed his famous ‘Moor's last sigh’ and handed the place over to Ferdinand and Isabella.

By this stage, the Reconquista had already long since won back surrounding parts of Spain to Christianity. Muslim Granada had been a tenuous construct for centuries, beset on all sides by its enemies; the Alhambra was never some kind of luxurious European Baghdad. Pretty as it is, it was built on the cheap: instead of marble or even much stone, most of its effects are faked up from tilework and stucco (though to quite stupendous effect).

Beyond this, though, virtually nothing is known for sure. Most of the names with which the various parts of the Alhambra are now labelled are modern inventions, and the stories associated with them tend to be fanciful when they are not outright fictional. Studying the buildings for clues is made difficult by previous restoration work, a lot of which was rather destructive. One restorer added Persian domes to some of the buildings (since removed), while another, or perhaps it was the same one, understood no Arabic and rearranged the sculpted verses on some walls according to his own aesthetic ideals, so that it's now impossible to work out what they should have said.

My Arabic is not what it was (and it was rubbish), but I understand the script well enough, and it does add a layer of interest to have so much reading material available on every surface. The calligraphy – mostly in the style known as Kufic – is extremely beautiful, and when I was there the walls often held my interest more than the wider vistas of courtyards and pools, which were generally obstructed by shuffling tour groups clutching colour-coded umbrellas or huge blocky audioguides.



The phrase above is found throughout the complex, interspersed with Koranic verses and poetry. It says wa laa ghalib ila Allah, or ‘There is no ghalib except Allah’ – though I had no idea until later what a ghalib was (it means ‘victor’, and the phrase was evidently the dynastic slogan of the Nasrids). Irwin is very good on the cultural disconnect symbolized by all this writing, which nowadays is pure ornamentation:

For the modern European or American visitor, the undeciphered squiggles of Arabic calligraphy add pleasing touches of decorative exoticism to the oriental palace. But in the Middle Ages the palaces were inhabited by people who could read the squiggles. Wherever they walked or sat they were instructed by inscriptions to fear God and cringe before the magnificence of their ruler.

Particularly valuable for me was the discussion of the mathematical principles behind the Alhambra's construction and decoration. Architecture and geometry were not, at the time, distinct disciplines, and Irwin examines research suggesting that ‘the grand design, as well as the detail of the court, was based on rectangles generated by square roots and surds’. In scientific as well as religious ways, the palace was ‘a machine for thinking in’.

Correctly viewed, the Alhambra, like many other Islamic monuments, is as much a masterpiece of mathematics as it is of art.

Though Irwin is sniffy about how the Alhambra has been culturally appropriated, it's a pretty fascinating story. In English it all began with Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra, while a parallel lineage in French literature goes back to Chateaubriand and to Victor Hugo's L'Alhambra ! L'Alhambra ! palais que les Génies / Ont doré comme un rêve etc. (though Irwin incorrectly gives the source of these lines as being ‘Les Djinns’; they're actually from another piece in Les Orientales called ‘Grenade’).

Visual artists have been equally inspired, mostly in the Orientalist mode which has since become unfashionable. But others took inspiration directly from the design. MC Escher, who visited twice, loved the tessellation effects but regretted the lack of figural elements; his own art would go on to combine the two strands in a fascinating way, and I'll find it impossible not to see his work in the light of the Alhambra now.

For most of these artists and writers, as for many tourists now, the Alhambra is more than its visual appeal. It's been and remains a kind of emblem of something that Europe has lost (wisdom, decadence, religious insight, high romance – it all depends on the eye of the beholder), and that is why it's been such a potent source of Gothic folklore, though this apparently makes things difficult for the historian. Irwin's tart and very readable overview is an excellent place to start getting to grips with it all, whatever your area of interest, and the notes on further reading should keep you busy for months. Take it along if you're visiting – odds are you'll want something to read in the queue.

[Michael O'Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

A general survey of the Alhambra, Spain's famous palace originally built by the Muslims in Granada. To be honest, I found it dry and boring.

The first part is a description of its various sections and annexes. This would have been better as something in a coffee table type book --- if accompanied with many color photos showing the description of each part of the Alhambra. It doesn't have these, so, to me, it wasn't easy to follow and it didn't draw my interest.

The second part is the history of the Alhambra in particular and of Andalusia/ Granada in general. I found this more interesting

The last part is generally on the Alhambra's cultural impact and influence. It discusses some of the writings of various Western authors on it, its influence in poetry, film, and art. This was rather dull.

Not a bad book --- if you really are into the Alhambra, you may find this the right book for you. However, I found it a drag to read through.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Description: The Alhambra is the only Muslim palace to have survived since the Middle Ages and has long been a byword for exotic and melancholy beauty. In his absorbing new book, Irwin, Arabist and novelist, examines its history and allure.

The history of medieval Spain is, more than anything else, the struggle for supremacy in that peninsula between the Muslims and Christians. For centuries after the Arab and Berber invasion in the early eighth century, almost all of Spain and Portugal lay under Muslim rule.

NONFIC NOVEMBER 2015:

CR White Mughals
CR A History of England from the Tudors to the Stuarts
3* Rome and the Barbarians
CR Field Notes From A Hidden City
CR The King's Jews: Money, Massacre and Exodus in Medieval England
CR A History of Palestine 634-1099
CR Charlotte Brontë: A Life
CR The Alhambra

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little book is a history of the famous palace, though it isn’t always very nice to Washington Irving. Prefect to read before visiting, but interesting if you just want to know about history. What was really neat was the discussion about how the palace is view as opposed to what it really was.


(Crossposted at Booklikes)

[John Isles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book contains a beautiful collection of photographs of the Moorish palaces and other buildings and gardens of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, including those parts that are not accessible to tourists; it's accompanied by a text that would have benefited from checking by an English speaker. It is noted early on that "[w]hen French troops invaded Spain from 1808 to 1812, they occupied the Alhambra and transformed its palaces into barracks. They mined various towers when they withdrew, destroying several, as well as nearly all of the Medina." In fact when we recently visited Granada we were informed more than once that the French tried to destroy the Alhambra but this proved beyond their powers because of its size. So it was interesting to read a rather different story in Washington Irving's "Tales of the Alhambra," a book often mentioned but apparently seldom read: "With that enlightened taste which has ever distinguished the French nation in their conquests, this monument of Moorish elegance and grandeur was rescued from the absolute ruin and desolation that were overwhelming it. The roofs were repaired, the saloons and galleries protected from the weather, the gardens cultivated, the watercourses restored, the fountains once more made to throw up their sparkling showers; and Spain may thank her invaders for having preserved to her the most beautiful and interesting of her historical monuments. On the departure of the French they blew up several towers of the outer wall, and left the fortifications scarcely tenable. Since that time the military importance of the post is at an end."

[Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

As another reviewer has pointed out, Irwin is a remarkably irritable guide to the Alhambra. He points out that the romantic views of Washington Irving, to name one, are mostly wrong, and that what we see today is certainly not what the original builders saw, since a slew of successors have rebuilt, destroyed, or changed almost every element of the buildings. Just a random quote:

It is strange that the building should give so much pleasure to today's profane hordes of infidel visitors for whom it emphatically was not built.

Or, again,

The Alhambra seems a place of enchantment...Granada in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was a special kind of hell and some of the darkest chambers of that hell were to be found inside the Alhambra. The place is a monument to murder, slavery, poverty and fear.

But he's not just a bomb-thrower, he's a knowledgeable guide to the changing design and uses of the complex of gardens, palaces and fortresses. I will be reading Washington Irving with a large grain of salt but expect to enjoy it anyhow!

[Bill Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

A concise and opinionated history of the Moorish palace and its reflection in mostly Western art and literature. Amusing but also rambling and frustratingly erratic in places.

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bracing little description of the Alhambra and how little we know for certain about it. Good context for a visitor.

[Erik B.K.K. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dry, and focuses way too much on (British) people's opinions and writings on the Alhambra. Almost like an anthology. Not much on the history itself.

[Fahed Al Kerdi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't finish the book, because most of the historical information are familiar to me. If you are interested in learning about the palace of Alhambra; its architecture and interior design, this book is the best choice for you. The author in this book is trying to put the researchers inside the palace, by digression.

[Joshua Zucker · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost gave up on reading this book. I'm glad I didn't, because parts 3 and 4 were really quite good and fit my interests much better. In the early parts, he wrote "modern readers are likely to find him mannered and wearisome", and I thought that about summed things up for the most part, though of course Irwin was referring to someone writing hundreds of years earlier! On the other hand, there were the occasional delightful turns of phrase like "Over the centuries, the Alhambra has suffered from fires, an explosion in a gunpowder store, selective demolition, neglect, and tourists."

I'm surprised that this book was written in 2004. It feels almost Victorian in its writing style. It spends lots of time talking about previous authors and visitors, almost like a travelogue only the travel is through the past and through writing instead of being a literal trip. The history is recounted as a long list of boring (to me) descriptions without giving a lot of context or meaning. Part of the problem is that so little is known and this author wants to refrain from speculation, but at least I'd like to see more of different people's theories and some weighing of the evidence. It gets quite boring.

Part 3 is much more about the art, the mathematics, the poetry, the intellectual history of the place, and it's really great. Part 4 is about their influence on more recent art and thought, with a lot of detail on some of the most influential visitors to the Alhambra and what they brought back to their home cultures. Those were very much worth reading. There's also a great long section on further reading at the end that organizes and recommends the best stuff depending on what parts of this book you found most interesting to you.

So, I think I'm glad I checked it out, and there are some parts I wish I had known before my visit there, so I wish I had some idea of how to pick out those pages and skip some of the parts that turned out not to interest me!

[Dixie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh. I only got about halfway through this. I don't like the author's style, but also it should be read when one is at the Alhambra, or at least has been there. The extremely detailed descriptions of every aspect of it, with very few illuminating illustrations, have nowhere to lodge in my brain. I was hoping for a history, and it does include that, but just scattered amongst the place descriptions. I bet I can pick up a cheap paperback guidebook while I'm there that will be better written and more interesting.

[Kay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good general book about the Alhambra and its history, which tries to discuss what is truly known as opposed to romantic legends which are endlessly repeated despite having little or no foundation in fact. The author has studied Arabic and many of the alleged derivations of names from Arabic he has failed to find substantiated in his dictionaries.

[Edith · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative art history/ socio-cultural account of the palace and its inhabitants incorporating scholarly sources as well as speculative folklore that has since become a part of its history.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best! A great intro to Islamic Spain in general and the Alhambra in particular. I found myself reading aloud bits to my travel companions because it was so entertaining as well as informative.

[Elizabeth Dunn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pub 2002—history and description of the Alhambra, a palace-village overlooking Granada that was the residence and seat of government for first Muslim and then Christian rulers for centuries.

The Alhambra is a collection of buildings spread over several hectares. It is the finest extant example of an Islamic palace, though in their days the palaces of Cordoba, Baghdad and other places were far more impressive.

History includes that of the sultans who lived there and their often violent deaths. The book critiques historical writings about the Alhambra, starting with those of Washington Irving, for being overly sentimental, lazy and inaccurate.

Description includes info and photos about the various structures and rooms, the gardens, and the numerous tesselation mosaics and calligraphic Arabic quotations that decorate the site. Fascinating description of influential philosophical writing about science and art that would have influenced the building and decoration.

Very informative. Short read at less than 200 pages. Clean writing style. Contained more detail about the reigns and rivalries of the rulers than I would have liked. I just skipped over these parts.

[Chuck Barton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dense, well-researched book that seems to cover everything and every perspective about everything related to the Alhambra. The writing has the feel of an annotated bibliography with comparisons among various books written about or inspired by the Alhambra. The book suffers from extensive descriptions about architecture, designs, relationships among the various part of the Alhambra without any meaningful pictures, photos or drawings to illustrate the discussion for a reader not already familiar with the often arcane terms or the actual building.

The book does not really have a thread that I could find, but seems to follow a path that is clear to the author but not to the reader wanting to learn about the Alhambra. It has the feel of an erudite discussion over brandy and cigars among enthusiasts of Moorish Spain and especially aficionados of Granada and the Alhambra. I felt like an outsider to that group - learning something along the way but mostly trying to figure out what was being said and what it meant.

[Mohamed Anees · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this guidebook to the Alhambra - after visiting the Alhambra itself with my wife back in December 2023. A dream come true. Earlier this year, I read the Tales of the Alhambra by Washington Irving, the classic work, which is a great companion to any visit to Grenada and it's main attraction.

This of course, is all historical fact, about the history, architecture, design and the layout of the grounds of the Alhambra. Reading through this, after having visited this beautiful palace, made me feel that I would love to go back for a second visit. The one thing about this book, it also details some of the areas that are not open tot he public, so definitely eye-opening in that regard. The photos are lovely as well. There are maps that show the layout of the buildings being discussed.

I am really glad I have this in my library - I will definitely go back to it in the coming years as a reference.

[Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Alhambra (2004), by Robert Irwin, is both brief and highly detailed. The book opens with a chronology relevant to the Alhambra, spanning the years 711 to 1526. There is then an introduction and four chapters.

Photographs and sketches are found throughout the book in black and white. I most enjoyed the first chapter describing the architecture and layout, and the third chapter getting closer to the patterns.

Much of what Irwin does in this book seems to be to try to say what he believes to be likely true. As a reader, I followed his wondering thoughts with interest, sensing the intent is to get to something that is true and err on the side of the unknown rather than present unsupported conclusions.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise, section-by-section explanation of the entire Alhambra, including explanation about the decorations and the purposes of each building, with useful bits of background history to better align our understanding and perspective of the entire area. A little cheat I recommend is to buy these guide books BEFORE entering the monument, that way you get a better and deeper understanding of the places you are seeing, and complementing whatever the guides/audioguides told you.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable and often witty; nice counterpoint to the dreck in the English audioguide to the Alhambra. (Irwin dislikes Washington Irving even more than I do!)

Annoying: Irwin pauses to defend Orientalist painters from charges of racism (why), and repeats a Victorian usage of the n-word which he definitely did not need to include.

The bibliography is concise and helpfully annotated.

[d · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic. It fueled my initial fascination for the Alhambra. Succint take on the history, sociopolitics, art, architecture, and cultural impact of the Alhambra. While it does lend a bit too much attention to the European view on the Alhambra, it acknowledges this and is self-aware, for what that's worth. Good account, overall (based on what I know, for now).

[SusanA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly very interesting history of the Alhambra palaces and gardens, with all the additions and remodels by kings and princes over the centuries. I needed to skim through the last couple of sections which delved into the math of the builders at the time. Worth a read if you are thinking of visiting or if, like me, you have already visited.

[Boby Rahmawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is good for readers who want to learn about the Alhambra about its history, romance, theories, and culture. Many writers who study the Alhambra share their interpretations because few authentic sources remain. If the Alhambra had not been partially destroyed, we might be able to see the original meaning behind its architecture more clearly.

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a useful overview of the Alhambra and its history, development, myths, context, and role in art and design. He’s knowledgeable, opinionated and mostly succinct, and he made me want to turn around and tour the place twice more, once by day and again at night.

[Clive Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A readable and intelligent assessment of the Alhambra as a set of buildings, icon, and historical link to a Muslim Spain.

I would have given it 4 stars if the illustrations had been printed to a higher quality.

[Frankco Lamerikx · Rating 4 out of 5]

The most important thing that I learned from this book was that we hardly know anything at all with any degree of certainty about the Alhambra. The second most important thing that I learned is that I will definitely visit the Alhambra again, and look with fresh eyes upon its marvels.

[Tim Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather too much of this book is devoted to the debunking of other authors.

[Lyn Sweetapple · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love how he presents all the competing arguments as to the original function and design of the Alhambra.

[Coleman Wigger · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best stories of a place I've read in my lifetime so far.