Part 7
G G G. The place where the water was heated. The copper vessels anciently employed for this purpose were sold many years ago by the then Governor of the Alhambra for the sum of 14,000 reals, about £350 sterling. From these coppers, the warm water was conducted between the walls to the different baths by means of pipes communicating with them, and which are distinctly shown by the white line.
I I I I I I. Other baths and apartments. The lines _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ _a_ designate steps by which the bathers descended into the water.
K. The great Hall of the Baths.
ought to be flat, and are not now Moorish; do not pause to imagine the pierced marble balustrade that once walled-in this bathing-place of the dark-skinned people; nor picture glowing Bathsebas--Rubens’ group of floating, and laughing Sultánas, with female black slaves watching their gambols from under the shady portico. Air and water are the perpetual treasures of this place, and I tasted them both gratefully as I strode under the pointed arches, away from the burning lashes of the sun that drove me under cover.”
The transverse section of the Court, looking towards the palace of Charles V. (see p. 356), forms a beautiful arcade: the slender columns which support the arches would appear unequal to their superincumbent weight were not the spandrils lightened by perforations. The construction of these arches is remarkable for its simplicity. Over the columns, which are of white marble, are built brick piers, and the spandrils of the arches are filled in with tiles placed diagonally. To these are attached perforated plaster ornaments, which give a singularly light and elegant appearance to the arches, and at the same time, by freely admitting currents of air, distribute a delicious coolness through the Courts.
It will be observed that the ornaments in plaster, with which the walls of the Court of the Fish-pond are covered, are in a better state of preservation than similar decorations in other parts of the Palace.
The windows over the entrance doorway are formed of ribs of plaster, and it is thought that these were once filled with stained glass. No traces of such glazing can now be discovered; the conjecture seems to have arisen from the fact that a wall here, next the Hall of Ambassadors, has similar blank windows in which small spaces are painted of various colours. Between the windows, and at the angles, are four escutcheons of the Kings of Granada with the oft-repeated motto: “There is no Conqueror but God;” the whole being enclosed within a cipher, formed by the word signifying “Grace” written twice in Cufic characters, and so interwoven that it may be read from right to left, and from left to right. On the ribs of the window is the word signifying “Blessing,” in Cufic characters, with this peculiarity, that the first two letters are enclosed within a cipher formed by the two last. This device also is so ingeniously written that the word may be read both ways. On six escutcheons, at the sides, the word signifying “Blessing” is treated in the same skilful manner.
Immediately over the Mosaic under the gallery is an inscription of twelve verses in African characters, full of Oriental hyperbole, but perhaps inferior in composition to those already selected from the Hall of The Two Sisters.
Under the galleries, at the north and south ends of the Court, are four recesses, profusely ornamented, elaborate, and
beautiful; well preserved, and retaining much of their original colour.
From amongst the inscriptions of the Court of the Fish-pond it may be permitted to print two or three:
“Go and tell true believers that Divine help and ready victory are reserved for them. (From the sixty-first chapter of the Koràn).
“I am like the nuptial array of a bride, endowed with every beauty and perfection.
“Truly, Ibn Nasr is the sun, shining in splendour;
“May he continue in the noon-tide of his glory even unto the period of his decline.”
In the Court of the Fish-pond is an arch which differs in character from all others existing in the Alhambra: it has the peculiarity of presenting one surface only of decoration, with a principal or guiding figure made out by colours. The ornaments bear a much nearer resemblance to natural forms than in other parts of the Palace; and the whole arch has more of the Persian character of decoration.
PATIO DE LOS LEONES--THE COURT OF THE LIONS.
“From the lower end of the Court of the Alberca,” says Irving, “we passed through a Moorish archway into the renowned Court of Lions. There is no part of the edifice that
gives a more complete idea of its original beauty and magnificence, for not any portion has suffered so little from the ravages of time. In the centre stands the fountain famous in song and story. The alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops; and the twelve lions which support them cast forth their crystal streams as in the days of Boabdil. When one looks upon the fairy tracery of the peristyles, and the apparently fragile fret-work of the walls, it is difficult to believe that so much has survived the wear and tear of centuries, the shocks of earthquake, the violence of war, and the quiet, though no less baneful, pilferings of the tasteful traveller: it is almost sufficient to excuse the popular tradition, that the whole is protected by a magic charm.”
The Court of the Lions, takes its name from the fountain in the centre supported by twelve sculptured lions. The Court is a parallelogram of 100 feet by 50 feet, and is surrounded by a portico, with small pavilions at either end. The portico and pavilions consist of 128 columns, supporting arches of the most delicate and elaborate construction, which still retain much of their original beauty. The irregularity in the arrangement of the
columns, which are placed sometimes singly, and sometimes in pairs, does not detract from the general harmony; but, on the contrary, a charming effect is produced by this capricious departure from uniformity. The capitals, though similar in outline, offer a great variety in their foliage; and though the same design is more than once repeated in this Court, no attempt appears to have been made towards a symmetrical arrangement.
The ceiling of the portico is decorated in the most complex manner, the stucco being laid on with inimitable delicacy--it is so cunningly handled as to exceed belief.
The walls are covered, to a height of five feet, with tiles of blue and yellow chequy, with a border of small escutcheons enamelled blue and gold, bearing an Arabic motto on a Bend.
About each arch is arabesque work, surrounded with a rim of characters, consisting, for the most part, of verses from the Koràn. Unhappily, a modern roof of red tiles disfigures this beautiful Court, which is the most highly-prized fountain-court in the Palace.
In the centre of the Court are the twelve marble lions, conventionally treated. Supported on the backs of the animals is the beautiful basin of the fountain--in form, a dodecagon--out of which rises a lesser basin. A large volume of water falling into
the basins, once issued from the mouths of the lions to a large reservoir, whence it was conveyed to the apartments of the Palace. Notwithstanding that these lions exhibit the want of development in the art of sculpture amongst the Arabs, they yet possess a spirited, if primitive, grace.
The inscription around the basin has been variously given: the rendering of Pascual de Gayángos is regarded as the most
authoritative. The verses, which may, perhaps, consist of twelve or so, are couched in the usual double-shotted language of the Oriental. Two or three are subjoined:
“Blessed be He who gave the Imam Mohammed a mansion which in beauty excels all other mansions.
“Look at this solid mass of pearl glistening all around, which falls within a circle of silvery froth, and then flows amidst translucent jewels of surpassing loveliness; exceeding the marble in whiteness, and the alabaster in transparency.
“O thou who beholdest these lions couching, fear not; _life is wanting to enable them to show their fury_.”
The salutary warning here given irresistibly reminds one of “the shallowest thick-skin of that barren sort” with whom the mad spirit, Robin Goodfellow, made such frolic--the immortal
Athenian weaver, who opines--“To bring in--God shield us!--a lion among ladies is a most dreadful thing; for there is not a more fearful wild-fowl than your lion living.” Yet the admonition may not have been altogether superfluous amongst the beauties of the hareem, who seldom contemplated graven images. It must not be forgotten, moreover, that the Mohammedans of Spain were somewhat lax in the matter of obedience to certain precepts of the Koràn.
Although the upper parts of the walls are only coated with plaster, strengthened with reeds, centuries of neglect have not sufficed to destroy this slight, “aerie, faerie” thing of filigree, which has not even the appearance of durability. Wherever the destroyer has mutilated the fragile ornaments, “the temple-haunting
martlet, guest of summer,” builds his nest and careers in the delicate air, breaking, with his twitter, the silence of these sunny, now deserted courts, once made for Oriental delights, and even now the place in which to read the _Arabian Nights_, or spend a honeymoon--
This guest of summer, The temple-haunting martlet, does approve, By his lov’d mansionry, that the heaven’s breath Smells wooingly here: no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coigne of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed, and procreant cradle; Where they most breed and haunt, I have observ’d, The air is delicate. [_Macbeth_, Act i., sc. 6]
SALA DE LA BARCA--HALL OF THE BARQUE.
Beyond where the fountain bubbles in the Court of the Fish-pond, is the oblong Hall of the Barque, which is still as radiant with colours as the edge of fading evening cloud. The rivers of poems that fret the walls sing the praises of some long dead Sultán, who conquered twenty fortresses, and whose excellence, running clear through his great deeds, was as the silk thread that carries a necklace of pearls.
“The ceiling of the Hall of the Barque,” says Owen Jones, “is a wagon-headed dome of wood, of the most elaborate patterns, receiving its support from pendentives of mathematical construction so curious, that they may be rendered susceptible of combinations as various as the melodies which may be produced from the seven notes of the musical scale; attesting the wonderful power and effect obtained by the repetition of the most simple elements.”
Alas! it must be added that this beautiful Hall was greatly injured by a fire, which took place in September, 1890.
SALA DE LOS EMBAJADORES--HALL OF AMBASSADORS.
After traversing the Hall of the Barque, we come upon the Hall of Ambassadors--the Golden Saloon--with a dome which bursts like a flower-bell upon the sight. The most
beautiful thing about these Moorish domes is, not their grand poise and balance, but the airiness of them. They seem mere resting clouds swelling round you and canopying you with colour. You have no sense of their weight or means of permanency. The stalactite ornament, as it is called, seems fashioned in emulous rivalry of golden-celled honeycomb, in which honey still rests; honey, dyed by the juices of the flowers from which it has been drawn. The walls are like the leaves of illuminated missals, framed by cornices of poem and prayer.
The Hall of Ambassadors is a square of thirty-seven feet, and is sixty feet high from the floor to the centre of the dome. It is the largest, as well as the most imposing of the Halls of the Alhambra, though in arrangement and symmetry of details less perfect than the Hall of The Two Sisters.
Inscriptions of verses from the Koràn abound amongst the decorations.
The present ceiling of the Hall of the Ambassadors is a dome of wood, ornamented by ribs intersecting each other in various patterns in gold, on grounds of blue and red. The ceiling is ingenious in construction and beautiful in detail. Owen Jones thinks that an arch of brick was originally thrown across the hall, which gave way after the completion of the building, carrying with it an earlier ceiling, which was afterwards replaced by the present dome.
In the centre divan, on the north side of the Hall, there is
a most beautiful Mosaic dado, as perfect as when originally executed, and which seems to be imperishable. It is formed of baked clay, squeezed into moulds of the different figures, glazed on the surface, and bevelled slightly on the edge. Thus, when necessary, the Mosaics were not only easily withdrawn from the moulds, but, when united, they formed a key for the mortar. In this particular recess, doubtless, was the throne of