The Alhambra 8

The Alhambra 8

I now perceived I had made an invaluable acquaintance in this son of the

Alhambra, one who knew all the apocryphal history of the place, and

firmly believed in it, and whose memory was stuffed with a kind of

knowledge for which I have a lurking fancy, but which is too apt to be

considered rubbish by less indulgent philosophers. I determined to

cultivate the acquaintance of this learned Theban.

 

Immediately opposite the Hall of the Abencerrages, a portal, richly

adorned, leads into a hall of less tragical associations. It is light

and lofty, exquisitely graceful in its architecture, paved with white

marble, and bears the suggestive name of the Hall of the Two Sisters.

Some destroy the romance of the name by attributing it to two enormous

slabs of alabaster which lie side by side, and form a great part of the

pavement: an opinion strongly supported by Mateo Ximenes. Others are

disposed to give the name a more poetical significance, as the vague

memorial of Moorish beauties who once graced this hall, which was

evidently a part of the royal harem. This opinion I was happy to find

entertained by our little bright-eyed guide, Dolores, who pointed to a

balcony over an inner porch; which gallery, she had been told, belonged

to the women’s apartment. “You see, Señor,” said she, “it is all grated

and latticed, like the gallery in a convent chapel where the nuns hear

mass; for the Moorish kings,” added she, indignantly, “shut up their

wives just like nuns.”

 

The latticed “jalousies,” in fact, still remain, whence the dark-eyed

beauties of the harem might gaze unseen upon the zambras and other

dances and entertainments of the hall below.

 

On each side of this hall are recesses or alcoves for ottomans and

couches, on which the voluptuous lords of the Alhambra indulged in that

dreamy repose so dear to the Orientalists. A cupola or lantern admits a

tempered light from above and a free circulation of air; while on one

side is heard the refreshing sound of waters from the fountain of the

lions, and on the other side the soft plash from the basin in the garden

of Lindaraxa.

 

It is impossible to contemplate this scene, so perfectly Oriental,

without feeling the early associations of Arabian romance, and almost

expecting to see the white arm of some mysterious princess beckoning

from the gallery, or some dark eye sparkling through the lattice. The

abode of beauty is here as if it had been inhabited but yesterday; but

where are the two sisters, where the Zoraydas and Lindaraxas!

 

An abundant supply of water, brought from the mountains by old Moorish

aqueducts, circulates throughout the palace, supplying its baths and

fish-pools, sparkling in jets within its halls, or murmuring in channels

along the marble pavements. When it has paid its tribute to the royal

pile, and visited its gardens and parterres, it flows down the long

avenue leading to the city, tinkling in rills, gushing in fountains, and

maintaining a perpetual verdure in those groves that embower and

beautify the whole hill of the Alhambra.

 

Those only who have sojourned in the ardent climates of the South can

appreciate the delights of an abode combining the breezy coolness of the

mountain with the freshness and verdure of the valley. While the city

below pants with the noontide heat, and the parched Vega trembles to the

eye, the delicate airs from the Sierra Nevada play through these lofty

halls, bringing with them the sweetness of the surrounding gardens.

Everything invites to that indolent repose, the bliss of southern

climes; and while the half-shut eye looks out from shaded balconies upon

the glittering landscape, the ear is lulled by the rustling of groves

and the murmur of running streams.

 

I forbear for the present, however, to describe the other delightful

apartments of the palace. My object is merely to give the reader a

general introduction into an abode where, if so disposed, he may linger

and loiter with me day by day until we gradually become familiar with

all its localities.

 

 

NOTE ON MORISCO ARCHITECTURE

 

To an unpractised eye the light relievos and fanciful arabesques

which cover the walls of the Alhambra appear to have been

sculptured by the hand, with a minute and patient labor, an

inexhaustible variety of detail, yet a general uniformity and

harmony of design truly astonishing; and this may especially be

said of the vaults and cupolas, which are wrought like

honey-combs, or frostwork, with stalactites and pendants which

confound the beholder with the seeming intricacy of their patterns.

The astonishment ceases, however, when it is discovered that this

is all stucco-work; plates of plaster of Paris, cast in moulds and

skilfully joined so as to form patterns of every size and form.

This mode of diapering walls with arabesques, and stuccoing the

vaults with grotto-work, was invented in Damascus, but highly

improved by the Moors in Morocco, to whom Saracenic architecture

owes its most graceful and fanciful details. The process by which

all this fairy tracery was produced was ingeniously simple. The

wall in its naked state was divided off by lines crossing at right

angles, such as artists use in copying a picture; over these were

drawn a succession of intersecting segments of circles. By the aid

of these the artists could work with celerity and certainty, and

from the mere intersection of the plain and curved lines arose the

interminable variety of patterns and the general uniformity of

their character.[3]

 

Much gilding was used in the stucco-work, especially of the

cupolas; and the interstices were delicately pencilled with

brilliant colors, such as vermilion and lapis lazuli, laid on with

the whites of eggs. The primitive colors alone were used, says

Ford, by the Egyptians, Greeks, and Arabs, in the early period of

art; and they prevail in the Alhambra whenever the artist has been

Arabic or Moorish. It is remarkable how much of their original

brilliancy remains after the lapse of several centuries.

 

The lower part of the walls in the saloons, to the height of

several feet, is incrusted with glazed tiles, joined like the

plates of stucco-work, so as to form various patterns. On some of

them are emblazoned the escutcheons of the Moslem kings, traversed

with a band and motto. These glazed tiles (azulejos in Spanish,

az-zulaj in Arabic) are of Oriental origin; their coolness,

cleanliness, and freedom from vermin, render them admirably fitted

in sultry climates for paving halls and fountains, incrusting

bathing-rooms, and lining the walls of chambers. Ford is inclined

to give them great antiquity. From their prevailing colors,

sapphire and blue, he deduces that they may have formed the kind of

pavements alluded to in the sacred scriptures:--“There was under

his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone” (Exod. xxiv.

10); and again, “Behold I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and

lay thy foundations with sapphires” (Isaiah liv. 11).

 

These glazed or porcelain tiles were introduced into Spain at an

early date by the Moslems. Some are to be seen among the Moorish

ruins which have been there upwards of eight centuries.

Manufactures of them still exist in the Peninsula, and they are

much used in the best Spanish houses, especially in the southern

provinces, for paving and lining the summer apartments.

 

The Spaniards introduced them into the Netherlands when they had

possession of that country. The people of Holland adopted them

with avidity, as wonderfully suited to their passion for household

cleanliness; and thus these Oriental inventions, the azulejos of

the Spanish, the az-zulaj of the Arabs, have come to be commonly

known as Dutch tiles.

 

 

 

 

IMPORTANT NEGOTIATIONS

 

THE AUTHOR SUCCEEDS TO THE THRONE OF BOABDIL

 

 

The day was nearly spent before we could tear ourself from this region

of poetry and romance to descend to the city and return to the forlorn

realities of a Spanish posada. In a visit of ceremony to the Governor of

the Alhambra, to whom we had brought letters, we dwelt with enthusiasm

on the scenes we had witnessed, and could not but express surprise that

he should reside in the city when he had such a paradise at his command.

He pleaded the inconvenience of a residence in the palace from its

situation on the crest of a hill, distant from the seat of business and

the resorts of social intercourse. It did very well for monarchs, who

often had need of castle walls to defend them from their own subjects.

“But, señors,” added he, smiling, “if you think a residence there so

desirable, my apartments in the Alhambra are at your service.”

 

It is a common and almost indispensable point of politeness in a

Spaniard, to tell you his house is yours.--“Esta casa es siempre à la

disposicion de Vm.”--“This house is always at the command of your

Grace.” In fact, anything of his which you admire, is immediately

offered to you. It is equally a mark of good breeding in you not to

accept it; so we merely bowed our acknowledgments of the courtesy of the

Governor in offering us a royal palace. We were mistaken, however. The

Governor was in earnest. “You will find a rambling set of empty,

unfurnished rooms,” said he; “but Tia Antonia, who has charge of the

palace, may be able to put them in some kind of order, and to take care

of you while you are there. If you can make any arrangement with her for

your accommodation, and are content with scanty fare in a royal abode,

the palace of King Chico is at your service.”

 

We took the Governor at his word, and hastened up the steep Calle de los

Gomeres, and through the Great Gate of Justice, to negotiate with Dame

Antonia,--doubting at times if this were not a dream, and fearing at

times that the sage Dueña of the fortress might be slow to capitulate.

We knew we had one friend at least in the garrison, who would be in our

favor, the bright-eyed little Dolores, whose good graces we had