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El Badi Palace
Marrakech, Morocco · Palaces & landmarks
An Apollonaut travel guide
A city of hills and courtyards.
An introduction to Granada’s architecture, from the Albaicín’s lanes to the palaces of the Alhambra.
On this page
Read the city from the Albaicín
Across the Darro valley from the Alhambra, the Albaicín keeps the narrow lanes and walled houses with gardens of Granada’s Moorish past. UNESCO added it to the World Heritage site in 1994.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how a lane climbs a hill, how a garden hides behind a wall, or how a viewpoint gathers people at sunset. Respect homes, working businesses and places of worship.
Plaster, tile and wood
Carved plaster, glazed tile and wooden ceilings give the Nasrid Palaces their detail; brick and rammed earth give the walls their warm colour.
Begin with a material and ask how it was made, repaired and maintained. A photograph alone cannot tell you who carved a ceiling or the conditions in which they worked.
An Alhambra chapter
The Alhambra brings together a medieval fortress, Nasrid palaces and a Renaissance palace on one hill.
Look at the meeting of the three: a fortress tower above a garden, a carved Nasrid room beside Charles V’s round courtyard, and the city spread out below.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the Alhambra’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these buildings, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
