The Alcázar Genil is a Muslim-era palace in the city of
Granada
Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...
, Spain. It was originally called ''al-Qasr al-Sayyid'' ("the palace of the lord") and is located beside the River
Genil
The Genil River is the main (left) tributary of the river Guadalquivir in Andalusia, Spain. Known as ''Singilis'' in Latin, it bears a modern name derives from the Moorish rendering of the Roman name: ''Sinyil, Sannil'', and ''Sinnil''.
Route
The ...
outside the city walls. Today, only a pavilion of the palace is preserved. It currently houses the
Francisco Ayala Foundation.
History
It was first built in 1218 or 1219 by Sayyid Ishaq ibn Yusuf, a member of the
Almohad dynasty
The Almohad Caliphate (; or or from ) or Almohad Empire was a North African Berber Muslim empire founded in the 12th century. At its height, it controlled much of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) and North Africa (the Maghreb).
The Almohad ...
.
The palace, built along the south shore of the Genil River, was located outside the city walls.
It served as an ''almunia'' (from Arabic ''al-munya'', meaning "farm"), a country villa that was used both as a private retreat for its elite owners as well as a farming estate with agricultural functions.
A small
ribat
A ribāṭ (; hospice, hostel, base or retreat) is an Arabic term, initially designating a small fortification built along a frontier during the first years of the Muslim conquest of the Maghreb to house military volunteers, called ''murabitun' ...
(religious retreat for
Sufis
Sufism ( or ) is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, and asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as "Sufis" (from , ), and ...
) was also built nearby at the same time, consisting of a simple square hall covered by a sixteen-sided
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout.
The word derives, via Ital ...
with
groin-vault squinch
In architecture, a squinch is a structural element used to support the base of a circular or octagonal dome that surmounts a square-plan chamber. Squinches are placed to diagonally span each of the upper internal corners ( vertices) where the w ...
es, with a sloped roof on the outside. This was later converted into a Christian
hermitage and is now known as the ''Ermita de San Sebastián'' ("Hermitage of Saint Sebastian") or the ''rábita'' ("ribat").
In 1237,
Muhammad I of the
Nasrid dynasty
The Nasrid dynasty ( ''banū Naṣr'' or ''banū al-Aḥmar''; ) was an Arab dynasty that ruled the Emirate of Granada from 1232 to 1492. It was the last Muslim dynasty in the Iberian Peninsula. Twenty-three sultans ruled Granada from the foun ...
took over Granada and the palace came under the new dynasty's possession. Muhammad I's grandson,
Muhammad III (r. 1302–1309) temporarily lived here after he was dethroned, before he moved to
Almuñécar
Almuñécar () is a Spanish city and municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the southwestern part of the comarcas of Spain, comarca of the Costa Granadina, in the province of Granada. It is located on the shores of the Mediterranean sea ...
. The decoration of the palace dates from the reign of
Isma'il I (r. 1314–1325)
or of
Yusuf I (r. 1333–1354).
It's possible that the current structure was also rebuilt at that time.
In 1892 the Spanish architect Rafael Contreras expanded the building by adding two wings on either side and a small porch on the front. The building was restored again in the 1980s and in 1994 by Pedro Salmerón Escobar.
Architecture
Originally, the palace stood next to a large pool measuring , which formed part of an extensive water supply network used for agricultural
irrigation
Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
.
The pool may have also been used for aquatic games and displays.
The original layout of the building, consisting of a central square chamber in the form of a ''
qubba
A ''qubba'' (, pl. ''qubāb''), also transliterated as ḳubba, kubbet and koubba, is a cupola or domed structure, typically a tomb or shrine in Islamic architecture. In many regions, such as North Africa, the term ''qubba'' is applied commonly f ...
'', with rectangular side chambers opening onto it, is an early example of a type of interior space which became common in Nasrid architecture.
Only the central chamber of the palace was entered from the outside, such that the building was a relatively introverted space rather than one that was open to the gardens around it.
Inside, the palace is decorated with carved
stucco
Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...
on its walls.
The stucco decoration culminates in a cornice of ''
muqarnas
Muqarnas (), also known in Iberian architecture as Mocárabe (from ), is a form of three-dimensional decoration in Islamic architecture in which rows or tiers of niche-like elements are projected over others below. It is an archetypal form of I ...
'', above which is a ceiling consisting of a square wooden cupola painted with interlacing
geometric motifs.
See also
*
Cuarto Réal de Santo Domingo
References
{{Authority control
Buildings and structures in Granada
Palaces in Andalusia
Nasrid architecture
Moorish architecture in Spain
Almohad architecture