General view of the court

The Court of the Lions (Spanish: Patio de los Leones - Arabic: بهو السباع‎) is the main court of the Nasrid Palace of the Lions. It is located in the heart of the Alhambra, the Moorish citadel formed by a complex of palaces, gardens and forts in Granada, Spain. It was commissioned by the Nasrid king Muhammed V. Its construction started in the second period of his reign, between 1362 and 1391 CE. Granada, Lion Courtyard in the Alhambra, pic by User:Infrogmation 1999. ... Granada, Lion Courtyard in the Alhambra, pic by User:Infrogmation 1999. ... Arabic ( or just ), is the largest member of the family of Semitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family (classification: South Central Semitic) and is closely related to Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic. ... Nasrid is the name referring to the royal dynasty that ruled the kingdom of Granada in southern Spain from the mid 13th century to the 15th century, which is considered to be one of the longest Islamic dynasties in the history of Islamic Spain. ... View of the Alhambra from the Mirador St Nicolas in the Albaycin of Granada. ... For the terrain type see Moor Moors is used in this article to describe the medieval Muslim inhabitants of al-Andalus and the Maghreb, whose culture is often called Moorish. For other meanings look at Moors (Meaning) or Blackamoors. ... Table of Fortification, from the 1728 Cyclopaedia. ... Granada – Greek: (Steph. ... Muhammed V was a Nasrid ruler of the Kingdom of Granada in the South-East of the Iberian Peninsula. ... Centuries: 13th century - 14th century - 15th century Decades: 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s - 1360s - 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s Years: 1357 1358 1359 1360 1361 - 1362 - 1363 1364 1365 1366 1367 See also: 1362 state leaders Events Under Edward III, English replaces French as Englands national language, for the... Events August 5 - Anti-Jewish riots erupt in Toledo, Spain and Barcelona. ...

Background and architectural influences

The Palace of the Lions, as well as the rest of the other new rooms built under Muhammad V, like the Mexuar or Cuarto Dorado meant the beginning of a new style, an exubertant mixture of Moorish and Christian influences that has been called Nasrid style. When Muhammad V was ousted as sultane of Granada by his step-brother, Abu-l Walid Ismail, he discovered in exile a host of new aesthetic influences that were not in the language of his predecessors, not even in his own first contributions to the enrichment of the Nasrid palaces of the Alhambra. In Fes he saw the Almoravid mosque of Qarawiyyin, built by Andalusian architects. The splendor of the decorations, specially the profuse use of the muqarnas that had oncedecorated the palaces and mosques of Al-Ándalus, stunned the ex-sultan, as did the ruins of the Roman city of Volubilis, where he could directly examine the Classical orders, Roman ornamentation and above all the disposition of the Roman 'impluvium'. Muhammad became an ally of his personal friend, the Christian king Pedro I of Castile, who helped him to regain the throne and defeat the usurpers. Meanwhile, he was also astonished with the construction of the palace of Pedro I, the Alcázar of Seville, built in Mudéjar (Spanish Muslim ) style by architects from Toledo, Seville and Granada. The influence of this Mudéjar style of King Pedro in the future Palace of the Lions was going to be decissive, especially the structure and disposition of the Qubba rooms along two axis of the 'Patio de las Doncellas' ("Court of the Maidens"). A Mechouar outside Royal Palace in Tétouan, Morocco Mechouar (Arabic: ‎ - Spanish: ) is a place mainly existing in Maghreb and particularly in Morocco. ... FES is a three-letter acronym that may refer to: Family Expenditure Survey, a national survey in UK Functional electrical stimulation, a neurological treatment technique Flat Earth Society, an organization that advocates the belief that the Earth is flat Flywheel energy storage Fellowship of Evangelical Students Foundation for Ecological Security... Almoravides (From Arabic المرابطون sing. ... Interior of the Al Karaouine Mosque and University The University of Al Karaouine (Arabic: ‎) (other transliterations of the name include Kairouyine, Qaraouyine, Quarawin, Al-Qarawiyin, Kairaouine, Karaouine and El Qaraouiyn) is a university located in Fes, Morocco. ... Muqarnas (مقرنس) is a traditional Islamic and Persian architectural style of decoration. ... Volubilis, The Capitol Volubilis is a archaeological site in Morocco situated near Meknes and between Fez and Rabat. ... Peter I (August 30, 1334 – March 23, 1369; Spanish: Pedro I), sometimes known as Peter the Cruel or Pedro the Cruel, was the king of Castile from 1350 to 1369. ... King Pedros Palace in the Alcázar from the Patio de la Monteria The Alcázar of Seville (Spanish Reales Alcázares de Sevilla or Royal Alcázars of Seville) is a royal palace in Seville, Spain. ... Mudéjar is the name given to the Moors who remained in Spain after the Christian reconquista but were not converted to Christianity, and to a vernacular style of Spanish architecture and decoration, particularly of Aragon and Castile, of 12th and 16th centuries, strongly influenced by Moorish taste and workmanship... Location of Toledo in Spain Toledo is a city and municipality located in central Spain, about 70 kilometers south of Madrid. ... For other uses, see Seville (disambiguation). ... Granada – Greek: (Steph. ...

Description of the court

The "forest" of marble columns

The Court of the Lions is an oblong court, 116 ft (35 m) in length by 66 ft (20 m) in breadth, surrounded by a low gallery supported on 124 white marble columns. A pavilion projects into the court at each extremity, with filigree walls and light domed roof, elaborately ornamented. The square is paved with coloured tiles, and the colonnade with white marble; while the walls are covered 5 ft (1.5 m) up from the ground with blue and yellow tiles, with a border above and below enamelled blue and gold. The columns supporting the roof and gallery are irregularly placed, with a view to artistic effect; and the general form of the piers, arches and pillars is most graceful. They are adorned by varieties of foliage, etc.; about each arch there is a large square of arabesques; and over the pillars is another square of exquisite filigree work. In the centre of the court is the celebrated Fountain of Lions, a magnificent alabaster basin supported by the figures of twelve lions in white marble. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 1507 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Court of the Lions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1200x1600, 1507 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Court of the Lions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner...

Meaning of its formal structure

The influence of the structure of the court, has, as it has been said, a direct influence of the Sevillian Patio de las Doncellas, but its meaning and origins connect with the Persian roots of the Arab gardening and its Char-bagh, the court divided in fourt parts, each one of them symbolizing one of the four parts of the world. Each part is irrigated by a water channel that symbolize the four rivers of the Paradise. This court, is, therefore an architectural materialization of the Paradise, where the gardens, the water and the columns form a conceptual and physical unity. The slender column forest have been said to represent the palm trees of an oasis in the desert, deeply related with Paradise in the Nasrid imagination. In Ibn Zamrak poem on the basin of the fountain a further meaning is stated clearly: The fountain is the Sultan, which smothers with his graces all his subjects and lands, as the water wets the gardens. For other uses of this term see: Persia (disambiguation) The Persian Empire is the name used to refer to a number of historic dynasties that have ruled the country of Persia (Iran). ... For other uses, see Arab (disambiguation). ... Paradise, by Jan Bruegel The word paradise is derived from the Avestan word pairidaeza (a walled enclosure), which is a compound of pairi- (around), a cognate of the Greek peri-, and -diz (to create, make), a cognate of the English dough. ...

Nowadays the flower garden has been substituted by a dry garden of pebbles, in order not to affect the foundings of the palace with the watering. In Nasrid times the floor of the plantation quarters was slightly lower than the general level, and the visual effect was like a tapestry of flowers, as the top of the plants were cut to the same level of the court, and these were carefully chosen to cover a host of color nuances.

The Fountain of the Lions

The origin and meaning of the Fountain of the Lions has generated many legends, mainly due to its unused themes for a Muslim palace: twelve figurative lions. By the time when the palace was built the isolation from the rest of the Islam, and the relations of friendship with the Kingdom of Castile originated a two-way infuence stream, and the use of figurative motifs was not strange to the Nasrid art, as seen in the paintings of the Hall of the Kings. The fountain and the lions were in a former palace of the Alhambra in the 11th century, and its direct inspiration model is Jewish: The Fountain of the Temple of Solomon, built by Hiram I as described in the Books of Chronicles of the Old Testament: "It had the dimmension between its borders of ten cubits, and grew from five cubits of height. It rested over twelve bullocks or cows, each three looking to each one of the cardinal point. The Sea or pond rested over their hindquarters, that were pointing to the interior of the fountain."^[1] The model was not followed exactly and the bullocks were substitued by the lions, that were re-used, probably taken from a Cordobese Caliphal palace, where they would had been located two by two in a linear disposition. Islam (Arabic:  ) is a monotheistic religion based upon the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. ... A former kingdom of Spain, Castile comprises the two regions of Old Castile in north-western Spain, and New Castile in the centre of the country. ... Solomons Temple was the first Jewish temple in Jerusalem which functioned as a religious focal point for worship and the sacrifices known as the korbanot in ancient Judaism. ... Hiram I was king of Tyre from 969 BC to 936 BC.During his reign, Tyre grew out from a satellite to the more important city of Sidon to the most important of the Phoenician cities and the holder of a large trading empire. ... The Book of Chronicles is a book in the Hebrew Bible (also see Old Testament). ... Note: Judaism commonly uses the term Tanakh. ... See Córdoba for other places with the same name. ... The interior of the Great Mosque in Córdoba, now a Christian cathedral. ...

The Jewish poet Ibn Gabirol wrote verses in which he described the old fountain placed in the 11th century Alhambra: The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination... Solomon Ibn Gabriol, also Solomon ben Judah, is a Spanish Jewish poet and philosopher. ... View of the Alhambra from the Mirador St Nicolas in the Albaycin of Granada. ...

The Fountain of the Lions.

"There is a pond, like the Sea of Solomon

It doesn't rest over bulls

but over lions arranged in circles:

They seem to roar to their prey.

Water flows from their mouth without end,

it springs like the torrents of a stream.

It runs to their feet through channels

arranged like open drainpipes under the Sun

to irrigate the bloomed parterres.

Their limpid streams flood the grass

They want to refresh the Garden of the Myrtles!

They ellevate themselves over clouds just up to the top of the trees

and they scatter balsamic perfumes

smelling just like the scent of the myrtles and the incense.

The birds chirp on the branches,

looking beneath the date palm trees.

The flowers form lusty private open rooms

of rose, narcissus and camphor tree scents.

Their varieties are countless!"

The basin was changed when Muhammad V moved the fountain to its definitive location: the poet and minister Ibn Zamrak was commanded to write a poem to describe the beauty of the courtyard. It was going to be carved around the border of the new basin. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2304x1728, 957 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Court of the Lions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2304x1728, 957 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Court of the Lions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner...

Detail of the fountain.

Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1728x2304, 697 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Court of the Lions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1728x2304, 697 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Court of the Lions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner...

Excerpt of Ibn Zamrak´s poem on the basin

"...Such a translucent basin, sculpted pearl!

Argentic ripples are added on it by the quiet dew

And its liquid silver goes over the daisies, melted, and even purer.

Hard and soft are so close, that it would be hard to distinguish

liquid and solid, marble and water. Which one is running?

Don´t you see how water overflows the borders

and the warned drains are here against it?

They are like the lover who in vane

tries to hide his tears from his beloved..."

Gallery

Detail: sekba decoration and arches of muqarnas Image File history File links PatioDeLosLeones. ... Lion Fountain, the Alhambra, Granada, photo by User:Infrogmation, 1999 Photo by Infrogmation. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1728x2304, 891 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Court of the Lions Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner... Image File history File links 031106_alhambra_1. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 1211 KB) Picture taken by myself. ...	Stilted arches of the gallery Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (2048x1536, 960 KB) Picture taken by myself. ...	Detail of one of the advanced pavillions. Image File history File linksMetadata Grenada6. ...	One of the Romantic non historical restaurations of the 19th century Image File history File links PatiodeslosLeones. ...

References

• Manzano Martos, Rafael. La Alhambra: El universo mágico de la Granada islámica. Editorial Anaya, 1992. ISBN 84-207-4833-1, ISBN 978-8420748337
• Chueca Goitia, Fernando: Invariantes castizos de la Arquitectura Española. Manifiesto de la Alhambra ISBN 84-237-0459-9

Footnotes