Palace sights in Spain
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Palacio Nazaríes
This is the Alhambra's true gem, the most brilliant Islamic building in Europe, with its perfectly proportioned rooms and courtyards, intricately moulded stucco walls, beautiful tiling, fine carved wooden ceilings and elaborate stalactite-like muqarnas vaulting, all worked in mesmerising, symbolic, geometrical patterns. Arabic inscriptions proliferate in the stuccowork.
The Mexuar, through which you normally enter the palace, dates from the 14th century and was used as a council chamber and antechamber for audiences with the emir. The public would have gone no further.
From the Mexuar you pass into the Patio del Cuarto Dorado, a courtyard where the emirs gave audiences, wi…
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Palacio de los Leones
The Palacio de los Leones is one of the most stunning structures within the Alhambra, and according to some, the royal harem. It was built in the second half of the 14th century under Mohammed V, at the political and artistic peak of Granada's emirate. The rooms of the palace surround Alhambra's most popular symbol, the Patio de los Leones (Lion Courtyard), a marble fountain that channelled water through the mouths of 12 carved marble lions.
Carved especially for this palace, the fountain was originally brightly painted, chiefly in gold, but the originals are now being replaced by copies. The patio's four water channels, running to and from the central fountain, represent…
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Palacio de Comares
This fabulous palacio was originally built by Emir Yusuf I, and thereafter served as the private residence for the ruler. It's built around the Patio de los Arrayanes (Patio of the Myrtles), and named after the hedges surrounding its rectangular pool and fountains. The rooms along the sides may have been quarters for the emir's many wives. Finely carved arches atop marble pillars form porticos at both ends of the patio.
Through the northern portico, inside the Torre de Comares (Comares Tower), is the Sala de la Barca (Hall of the Blessing) from the Arabic al-baraka for blessing, a word endlessly carved on the walls. This room leads into the square Salón de Comares (Comare…
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Medina Azahara
Even in the cicada-shrill heat and stillness of a summer afternoon, the Medina Azahara whispers of the power and vision of its founder, Abd ar-Rahman III. The self-proclaimed caliph began the construction of a magnificent new capital 8km west of Córdoba around 936, and took up full residence around 945. Medina Azahara was a resounding declaration of his status, a magnificent trapping of power.
The visitor route leads down to the Dar al-Wuzara (House of the Viziers), a substantial building with several horseshoe arches, fronted by a square garden, and on to the most impressive building, the painstakingly restored Salón de Abd ar-Rahman III, the caliph’s throne hall, with …
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Generalife
The name Generalife means 'Architect's Garden', and this soothing composition of pathways, patios, pools, fountains, trimmed hedges, tall trees and, in season, flowers of every imaginable hue, is the perfect place to end an Alhambra visit.
The Muslim rulers' summer palace is in the corner furthest from the entrance. Within the palace, the Patio de la Acequia (Court of the Water Channel) has a long pool framed by flowerbeds and 19th-century fountains, whose shapes sensuously echo the arched porticos at each end. Off this patio is the Jardín de la Sultana (Sultana's Garden), with the trunk of a 700-year-old cypress tree, where Abu al-Hasan supposedly caught his lover, Zoray…
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Palacio Buenavista & Casa de Las Siete Chimeneas
Set back amid gardens on the northwest edge of Plaza de la Cibeles stands the Palacio Buenavista, now occupied by the army. It once belonged to the Alba family, and the young Duchess of Alba, Cayetana, who was widely rumoured to have had an affair with the artist Goya, lived here for a time. A block behind it to the west, on the tiny Plaza del Rey, is the Casa de las Siete Chimeneas, a 16th-century mansion that takes its name from the seven chimneys it still boasts and which gives a tantalising glimpse of the sort of residences that once lined the Paseo de la Castellana. They say that the ghost of one of Felipe II’s lovers still runs about here in distress on certain even…
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Patio del León
The Patio del León was the garrison yard of the Al-Muwarak palace. Off here, the Sala de la Justicia (Hall of Justice), with beautiful Mudéjar plasterwork, was built in the 1340s by Alfonso XI, who disported here with his mistress Leonor de Guzmán.
Alfonso's dalliances left his heir Pedro I (El Cruel/Justiciero) with five half-brothers and a severe case of sibling rivalry. Pedro had a dozen friends and relatives murdered in his efforts to stay on the throne. One of the half-brothers, Don Fadrique, met his maker right here in the Sala de la Justicia. The room gives on to the pretty Patio del Yeso, a 19th-century reconstruction of part of the 12th-century Almohad palace.
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Palacio de Liria
This 18th-century mansion, rebuilt after a fire in 1936, nestles amid the modern architecture just north of Plaza de España as a reminder of the days when the streets were lined with mansions like these. It holds an impressive collection of art, period furniture and objets d’art. To join a guided visit you need to send a formal request with your personal details to the palace, which is home to the Duke and Duchess of Alba, one of the grandest names in Spanish nobility. The waiting list is long and most mere mortals content themselves with staring through the gates into the grounds.
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Palacio de Don Pedro
Whatever else Pedro I may have done, posterity owes him a big thank you for building this wonderful palace inside the Alcázar in the 1360s. His Muslim ally Mohammed V of Granada, the man responsible for the Alhambra's fabulous Palacio de los Leones, sent along many of his best artisans to help. These were joined by others from Toledo and Seville, and their work, drawing on the traditions of the Almohads and caliphal Córdoba, is a unique synthesis of Iberian Islamic art.
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Patio del Cuarto Dorado
You pass into this courtyard from the Mexuar, with a small fountain and the Cuarto Dorado (Golden Room) on the left. This patio was where the emirs would give audiences to their subjects. The Cuarto Dorado takes its name from its beautiful wooden ceiling, which was gilded and redecorated in the time of the Catholic Monarchs. On the other side of the patio is the entrance to the Palacio de Comares through a beautiful façade of glazed tiles, stucco and carved wood.
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Palacio del Marqués de Salvatierra
Just before you reach the Old Bridge you will pass the Palacio del Marqués de Salvatierra, a huge mansion that required the demolition of 42 houses for it to be built. Owned by the descendants of the Marqués de Moctezuma, the Governor of South America, the palace is decorated on its portal with carvings of native American Indians. The palace and all its antiques are sometimes open to the public.
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Castle of the Christian Monarchs
The Castle of the Christian Monarchs began as a palace and fort for Alfonso X in the 13th century. From 1490 to 1821 the Inquisition operated from here. Today its gardens are among the most beautiful in Andalucía. The building houses an old royal bathhouse, the Baños Califales. Take time to gaze at the third century Roman sarcophagus, with its reflections on life and death.
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Palacio de Mondragón
Palacio de Mondragón, now an engaging museum was built for Abomelic, the ruler of Ronda in 1314. Of its three courtyards, the Patio Mudéjar still preserves an Islamic character. A horseshoe arch leads into a small clifftop garden. Various displays draw you into prehistoric caves, with hilarious wax figures depicting early lifestyles.
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Palacio Ducal de los Borja
This magnificent palace was the 15th-century home of Duque Francisco de Borja. Highlights include its finely carved artesonado ceilings and rich ceramic work - look out for the vivid mapa universal floor composition. One-hour guided tours in Spanish, with an accompanying leaflet in English, take place every half hour.
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Palacio Episcopal
In front of the cathedral spreads the sumptuous Plaza del Obispo, where the blood-red Bishop's Palace, the Palacio Episcopal, now forms an exhibition space. The square provided an atmospheric set for Inquisition burnings in the filming of The Bridge of San Luis Rey, starring Robert de Niro.
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Night Visits
The Palacio Nazaríes is open for night visits. Tickets cost the same as daytime tickets: the ticket office opens 30 minutes before the palace's opening time, closing 30 minutes after it. You can book ahead for night visits in the same ways as for day visits.
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Palacio de Dar-al-Horra
Down a short lane is the 15th-century Palacio de Dar-al-Horra, a romantically dishevelled mini-Alhambra that was home to the mother of Boabdil, Granada’s last Muslim ruler.
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Palacio de los Guzmanes
The Renaissance theme continues in the form of the splendid Palacio de los Guzmanes (1560); the façade and patio stand out.
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Palau de l’Almudaina
Originally an Islamic fort, this mighty construction opposite the Catedral was converted into a residence for the Mallorcan monarchs at the end of the 13th century. It is still occasionally used for official functions when King Juan Carlos is in town. At other times you can wander through a series of cavernous stone-walled rooms that have been lavishly decorated.
The Romans are said to have built a castrum (fort) here, possibly on the site of a prehistoric settlement. The Wālis (governors) of Muslim Mallorca altered and expanded the Roman fort, while Jaume I and his successors modified it to such an extent that little of the Muslim version remains.
Now, as in medieval tim…
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Palacio de Carlos V
This huge Renaissance palace sticks out like a sore thumb in the Alhambra, because it clashes spectacularly with the style of its surroundings; were it in a different setting its merits would be more readily appreciated. Begun in 1527 by Pedro Machuca, an architect from Toledo who studied under Michelangelo, it was financed, perversely, from taxes on the Granada area's Morisco (converted Muslim) population.
Funds dried up after the Moriscos rebelled in 1568, and the palace remained roofless until the early 20th century. The main (western) façade features three porticos divided by pairs of fluted columns, with bas-relief battle carvings at their feet. The building is squar…
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