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ALHAMBRA: The Beautiful Palace Fortress That Made a King Cry

As the last Moorish King of Granada, Sultan Mohammed and his family went into exile, forced into this situation by the advancing army of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile who were on a quest to reclaim Spanish land from the Moors – North African Muslims of Berber and Arabian descent.

Legend has it that once upon the upper reaches of the Sierra Nevada mountains encircling Granada, Mohammed looked back one final time at his beautiful Alhambra, and gave way to tears.

Yet, not just the tale of his tears, but also the admonition of his mother, Ayeesha, has endured for over 500 years. She was said to have told him: “Do not weep like a woman for that which you could not defend like a man.”

For such a powerful man to have cried, you may be moved to ask: Just how beautiful was Alhambra? And what events led to his exile? Get into the time machine, strap yourself in, and let’s go back in time.

How It Happened

In 711, the first Muslim armies crossed the Mediterranean from Morocco into Spain under the leadership of Tariq ibn Ziyad, who had been invited to help end the oppressive rule of King Roderick. Over the course of 700 years, the Moors would flourish, establish a caliphate in the Andalusia region of Southern Spain, where every 8 out of 10 persons was of Moorish descent.

But this united front did not last, and in time, the caliphate broke down into smaller emirates at about 1000 CE, which made them easy targets for armies of Christian kingdoms from the North. Yet, of all the emirates to fall, Granada was the last, having signed a treaty of peace with the Kingdom of Castile after the fall of Cordoba in 1236, and which required them to pay a yearly tribute to the Castilian monarchy.

This treaty would be broken with the unification of the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon through the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabel in 1469. Thus united, they sought to reclaim the last-standing Moorish emirate in Spain, and in 1482, went to war with Granada. The Moors held out for long, but disunity and a civil war weakened them, such that by the time Mohammed became Sultan in 1490, much of Granada’s territory had been conquered.

With very little help from Muslim armies from North Africa and the Ottoman Empire (modern-day Turkey), Mohammed had little option but to sign a treaty giving control of Granada to Ferdinand and Isabel in November 1491, and by January 2nd 1492, when the treaty went into effect, Sultan Mohammed and his family were sacked. 

And what happened during their departure was what was mentioned at the outset.

The Breath-Taking Alhambra

The word, Alhambra means The Red One (Al-Hamra in Arabic), perhaps in allusion to the colour of the stones used in construction. It was also called the “pearl set in emeralds” in allusion to the colour of its buildings and the woods around them. 

It is listed as one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites

See Pictures:

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The Court of Myrtles

 

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One of the gardens in Alhambra

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The Court of Lions

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Chamber of Lions garden path

 

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Hall of the Ambassadors, one of the most impressive rooms in the Alhambra

 

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The Hall of Two Sisters with its dome ceiling
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