Archnet > Site > Palacio de los Leones, Alhambra (MEGT)

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Central fountain with marble lions, Patio de los Leones, Palacio de los Leones

Court of the Lions, detail of lion fountain, looking east to entrance of Hall of the Kings

Court of the Lions, Facade of the Hall of the Two Sisters; Original language: Patio de los Leones, fachada de las Dos Hermanas

Southeast view through pavilion and arcade, Patio de los Leones

View of fountain through entrance of one of the lateral chambers

Schematic fountain (foreground), Patio de los Leones (background); Palacio de los Leones

Schematic fountain, Patio de los Leones, Palacio de los Leones

Patio de los Leones; schematic fountain in foreground, Palacio de los Leones

The twelve lions supporting a Nasrid-era fountain in the central courtyard gave the Palace of the Lions its name. There is evidence that it once had vegetation. In 1502, Antoine de Lalaing recorded six orange trees growing in the corners, although this has been a point of some controversy. From a windowed balcony known as the ‘Ayn Dar ‘A’iša (Mirador de Lindaraja; Eye of ‘A’iša’s House), one could contemplate the gardens below. An inscription in the plaster identifies the window as a “joyful eye, the pupil of Muhammad which opened to the garden” (Lafuente y Alcántara, Inscripciones árabes, 140).

Gardeners were brought from Valencia after 1492 to repair the Alhambra orchards, especially those below the Torre de Comares (Comares Tower) and those next to the baths, confirming the presence of gardens in this area.

Rafael Manzano Martos and Massimo Listri, La Alhambra, 106–21.

Antonio Orihuela Uzal, Casas y palacios nazaríes, 81–97.

D. Fairchild Ruggles, Gardens, Landscape, and Vision, 191–208.

Source: Travel Account, 1550

-Antonio Almagro, Luis Ramón-Laca

Resources:

Casas y palacios nazaríes: siglos XIII-XV (Open in Zotero)

La Alhambra: el universo mágico de la Granada islámica (Open in Zotero)

Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain (Open in Zotero)

Inscripciones árabes de Granada: precedidas de una reseña histórica y de la genealogia detallada de los reyes Alahmares (Open in Zotero)

Originally published at: Almagro, Antonio, and Luis Ramón-Laca. “Palacio de los Leones, Alhambra.” Middle East Garden Traditions. Dumbarton Oaks, November 18, 2014. https://www.doaks.org/resources/middle-east-garden-traditions/catalogue#b_start=0&c6=Andalusian++Gardens. Archived at: https://perma.cc/J8KF-DV5P

s/n Calle Real de la Alhambra, Granada, Spain

1232-1492

landscape

Dumbarton Oaks MEGT Record

The twelve lions supporting a Nasrid-era fountain in the central courtyard gave the Palace of the Lions its name. There is evidence that it once had vegetation. In 1502, Antoine de Lalaing recorded six orange trees growing in the corners, although this has been a point of some controversy. From a windowed balcony known as the ‘Ayn Dar ‘A’iša (Mirador de Lindaraja; Eye of ‘A’iša’s House), one could contemplate the gardens below. An inscription in the plaster identifies the window as a “joyful eye, the pupil of Muhammad which opened to the garden” (Lafuente y Alcántara, Inscripciones árabes, 140).

Gardeners were brought from Valencia after 1492 to repair the Alhambra orchards, especially those below the Torre de Comares (Comares Tower) and those next to the baths, confirming the presence of gardens in this area.