The Alhambra (Wonders of the World) - Hardcover

Irwin, Robert

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674015681 ISBN 13: 9780674015685

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2004

Synopsis

The Alhambra has long been a byword for exotic and melancholy beauty. In his absorbing new book, Robert Irwin, Arabist and novelist, examines its history and allure.

The Alhambra is the only Muslim palace to have survived since the Middle Ages. Built by a threatened dynasty of Muslim Spain, it was preserved as a monument to the triumph of Christianity. Every day thousands of tourists enter this magnificent site to be awestruck by its towers and courts, its fountained gardens, its honeycombed ceilings and intricate tile work. It is a complex full of mysteries―even its purpose is unclear. Its sophisticated ornamentation is not indiscriminate but full of hidden meaning. Its most impressive buildings were designed not by architects, but by philosophers and poets. The Alhambra, which resembles a fairy-tale palace, was constructed by slave labor in an era of economic decline, plague, and political violence. Its sumptuously appointed halls have lain witness to murder and mayhem. Yet its influence on art and on literature―including Orientalist painting and the architecture of cinemas, Washington Irving and Jorge Luis Borges―has been lasting and significant. As our guide to this architectural masterpiece, Robert Irwin allows us to fully understand the impact of the Alhambra.

About this title

About the Author

Robert Irwin lives in London. His fiction includes The Arabian Nightmare and Exquisite Corpse. His many books and articles on Islamic subjects include The Arabian Nights: A Companion and Islamic Art.

Reviews

Built mostly in the mid- to late fourteenth century atop a hill overlooking Granada, Spain, the Alhambra stands as a stunning example of Moorish architecture, the only Muslim palace to have survived since the Middle Ages. Its inordinate artistic detailing and disorderly layout--"underpinned," Irwin suggests, "by a geometry that [has] mystical resonance"--attract thousands of tourists every day. But the Alhambra has a complicated and often unclear history; it has served as a jail for debtors, invalid soldiers, and gypsies, and in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was "a monument to murder, slavery, poverty, and fear." In addition, as the site of the Moors' last stand before being driven from Spain by the Christian Reconquista in 1492, it has come to symbolize, for many Arabs and Muslims, everything they have lost in recent centuries. An able writer and noted Arabist, Irwin has clearly done his homework--though the academic-leaning material lacks a certain passion and purpose--and his detailed prose is complemented by a striking array of photos and illustrations. Andy Boynton
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Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674015681
• ISBN 13: 9780674015685
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224