If you had to choose the most beautiful place in Grenada, although luckily there are many applicants for that position, we would not hesitate to nominate the Courtyard of the Lions, one of the most admired Islamic constructions in Spain.
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The Patio de los Leones was commissioned by the sultan muhammad v in the second period of his reign and built between 1362 and 1391.
This place was the center of the last palace built in Nasrid period, the center of the house created by Sultan Muhammad V, considered the first restorer of the Alhambra and protagonist of an incredible artistic evolution.
Muhammad V, after finishing the works of the Comares Palace that his father the great Yusuf I did not finish when he was assassinated, was in charge of creating a unique and different space from the previous palaces of the enclosure. A space where he mixed styles and where we find the maximum expression of symmetry, harmony and good taste.
This palace is given an area for the harem (the upper floor), a meeting space for the sultan (the Kings' Room), a room for banquets and musical evenings (Sala de Abencerrajes) and a ceremonial room next to the sultan's room (Sala de dos Hermanas y Mirador of Lindaraja). In addition, as a link between all these rooms, the Patio de los Leones will be built in the center.
The courtyard is made up of 124 Macael marble columns, which are masterfully distributed, forming a kind of stone oasis in the shape of a cloister.
The protagonist of this space is undoubtedly the Fountain of the Lions located in the center of the courtyard: 12 lions from the XNUMXth century, believed to have belonged to Samuel Ibn Nagrella (Jewish minister and poet), carved in Macael marble as well as the columns, where each lion has its own appearance since their faces and coats are unique to each specimen. In addition, two of them are marked with a triangle on the forehead, one up and one down, and may represent the tribes of Judas and I took it and therefore the 12 lions could represent the 12 tribes of Israel, it is also believed that it could have had a hydraulic mechanism that would make the fountain a water clock, as well as being related to the 12 signs of the zodiac.
The lions act as a fountain since water comes out of each mouth and then enters through 4 channels (from north to south and from east to west) towards the different rooms of the palace. This distribution can symbolize the 4 parts of the world that are watered by the 4 rivers of paradise (rivers of water, wine, milk and honey according to the Koran).
Persian influence
The Courtyard of the Lions is influenced by, among others, the classical Persian garden, which was adopted by Muslims from Persian literature and evolved through the spread of Islam. This type of garden is marked by symmetry and geometry, seeking to recreate paradise on earth. The first Persian gardens date back to 4000 years before Christ!
From the orchards built in arid Iran the word “paradise” would emerge, which comes from the old Persian word “paridaida” or area enclosed by a wall (it was used to describe the gardens, just as in Islam Paradise is “Jannah”, i.e. garden).
In the Persian gardens, the presence of the 4 elements of the Zoroastrian Eden is essential: the sky, the earth, the water and the plant world, we can also find in them beautiful and harmonic buildings, pavilions, walls and complex irrigation systems.
In the Patio de los Leones we can appreciate all these elements, where the plant world today is represented in its beautiful decorations, but it is believed that in the Nasrid period instead of marble slabs there could have been a garden with low-sized species.
Water, a fundamental element and protagonist throughout the Alhambra, is distributed in different ways in the Patio de los Leones, stagnant, running or gushing from beautiful stone fountains, as in the ancient Persian gardens.
The Persian garden was declared a World Heritage Site in 2011. The Patio de los Leones was in 1984, at the same time as the rest of the monumental complex of the Alhambra.