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INFORMATION TO VISIT THE ALHAMBRA

ALHAMBRA HISTORY

Essential, fascinating, mysterious … for years the most visited monument in Spain and the greatest exponent of Islamic culture in Western civilization.

Discover this jewel of Al-Andalus architecture in a relaxed and detailed way.

Take advantage of your visit to this marvel of architecture to meditate and understand, with the help of a private guide, the magic and symbolism that surrounds each of these Nasrid Palaces.

The Alhambra is, in fact, the only palatial city from the Islamic period that has been preserved to this day

The name of Alhambra comes from the Arabic “al-Qal’a al-hamra” (the red fortress) and its first builder, Muhammad I, was also known as “El Rojo” because of the coloring of his beard.

¡A spectacle to behold and the perfect place for the best photos, we will have time for everything!

ALHAMBRA MAPS

General map of the Alhambra

Granada city map

Plane Nazaríes palace

HOW TO GET TO THE ALHAMBRA

PRIVATE TRANSPORT

The private cars have their access to the Ronda Sur. Go to the Granada ring road, southward (Motril) has once lined the city, find the address Alhambra (Ronda Sur) to the parking of the monument, where we encourage you to leave your vehicle. The parking fee is 2.35 euros / hour., The lockers are very near.

The parking of the Alhambra has 500 seats and is guarded 24 hours a day.

From Granada airport, take the A-92, ring road of Granada, Ronda exit 132 South and exit 5-A Alhambra.

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

The 30 and 32 Lines of the city bus have the following stops in the Alhambra complex: 1 The Ticket Offices (Entrance Pavilion), 2 Torre de las Cabezas [Tower of the Heads], near the Charles

V Palace and the Nasrid Palaces, and 3, the Puerta de la Justicia [Gate of Justice], the nearest to the Alcazaba.

The bus stop is, specifically, to the back of the monument of Queen Isabella and Christopher Columbus

WALKING

If you enjoy walking, the best option is to walk up from the Plaza Nueva, through the woods, down the street Cuesta de Gomérez or climb the Cuesta de los Chinos street from the Paseo de los Tristes or the neighborhood Realejo to Hotel Alhambra Palace from the Campo del Principe.

All the options represent a rise walk, quite steep, about 1 km.

YOU CAN ACCESS THE COMPLEX OF MONUMENTS:

Directly from the ticket offices (access nearest to the Generalife).

Through the Puerta de los Carros [Gate of the Carts]. The most used, since it is right in the middle, near the Torre de las Cabezas [Tower of the Heads].

Through the Puerta de la Justicia [Gate of Justice].

ALHAMBRA OPENING TIMES

General day visit

Gardens day visit

Nasrid Palaces Night Visit

Gardens Night Visit

• Entrance to the Nasrid Palaces is strictly limited to the time slot indicated on the ticket.
• Admission to this area will finish an hour before closing time.
• Visitors will be asked to leave the Monument at closing time.
• The Alhambra is closed on 25th December and 1st January.
• You may purchase your tickets for the Alhambra on the Internet.

SERVICES IN THE AlHAMBRA

VISITOR INFORMATION

• Information services are situated in the Entrance Pavilion and the Services Pavilion next to the Wine Gate (Puerta del Vino). Information to be obtained: where the entrances and toilets are situated, timetables and itineraries.
• Telephone number for visitors: 902 441 221

CAR PARK

• The Council of the Alhambra and the Generalife has implemented a public car-park to facilitate visit to the Monumental complex. It goes from the roundabout of the cemetery’s entrance to the Entrance Pavilion, where the ticket offices are located

WHEELCHAIRS

• Wheelchairs are available upon request. Information can be obtained from the Entrance Pavilion or directly from the Security personnel inside the Monument

LEFT LUGGAGE OFFICE

• All parcels and bags larger than 35 cm (approximately 12 inches) must be deposited at the Left Luggage Office in the Entrance Pavilion.

FIRST AIDS

• This is a service provided by staff of the Red Cross. It is located in the Hall Services, Wine gate of the Alhambra.

MUSEUMS AT THE PALACE OF CHARLES V

MUSEUM OF THE ALHAMBRA. Charles V Palace

The Museum of the Alhambra is located on the south side of the ground floor of the Palace of Charles V (Palacio de Carlos V). It has seven halls, the first hall houses thematic exhibitions and the other halls are located in chronological order

FINE ARTS MUSEUM

The Fine Arts Museum occupies the top floor of the Palace. Its funds are Grenadines sculptures and paintings from the fifteenth to the twentieth century.

Schedule

Entrance Fee

Price: 1,50 €.

Free admission for European Union citizens, students with International Cards, ICOM Members, over 65 year-old, pensioners and people with a disability of at least 33%.

School and group visits: by appointment.

The pomegranate is a tree that offers a singular and unique fruit the size of a large apple, whose interior is populated with sweet grains.

Its area of origin is established between Kurdistan, Afghanistan, Syria and ancient Persia, there are Latin numbers that express that they are abundant in grains; that’s how the Romans called it a grain apple.

It is a fruit linked to the history of the people who settled in Mesopotamia and the Near East prior to the first millennium BC and who had languages with a common origin.

The legend attributed to the pomegranate the place that the apple occupies in the temptation that Eve induced in Adam and as such it is a fruit of paradise.

In the Rome of the Empire it was a symbol of fertility and wealth and it continued to be considered that way until the Middle Ages when the Andalusians highlighted the culinary qualities of cultivated pomegranates and the medicinal qualities of sour or wild ones.

In Greece it was consecrated to the goddess Aphrodite, while in Syria it was consecrated to the goddess Rimmel.

The Arab historian Ahmad Al Razid wrote that the city today called Granada was known as Garnatat Al Yahud, whose translation means Granada of the Jews.

The truth is that the number of this city is synonymous with a sweet and beautiful fruit, pleasing to the palate and the eye, with a delicate perfume and delicious flavor with a history and a thousand-year-old poetic ritual.

Said fruit maintains a very special and essential meaning for the Jews, to the point of considering it sacred. According to tradition, when you open a pomegranate, whatever its size, the fruit always contains, in all cases, 613 grains. This is the number of precepts that a good Jew must fulfill in order to be an ethical and fair person.

This town also grants the pomegranate the symbolism of abundance, which is why pomegranates should be taken during the celebration of the Jewish New Year in early autumn, when the fruit is ripe and sweet to drink.

Among the various festive celebrations on the Jewish calendar, undoubtedly the most solemn and important is the weekly Shabbat, the Sabbath rest.

During it, no one can work or be worried or sad; It is a day of solace and rejoicing that should be dedicated to study, prayer, and the well-being of body and spirit.

Like all the designated days of the year in the Hebrew year, the festival begins on the eve of the previous day, that is, on Friday, once the first three stars have appeared in the sky and ends on Saturday itself when the same thing happens.

Rosh Ha-shana or New Year is celebrated with a hearty dinner with adaphine, a very popular dish among Sephardic Jews because it is traditionally made in a clay pot on Friday night and eaten on Shabbat, and also an inevitable fruit, the pomegranate, being a vehicle of good omen.

The Nasrid Court must have housed a mosaic of women who, from their considerable ethnic, social, physical and cultural differences, filled the many corners and spaces of the Alhambra with diversity and color, from Arab women to imported women as concubines.

The first group in the Nasrid female world was made up of the “legal wives” of the dynasty and was made up exclusively of those women belonging to the royal family itself who were married to emirs of the lineage. These legitimate women were the so-called free women.

The legitimate Nasrid wives were generally paternal cousins ​​of the sovereign in question, since in the Kingdom of Granada the modality of marriage between cousins ​​was practiced with customary frequency.

The first reason that motivated this union was of an economic nature, since the marriage between cousins ​​allowed to maintain the properties within the own family. There are several cases of marriages of emirs with paternal cousins ​​in the Nasrid family environment such as Muhammad I, the founder of the lineage himself.

But an aspect of vital importance in this marriage and especially in the woman to be able to contract marriage, is that of her virginity.

In fact, the Qur’an highlights this quality as desirable, not to say imperative. This chastity was related to her modesty and for that reason, they should always be veiled, hidden from the sight of others except that of her husband and that of her non-prohibited relatives, being considered a symbol of respectability.

“… Tell the believers to look down modestly, to be chaste and show no more adornment than those in sight, to cover their cleavage with the veil and not to display their adornments but to their husbands”

But along with the women of Nasrid blood, it is also known that there were slaves and concubines. In fact, the Qur’an alludes to slaves.

Let us not forget the fact that the Arab people consider themselves the son of Hagar, Abraham’s concubine slave, whose son Ishmael, is had by the Arabs father, while Isaac, Abraham’s other son along with his free wife Sarah, it is historically the ancestor of the Hebrew people. Abraham etymologically means “father of many peoples”.

But it should be noted that Hagar was not the true name of this Egyptian concubine, but her nickname. Hagar means the “estranged” due to exile and abandonment by Abraham at the request of his free wife Sarah.

In this culture, educating, freeing and marrying a slave by her master entailed a double heavenly reward and for this, the slave trade flourished in Al-Andalus.

Beautiful, blonde women of European origin could achieve the status of a legitimate woman, but there were also black slave women of African origin highly regarded as good cooks and excellent concubines.

The presence of foreign maids and women, so different in origin, was necessary as a reflection of the economic prosperity of the Nasrid court. Owning slaves of whatever genre was a sign of economic well-being and high position. Luxury increases the strength of a dynasty and women were a fundamental factor in its display, exercising a function that could be described as ornamental among both legitimate women and concubines.

Among the unfree women, there were the slaves turned into concubines – mothers of the Nasrid dynasty and those who, on the contrary, were only used for domestic service or entertainment in the Alhambra.

But the Nasrid sultans confirm the taste for Christian women. And for them, the only way out to freedom was conversion to Islam and motherhood was the means that allowed them, therefore, to climb the social pyramid of the harem and even within the dynasty. As is evident, the great hope of these concubines was not only to have a child, but also to become the mother of the future sultan. And this privilege was actually achieved by some concubines of the Alhambra.

But as was to be expected, free women, that is, legitimate wives, were logically the strongest opponents of concubinage, as they became the greatest victims of such a situation.

Along with the concubines of Christian origin, some of whom ended up being sultanas of the Alhambra, there were also other types of slaves in the Nasrid court, employed only for domestic service as cooks, waiters, midwives, doctors and nurses. And it should be noted, among the servants of the Alhambra, there were some women of color.

But it is also worth highlighting another third type of slave alongside concubines and women of color destined for domestic service. These were the singing and dancing slaves dedicated to entertainment and entertainment.

And the slaves of Granada in the Nasrid period excelled in the art of dances with kerchiefs and sabers, decked out with costumes and dressings, and other games, with which they showed their skills. Because they are so versatile, these women were therefore the most expensive.

And among all these concubines, the great favorite par excellence, in the history of the Nasrid dynasty, was Soraya, the second wife of Emir Muley Hacen.

Would you like to know Soraya’s story?

Born in Ghent on February 24, 1500 and died in Yuste on September 21, 1558.

A series of dynastic alliances and premature deaths made the grandson of the Catholic Monarchs the most powerful young man in Europe and the new Americas.

He reigned as Carlos I of Spain from the age of sixteen and at the age of twenty, after the death of his paternal grandfather, the Emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg, as emperor of the Holy Roman Germanic Empire and therefore designated as Carlos I of Spain and V of Germany.

But … Was he really an emperor who failed to be King?

In his last days, Carlos had plenty of time to reflect and rethink. In a talk with his sister Maria, he took stock of his years of reign, his achievements and defeats, his strengths and weaknesses, and furthermore, his mind filled with memories as he never forgot his wife, Isabella of Portugal.

“I was the most powerful man but I have found myself unable to fulfill the desire of a tormented woman… The distance between what I set out to do and what I achieved is great and that only has one name… failure. I neither put an end to heresy, nor did I subdue the infidel, nor did I manage to unite Christendom in a universal monarchy”

Many kingdoms succumbed after their kings died, but nothing compared to what happened after the death of Queen Isabella I of Castile.

Since the death of Isabella the Catholic, Ferdinand of Aragon, tried to gain control of the kingdoms, but the francophile policy of Philippe “Le Bel” made them confront them. Ferdinand left Castile and took refuge in Aragon. The sudden death of Philippe and the state of mental derangement of the latter’s wife, Joanna “the Mad”, changed the situation. Nobody ruled in Castile, Philippe dead, Joanna maddened. Then Ferdinand decided to return to Castile to keep the promise that he made to Isabella.

In 1516, after the death of Ferdinand the Catholic, Charles became the legitimate heir to all the states that had belonged to his grandparents.

However, Carlos was six years old, he was a child and Cisneros, regent of Castile, undoubtedly as a political and religious leader, was the key character during the most delicate time of Spain’s transition between the 15th and 16th centuries and his role was decisive for the creation of the Spanish Empire.

Until Carlos was declared of adult age on January 5, 1515, he received a careful education both by his aunt Margaret of Austria and Adriano of Utrech, his most influential teacher, and Guillermo de Croy, lord of Chièvres, as a fundamental piece in his politics.

Throughout his reign, Carlos traveled from one end of his domain to the other and fought on many battlefields, he was an itinerant monarch without having a stable court but he always knew how to surround himself with important artists, thinkers and men of science. And of all the countries he inherited, Spain was the most difficult to consolidate under his rule.

But why Charles and not his brother Ferdinand I of Austria. The story of two brothers who grew up suspicious of each other.

Paradoxically, whoever was born in Spain reigned in Germany, while the one who had grown up abroad was king of Spain.

Ferdinand, was Charles’s younger brother, was educated in Castile and was viewed with a certain sympathy by the Castilian nobility. After the election of Charles as emperor, Ferdinand became one of his most reliable collaborators but also a possible rival.

Ferdinand I of Habsburg was the exiled brother of Charles, who finally became emperor, and his policy was marked by the fight against the Protestants. However, the two emperors also had four, often-forgotten, sisters:

Leonor, the firstborn. She was handed over to the King of Portugal who was 30 years older than her and had previously been married to two Spanish princesses. She was widowed and married Francisco I, King of France, who was the main enemy of Spain.

Elizabeth, “the loyal one”. She was mistreated by her husband. She went through all kinds of vicissitudes because of an unfaithful husband, as in the case of her sister Leonor.

Maria, governor of the Netherlands. The most outstanding and perhaps the most intelligent of the four Archduchess sisters of Austria. She was the sister closest to the emperor. She ended up becoming an irreplaceable advisor to the most important emperor in Europe at the time.

Catalina, the only Spanish. Together with her brother Ferdinand, she was the only one born on Spanish soil. She was also the longest-lived of them all. She was confined with her mother Joanna in the Palace of Tordesillas. She did not blindly follow fraternal politics and, perhaps because she was queen, she always supported the projects of the Portuguese throne while remaining loyal to her dynasty, the Habsburg.

But the kings never ruled without their queens …

There are not a few women who have had a fundamental role in the history of Spain and who, however, have not been recognized as they should or have simply been fired by the flames of oblivion, as is the case of Elizabeth of Portugal, wife of the King and emperor of the Sacred Roman-German Empire.

She, 23, and Charles, 26 years old, married in the Reales Alcázares of Seville in 1526.

It has always been affirmed that Charles was “more Fifth than First”, more emperor than king; that is, he was much more involved in the affairs of the Empire than in his Castilian-Aragonese subjects.

Elizabeth became governor of Spain in the absence of her husband and many biographers assure that this state of loneliness contributed to her early death.

The princess received a careful humanistic education, learned to read and write, Latin, Spanish, English and French. He did not neglect his artistic training and received a solid musical training. That is why in each childbirth, according to some chroniclers, she always kept her face covered (like Elizabeth the Catholic) to endure her own pains with great composure.

Elizabeth of Portugal died in 1539, when she was only thirty-six years old. There has been much speculation about the causes of his death but, ultimately, part of the historiography agrees that what led to this premature death was nothing but sadness and loneliness in the face of the King’s long absences.

And Charles, did not remarry…

Thirteen years, from 1526 to 1539, Doña Isabel had lived in Spain as Empress and Queen consort.

The sad death was on May 1st at noon, and after the funeral honors, those of a Queen, the procession that was to accompany her mortal remains to Granada was launched by order of the Emperor, to be deposited in the Royal Chapel. But the desolate Emperor did not accompany this procession. Charles V took refuge in the Jeronimo de la Sisla Monastery, where he remained isolated for more than a month

It is here when the end of Carlos begins, the decline of the owner of the world.

Charles and Elizabeth had six children:

• Phillip II of Spain, Maria of Austria, Ferdinand, Joanna of Austria, John and another John, who was born a year after the previous one died, and who at birth caused the death of his mother due to complications with childbirth.

But Charles V also had an entertaining extramarital life, and as a result the following children were born:

• Elizabeth of Castile, Margarita of Austria, Joanna of Austria, Tadea of Austria y John of Austria.

It is important to note that each of these bastard sons of the king was the result of his relationship with a different woman. That is, they are all stepbrothers but none of them is the brother of another.

But not even the most powerful of men is immune to disease and death …

In the last stage of his life he ate alone because he was ashamed that his marked prognathism was even accentuated when chewing food. He had severe attacks of gout due to the excessive intake of meat in his diet, he also drank 4 or 5 liters of beer at each meal and was also prostrated on a wooden chair-stretcher until his death, in 1558, due to malaria.

And that is how Charles, King and Emperor, abdicated and went to Spain to never return, choosing the Yuste Monastery to spend the last days of his life.

“The generosity of my mother Joanna of Castile led me to rule at the age of 17, then, while still a boy, I was granted the right to an Empire.

In a short time I was to build Flanders, Naples, Sicily and the lands of overseas. It has perhaps been my life, a string of trips that have not only consumed this body of mine but also frequently ripped me from my most beloved companies, that of my children and my wife, to whom I would have wanted to give all my days.

But not only duty called me, for my torments and my dominions, also wars. Always a forced battle to defend myself from the ambition of others, of whom I believed would be my only enemy, the Turk, and the doom that was for me the King of France.

I also had to combat the outbreak of the heretic in my own empire, a danger that I have not known how to abate as I would have liked … But none of those jobs was more painful or afflicted me as much as the one I now feel when I leave you.

To govern the states that God granted me, I no longer have the strength and the few that I have left will soon be over … being so tired, I can no longer render any service as those who receive my legacy will do …

To my son Philip, to whom I leave Spain, Flanders, the Italian lands and those of the Indies while the Empire will remain in the hands of my brother Ferdinand.

Although there are many enemies, the strength of this family union will manage to defeat them all.“

This man who had accumulated unparalleled power for centuries decided to abandon it before his time, affected, like his mother, by bouts of deep depression.

Silence and repose were already the only wishes of a man who had unwittingly suffered the tragedy of dominating the world.