To answer the questions: Why and when to visit the Alhambra, one has to understand: What is the Alhambra?
the alhambra as a cultural attraction:
Among the monuments and buildings of cultural interest, the Muslim fortresses(Alcazabas) and the Muslim royal palaces (Alcazares), the temples (Mosques), the baths (hammams), fountains, gardens and orchards are the great medieval attractions.
Defence, art, beauty, utility
In the case of the Alhambra, all these attractions come together:
- The Alcazaba is the first building of the complex 1232-1238
- Following which the hydraulic system is established ca 1238
- To this construction is added the walled base to receive a new Medina 1238-1272
- The first mansion, or Alcázar 1272-1310, is created in the Generalife (Jardín del Eden del Sabio).
- Artisans and the construction of the new city (Medina) settle and create new citadels, mosques and oratories, baths(hammams) and pleasure gardens.
- With the arrival of the Kings of Castile and Aragon (Isabella and Ferdinand, Catholic kings in 1492), buildings, spaces and temples were added and modified.
- The Catholic Monarchs demanded that the Alhambra be preserved until the present day.
- The different periods of the Christian kingdom, the war of succession, the entry of the Bourbons and later of Joseph I, meant that the palatine city saw the appearance of new buildings, the loss of many others and the creation of the great work:
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- More than a century and a half ago, the restoration of the Alhambra began.
- Different theories of restoration and maintenance
- Archaeology
- Botany and zoology
- The citadel is a living entity and not an enbalsamated display in an empty display case.
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The plaster casts wish visitors "Baraka", Allah's blessing of good fortune.
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