Read aloud by your device's voice. It sounds different on each device.
The red one
The name means the red one, after its rammed-earth walls
The building of the complex was begun in 1238 by Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar, the first Nasrid emir. The name Alhambra comes from the Arabic for the red one, because of the reddish colour of its walls, which were built of rammed earth with iron oxide in the local clay.
A city
In the Nasrid era the Alhambra was a city of its own
It was a self-contained city separate from Granada below, with a Friday mosque, public baths, roads, houses, artisan workshops, a tannery and a sophisticated water supply. As a royal city it contained at least six major palaces.
1492
Granada fell in 1492, and Columbus pitched his plan in the Hall of Ambassadors
Muhammad XI surrendered Granada in January 1492 without the Alhambra being attacked. In the Hall of Ambassadors Christopher Columbus presented his plans for an expedition across the Atlantic, and on 17 April the monarchs signed the contract. In 1925 seventy empty tombs were found.
The fuses
French troops mined the Alhambra in 1812 and one soldier cut the fuses
Between 1810 and 1812 Granada was occupied by Napoleon's army. On leaving, the French tried to dynamite the whole complex and blew up eight towers before the remaining fuses were disabled by a Spanish soldier, José Garcia, whose actions saved what remains today.
Irving
Washington Irving's tales brought the ruin to the world's attention
The Alhambra fell into disrepair after the 17th century, with its buildings occupied by squatters. In 1830 the American writer Washington Irving lived in Granada and wrote Tales of the Alhambra, published in 1832, which brought international attention to the site.
Day 6, morning
Next is Generalife.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Alhambra, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.