El-Partal

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The El-Partal Palace (El Palacio del Partal) is a palatial structure inside the Alhambra fortress complex located in Granada, Spain. It was built by the Nasrid ruler Muhammad III who ruled from 1302 to 1309. This dating makes it the oldest remaining remaining palace in the Alhambra today.

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Overview

The palace is still only partly preserved, with only the tower and portico on its north side remaining, originally part of an enclosed rectangular courtyard rather than the open garden it appears as today. It demonstrated the typical layout which was repeated in other palaces nearby: a courtyard centered on a large reflective pool with porticoes at either end and a mirador (lookout) tower at one end which looked down on the city from the edge of the palace walls.

Both the arched façade of the external portico and the interior walls are carved or covered with intricate stucco decoration from the time of Muhammad III. Much of this decoration was originally painted with colours, though much of this has faded over time.

Architecture

circa 1305 CE

Tower of the Ladies
The Tower of the Ladies (Torre De Las Damas) is one of the two architectural elements that remains of the medieval Nasrid housing-palace, structurally built as part of the main wall. The tower is built to the left of the main portico and mirador. The original wooden cupola ceiling inside the tower was dismantled and moved by its last private owner around the beginning of the 20th century. It is now preserved at the Museum für Islamische Kunst, the Islamic art section of the Pergamon Museum in Berlin, Germany.

Gallery

References

Bloom, Jonathan; Blair, Sheila S. (2009-05-14). Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture - Three-Volume Set. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1.
Ruggles, D.F. 2000. The Partal and Tendilla Palaces. In Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain. University Park: Pennsylvania State UP, 175-180.
Barrucand, Marianne; Bednorz, Achim (1992). Moorish architecture in Andalusia. Taschen. ISBN 3822876348.
"The Partal". Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife. Retrieved 2020-11-28.
Dodds, Jerrilynn D., ed. (1992). Al-Andalus: The Art of Islamic Spain. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 147–148. ISBN 0870996371.
Alhambra Palace - (Partal Gardens). (n.d.). Retrieved August 6, 2021.
Dickie, James. 1981. The Alhambra: Some Reflections Prompted by a Recent Study by Oleg Grabar. In Studia Arabica et Islamica : Festschrift for Ihsan Abbas on his sixtieth birthday. ed. Wadad al-Qadi. Beirut: American UP, 127-49.
ibid. 1992. The Palaces of the Alhambra. In al-Andalus : the art of Islamic Spain . Edited by Jerrilynn D. Dodds. New York: Abrams, 135-51.
O'Kane, Bernard (2012-12-15). The Civilization of the Islamic World. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. ISBN 978-1-4488-8509-1.
Fernandez Puertas, Antonio. 1997. The Alhambra. 2 v. London : Saqi Books.

El-Partal

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Overview

Architecture

Gallery

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References

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