Dar al Horra Palace - Islamic things you must visit in Granada

Picture shared via http://alhambracadabra.blogspot.com.es

Text via www.granadatur.com 

It was built in the 15th century on the remains of the destroyed palace of the Ziri kings. It very interesting as it is the only one, out of several which were in the Albayzin, which has been preserved. The name “Dar-al-horra” (House of the Honest Lady) seems to honour one of its inhabitants: Aisha, the mother of King Boabdil, the last of the Muslim monarchs in Spain.

After the conquer of Granada in 1492 by the Catholic Monarchs, the Muslims ceded the Palace an the surrounding houses to the Kings’ secretary, Hernando de Zafra. Afterwards, Queen Isabella decided to found ther the Santa Isabel la Real Convent. The building was owned by the religious order until the beginnings of the 20th century when it was purchased by the government. Today it has been catallogued as Heritage of Cultural Interest.

Picture shared via http://alhambracadabra.blogspot.com.es

Its structure and decoration is the characteristic of the Nasrid art. It has two floors in two of its sides and a tower in its North side. We can admire a central courtyard or patio, two “porticos” in the lower sides and a little pool with fountain by the South portico.

Picture shared via http://alhambracadabra.blogspot.com.es

The North side is the most interesting in the building; it has two floors and a tower. On the ground floor, the portico is formed by three horseshoe’s archs on columns and it is covered by a magnificent Arab-style ceiling made of simple wood and decorated with geometrical shapes. 

In the centre a door with horseshoe arch gives access to a rectangular hall with side rooms and a watchpoint in the centre from where one can see part of the district. The different rooms are divided with archs and covered by Arab-style ceilings. In some walls there still are some Arabic inscriptions.

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Top Five Must See Things in Cordoba, Spain

Cordoba قرطبة in the Andalucia province of southern Spain is a city with more than 2,500 years of developed history. Established around the 8th century BC, Cordoba at one point was probably the world’s most populous city. Today, with only around 325,000 inhabitants, it’s actually one of the smaller cities in Spain but that doesn’t stop it being one of Spain’s most visited cities.

Cordoba is not only historic and beautiful, there are also so many things to see and do it’s often difficult to choose. If you are planning a first trip to Cordoba, or even a second or third one and haven’t seen every must see place on previous trips, there are five must see things everyone who visits Cordoba should see.

You can visit Cordoba in our Spain & Morocco Tour and Andalusia Routes

1. Great Mosque of Cordoba/Mezquita-Catedral 
 One of the most beautiful mosques in Spain, the Great Mosque of Cordova, or Mezquita-Catedral (Mosque Catheddral) is a World Heritage Site known for its stunning architecture. It is the world’s third largest mosque, although today it is used as a Roman Catholic church. Muslims in Spain have been lobbying the Spanish government since the year 2,000 to be allowed to pray in the mosque, but so far have been denied permission.
Construction on the mosque began in the year 785.

2. Alcazar
 The big attraction here are the gardens, laid out in descending terraces with typical Islamic rectangular pools - some of the most beautiful in Andalucia - perfect for a cooling waterside break on a hot spring day.



3. The Jewish Quarter "La Juderia"
The Jewish quarter of Cordoba goes back to the time of the Romans and consists of a network of narrow streets full of shops, restaurants and cafes, synagogues and museums. A must see is the Bullfight Museum and don’t miss the Zoco, where in the summer you can see flamenco dancers performing. You can visit too the 14th century synagogue and a restored Sefardi house. 





4. The Calahorra Tower and its "Al-Andalus living museum"
 The Al-Andalus living museum is located in an old Moorish fortress, and recreates the time of maximum splendour in this Andalusian city. The museum is in the Calahorra Tower, opposite the Great Mosque, at the end of the Roman Bridge. Its aim is to provide a recreation of the Cordoba of the period between the 9th-13th centuries.

5. ‎ Madīnat az-Zahrā  مدينة الزهراء 
 Medina Azahara (Arabic: مدينة الزهراء‎ Madīnat az-Zahrā: literal meaning "city of the flower") is the ruins of a vast, fortified Arab Muslim medieval palace-city built by Abd-ar-Rahman III al-Nasir, (912–961) Umayyad Caliph of Córdoba, and located on the western outskirts of Córdoba, Spain. It was an Arab Muslim medieval town and the de facto capital of al-Andalus, or Muslim Spain, as the heart of the administration and government was within its walls. Built beginning in 936-940, the city included ceremonial reception halls, mosques, administrative and government offices, gardens, a mint, workshops, barracks, residences, and baths.

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"Al-Andalus living museum" in the Calahorra Tower in Cordoba

The Al-Andalus living museum is located in an old Moorish fortress, and recreates the time of maximum splendour in this Andalusian city.

The museum is in the Calahorra Tower, opposite the Great Mosque, at the end of the Roman Bridge. Its aim is to provide a recreation of the Cordoba of the period between the 9th-13th centuries, at a time of brilliant cultural, artistic and scientific achievement. Its modern facilities include a system of headphones and infrared data transfer that guide you through the eight themed rooms with dioramas.

The Calahorra Tower was built by order of Enrique II de Trastamara to defend the city when under attack from his brother Pedro I 'the Cruel'. It was used as a prison in the 18th century, a girls' school in the 19th, and today houses the Roger Garaudy Museum of the Three Cultures. The interactive guided tour illustrates the many ways in which Jewish, Christian and Moslem cultures thrived side by side in Medieval Cordoba. Visitors especially enjoy the excellent scale models of the Cordoban Mosque and other well-known Andalusian buildings and the spectacular view over Cordoba from the battlements at the end of the tour.



Room 1
The first lounge of the museum has as aim to welcome the visitors, who enter into an historical place, of dreams, where a unique language.
The visit leads us to the period which encloses the centuries IX and XIII, Cordoba was at that time the biggest city and the faith, between Occident and Orient.... here begins the real renaissance.


Room 2
On the right there is a second lounge, known as the Philosopher Lounge, in fact inside the Muslim figures such as Averroes or Ibn al Arabi, the Jewish Maimonides or the Christian Monarch Alfonso X the Wisemen.

All of them keep a special link with our city.
The ambiance and the spoken explanation are oriented to strengthen the importance of the thought of that moment, the wisdom, without being separated from the science, which are treated in the following lounges, neither the faith.


Room 3
The next lounge is the one dedicated to the Sciences and the Techniques, and in it the technological progresses are shown and they are materialized in Al andalus, such as the new techniques for the agriculture and the irrigation. There is a wonderful scale plan of the Noria mill, which was used by the Caliph Alcazar, and which is conserved by the river.

Other Cordovan figures are treated such as Abulcassis al-Zahri a surgeon and the al-Idrisi, known for his Map of the world, Tabula Rogeriana

Room 4
We go up the stairs and we arrive to the second floor, where we find the known lounge as The Summit: the palace and the mosque, referring to the city-palace of Madinat al Zahra and the Mosque Alhama of Cordoba. It stands out the reception which the caliph Abd Al–Rahman III gave to a Christian monk sent by the Byzantine Emperor

In front there is the Mihrab of the Mosque in Cordoba, carried out in Al-hakam II Period, with materials brought from the orient, thanks to the good relationships.


Room 5
In the following lounge, thanks to a wonderful scale model of the nazari palace of the Alhambra and his complete explanations and effects of light and sound, we get to entry into this marvellous place, from the sunset till the end of it, in this moment the little rooms are illuminated.
The Comares Tower, the Lounge of Dos Hermanas, the Leones Courtyard in which there is a wonderful fountain... all is studied and elaborated with details, and easily to know by the visitors. 

Room 6
It is very close to the granadine palace where the Lounge of Andalusi Music, it is a very little room very interesting. The visitor enters into the richest al-Andalus, at the same time you are under the Mihrab of the Mosque Alhama of Cordoba, one of the most beautiful and impressive places that Islam could create.

The lounge is completed with a little collection of musical instruments belonging to the Andalusi period, and witness of its
rich culture. 
 
Room 7
We arrive to the third and last floor of our tower, and in it we enter into one of the most special lounges of the museums, dedicated to the Mosque Aljama of Cordoba. An exceptional mock-up is in the room, a mock-up who looks in great detail all the outside covers and the most important points of the interior, like the Skylight of Villaviciosa or the mihrab. As in the previous case devoted to the Alhambra, the mock-up is set with phrases and high quality sound effects.

Room 8
From the lounge dedicated to the monument of our city we pass to another which shows us others that without having the artistical and historical relevance they represent the fingerprint of those who lived and shared our city.

Among the columns of the Mosque, under the red and the whiteness of their voussoirs, there are the Caliph Alcazar, the Royal Baths, the Almodovar Door, the Craft Market and the Synagogue... and the river Guadalquivir, the witness of our history. 

Room 9
We end our visit with the Live Museum of Al-Andalus, but before we have a last stop, the lounge called Multivision, where we will enjoy an audiovisual projection which is about the three cultures and it is the theme of the museum. So every hour you have this projection.

Here the visit ends, however it is better to visit it and at the same time go up to the terrace in order to enjoy the most beautiful sight of our city.

Text by: www.artencordoba.com
Photos by: www.artencordoba.com
                  www.nuriacalvodiseno.tk

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The Banuelo baths, the old arab baths in Granada

Walking along the street you can easily miss the door of these impressive and well-preserved Arab baths, the Banuelo, also known as Aammim Alyawza (Banos del Nogal).

The Banuelo baths are located at the bottom of a private house in the Carrera del Darro, at the foot of the Alhambra, and show how skilled the Spanish Arabs were a thousand years ago.

The Banuelo of Granada is one of the few such establishments that were saved from destruction by

the Catholic Monarchs, as among the Christians they had a reputation comparable to that of brothels.

These Arab baths have survived because of the building on top of it of a private home, commenced almost from the day of the Spanish occupation of the city.

 In 1918, The Banuelo was declared a National Monument and was restored by the architect Balbas. Surprises to be found in The Banuelo are their large size and good level of conservation. Beautiful porticos are based on the Arab style.

Construction of The Banuelo seems to date from the Eleventh Century. The baths are undoubtedly the oldest and best-preserved Arab baths in Spain, and the oldest work of Muslim Granada.

You can access The Banuelo through a small house, renovated in the Christian era. Its rooms are rectangular and it has various chambers with brick arches, with a star-like window in the roof for allowing in light.

The entrance to the Banuelo is free

Texto by: www.lovegranada.com
Phothos by: Feroen Florijn

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The Corral del Carbon, one of the oldest arab monuments in Granada

Located in Calle Mariana Pineda, in the heart of Granada, Corral del Carbon is the oldest monument left us by the Arabs. 

The "Corral del Carbón", formerly called "Alhóndiga Gigida" was constructed in the early 14th century  by Yusuf I and was used as a type of warehouse for merchandise and also as a shelter for merchants.

It is of special interest because it is the only remaining Moorish caravansara or fundak that still remains as it was in Spain.

The building has a quadrangular shape, with an entrance pavilion which has a large horseshoe arch that gives access to the vestibule which is covered with a cupola embellished with "muqarnas" (decorative motif characteristic of the Muslim architecture, based on vertically juxtaposed bows or prisms). Above the entrance door there is a small twin window. From here we enter the "'ostowan" or waiting vestibule with arches on its sides, that leads to the courtyard surrounded by galleries that open onto the three floors of the building. At the center of the courtyard we find a stone made fountain with two spouts.

The yard is laid out in typical Islamic design, with a symetrical courtyard, mosaic floorings, and a central water trough, which is the original drinking trough.

The paving of black and white stones indicates that this is a prosperous area, with the function of keeping down the dust from the floor. The black stones were gathered from the River Genil and the white from the River Darro

There is a government run craft/ Art shop housed in one of the buildings surrounding the courtyard, these were originally stables, used to house the mules of the merchants.

The upper galleried rooms were originally used by the merchants for making buisness deals, socialising and sleeping.

In Christian times it was used as an accommodation for coal merchants, from where it gets its name. Later, it became a playhouse for comedies, and finally, a neighbourhood until 1933 when the State acquired it and the architect "Leopoldo Torres Balbás" restored it.

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