Let's situate ourselves in medieval Spain, particularly in the area of Andalusia, in the southern part of Epininsia. This is a fortress palace of D'Alembre, a royal citadel erected above the city of Granada. The last remaining city dominated by Muslims. They built a palace city on top of a mountain, one that would resemble Paragais. Built in the 13th and 14th centuries, D'Alembre was the work of the Nazarid dynasty, which governed dwindling Islamic territories of southern Spain until expulsion in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabel. The monarchs who also financed Columbus's expedition across the unknown Atlantic in the same year. And what's so wonderful about D'Alembre is that it's not simply a building, but the boundary between landscape and architecture seems very loose, so that suddenly you're in a courtyard, suddenly you're in a garden.

And the section that is enforced by being on top of a hill is played off very effectively so that views through the space and movement through the space allows you to experience this landscape integrated into the architecture. Here's a site plan of D'Alembre. It's all divided into three parts. In the westernmost part of the complex we have Vialca Sava, which is the oldest part of D'Alembre. This was built as a centerpiece of the system of fortifications to protect the area. Its configuration occupied a triangular space contained by a wall, at the far end of which is a bastion built in the times of the Catholic monarchs. While on the opposite side we find a wall, fortified with three watchtowers. In fact, the whole complex is entirely surrounded by a wall and it has several watchtowers such as the Dora de la Vela, which is the tallest and most important in the whole complex.

And just the view of the city that you have from the top of these towers is breathtaking. The Vialca Sava had a military quarter as an urban nucleus, of which you can still see remains. Before the palaces were built, the Alca Sava served as a residence of the rulers of the city and then it became purely military in character. In the eastern part of the complex there is a part of the citadel that used to be residential and public. The Alambra originally enclosed an entire palace city including coming dwelling houses, craft workshops, the royal mint, several mosques and public baths. There are all these small channels of water that run through the entire complex, which is I think a remarkable feature. In the north of the complex is the most precious part of the citadel, the very reason you visit the Alambra, the Nazarid palaces, which were the residences of the Amiris, the Muslim rulers of the city of Granada.

These palaces form a series of apartments, halls and courts framed in a setting of arcades, fountains and gardens. Upon entrance you right away notice how it's ornamented with mini-it surface decoration, either in plaster, precious stones or glazed tiles. The walls are inlaid with glazed tiles to a height of four feet, above which is a separate scheme of air-best treatment carried out. We must remember that Muslims only decorated with floral and geometric patterns and also with a writing called calligraphy. This is a Makswar which functioned as the entrance wing. Next to it is this small courtyard with a small fountain in the middle. And one effect that these palaces have is a piece and silence that you feel inside of them, as if you were completely isolated from the world outside, but at the same time surrounded by nature.

The whole idea of the garden is something that you see again and again in Islamic architecture, and it's always negotiating between a geometrical definition of the garden and a kind of explosive the quantity of nature to replicate itself and to become the green. This is a Quranic description of paradise and it's not so different from the Paradise Garden I will hear about in the Old Testament, with a river running out of a bounded precinct. But the image of Paradise Garden is more emphatically deployed in Islamic architecture than in Christian architecture, especially in the gardens. I think this plan helps illustrate how landscape and architecture move together. The plan consists mainly of two uplong courts of right angles to each other. You can see that there are several couriers organizing fairly theme bands of program around them, and that these volumes are perched at the edge of the precipice so that they can get these dramatic views and capture this running landscape that's part of

a purview of the building, as well as a near landscape of the garden set of fold on top of the plateau. Every single window in the Alambra doesn't simply exhibit a view, but it perfectly frames the landscape in a way that makes every view as dramatic as possible. Here's a view from one of the couriers in the Alambra. You can see that it's a big palace and a big hill, and you can see the rest of the town stretching out in the lowlands and the palace moving up the hill. The first of these couriers, known as the Court of Mertles, has its longer axis placed north and south. There's a long linear pool that shows you the integration of water into the courtyard. This pool reflects the buildings like a great mirror of water that changes with the different tones of light throughout the day. This spectacular element is both aesthetic and functional, because like any dwelling with human presence, this palace requires a place that contains water, and the water is always circulating through narrow

channels that irrigate the bushes. To the south is a double arcade, and to the north is a tower of Comades, inside of which the hall of the ambassadors is located. With deeply recessed windows on three sides giving views of the town beneath, and you could be here in this chamber admiring the garden, but you could also be surveilling the landscape to see if any intruders are coming. So you have these vantage points stipulating throughout the building. And notice that in this room, the windows have an element that is frequently used in Islamic architecture called lattice work. And lattice work is very functional for places that have a warm climate, because it allows light and air flow through the area without letting in direct sunlight. And since Islamic architecture is very introvert and introspective, lattice work is also used to add privacy, as you can see through it only if you're inside of a building.

This hall is crowned by a polygonal dome with arabesque decorations. This dome is a wooden masterpiece of craftsmanship. It is formed by cedar wood decorations covered by interlacing patterns, and it's a representation of the seven heavens of the Islamic paradise, with gods thrown in the middle. The other main court, the court of lions, is the most elaborate. The pillars are alternately single and coupled, and crowned with capitals peculiar to the Alambe. The archating is of wood, covered with richly stuccoed decoration. It's important to mention that Islamic architecture is obsessed with integrating water into the architecture. So water is the essential element in this incredible palace of the Alambe. And the combination of water and light creates a space that's a real pleasure for the senses.

In this courtyard, we find the device we saw at the great mosque in Kordoba, linear troughs of water that begin to issue forth and irrigate the garden and bring life to the garden, and a fountain in the middle. And this is spectacular. It's almost literal building of a model of the paradise gardens in the Quran, abounded, precinct with water crossing through it, subdividing its world into four quadrants with these lions here. And these fountains penetrate into these chambers on all sides and become fountains there too. It's great. We saw in the mosque of Kordoba the beginning of a kind of pointed arch work, this horseshoe arch, or these multi-foyle arches. And it's becoming even more specifically pointed when we get to some of the courtyard arcades here at the Alambe. Also a type of comb capital with a square upper portion and long necking was evolved.

The comb supporting these are very slender, the hide being 12 diameters. The capitals in the Alambe are either treated with conventional scrolls, or are formed with a stalactite treatment. Such capitals have an upward continuation of post-light shape, against the size of which the silted arch abuts being supported by a piece of stalactite corbilling. The Hall of Kings is at the eastern end of this courtyard. It receives its name because we find paintings on the ceilings with representations of the first 10 kings of the dynasty. These are painted on leather and they have a clear influence on Christian Gothic art, since we don't usually see images of people in Islamic art. It's even been suggested these were actually painted by Christian artists. And on either side of the courtyard are the smaller halls of the two sisters Anavuea Ben Serracis, with roofs covered with stalactite decoration.

These stalactites are known as Mokarnas, or Mokaravis in Spanish, and they are an integral form of ornamented Islamic vaults. They originated from the Squinch, an architectural element used in medieval architecture to translate a square into an octagon. So looking at these halls is just a astonishing because of all the detail that it has. Notice the toughness of the exterior of the Alambra, because this building is almost like a geode. A geode looks like a rock on the outside, and you crack it open and it's this kind of sparkling crystal. So you look at the exterior of the Alambra, and it seems solid, it seems tough, it seems fortified. But when you crack through that mace reshell, you get the same light, diaphanous collection of screens that we observed in the musks. You find this dematerialized, extremely light architecture, and the effect is really amazing, because you're in the shade, you're protected.

We have this amazing transparency of view through the whole space, it's phenomenal. The richly-modal geometric plaster decoration brilliantly painted and gilded has probably never been surpassed. Here's just another detail of the fountain of the lions. It consists of a large basin surrounded by eight lion sculptures, all carved from marble. And you can see the water coming out of their mouths and then conducted into the complex system of channels. Paz de Courtyard of the Lions is a corridor with a small hall known as the Mirador Velindara, which overlooks a courtyard with the same name, a kind of court of oranges that you would see in a mosque. This entire corridor is a work of art, or you can take a closer look at the rich details of these windows. And in the next corridor you can see through one of the windows, the brick vaults of the baths, which have small holes with octagonal stars to eliminate the space with a dim light.

The vaults are supported by columns and horseshoe arches. This small courtyard called Patio de la Reja has probably the single best view of the entire palace, because you see the entire medieval quarter of the city of Granada, de Albaïsin. And walking in this district is very special because of the architectural character of the buildings and because of its narrow streets and its medieval urban layout. You really get the feeling of living in another time and there's a small square there from which you can see the citadel. The oldest palace that is preserved is the Parthal, in front of which we find a large rectangular pool with a layout similar to what we saw in the Court of Mertles. And also a set of small garden areas, again integrating the water into the architecture to irrigate the gardens.

The relaxing sound of the water is the music of the Alambra. There's just so many astonishing views in the Alambra that make this piece of architecture a great pleasure for all the senses. On the adjoining hill we have the Jenedalife, which is a country state from the Nazareth era. To get there you have to cross a bridge and walk through a big garden with terraces, pools, and water channels. When you get to the Jenedalife you walk through an arcade terrace. From there you can see in the distance the Alambra as a whole. The Jenedalife features several rectangular garden couriers with decorated pavilions at either end and it's representing the fusion between nature and architecture. You can see on these terraces how the water is integrated even into the railing and that's just the essence of the Alambra.

Water, nature, and architecture, all as one, where you can feel the freshness even in this warm climate. Now you might have noticed the square shaped building with a hole in the center. This is a palace of Charles V. It was erected in 1527 by architect Pedro Machuca, a disciple of Michelangelo himself and it's an important structure. In plan it is a square two hundred and five feet each way, including an open circular court one hundred feet in diameter. The external facade is two stories in height, the lower being rusticated and the upper having ionic columns. Both basement and upper story have circular windows above the lower openings, so that mezzanines could be lighted where these occur. The circular internal elevation is an open colonating two stories, with the Doric order in the lower and the ionic order of small height to the upper story.

The structure is built in a golden collard stone, the central feature of the two visible facades being in colored marbles. The whole design which is of the Bramante School is the purest example of Renaissance in Spain. The palace was never occupied and it wasn't even roofed in until the 20th century, but it's really a very beautiful space. This is no doubt one of the most important and spectacular architectural complexes of medieval Islamic architecture and it's one of the best preserved too. So what you see when you visit the Alambra is mostly what you would have seen in the Middle Ages. So that's the Alambra scene from an architectural point of view. I hope you have enjoyed this episode because it took me months to make, so please make sure you leave a like in this video because it helps me a lot to continue.

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