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El Badi Palace
Marrakech, Morocco · Palaces & landmarks
An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A fortress, palaces and gardens offer several ways into the story of the Alhambra.
On this page
A palace-city on a hill
The Nasrid sultans built the Alhambra on the Sabika hill above Granada from the 13th century. Within its walls were a fortress, palaces, gardens, homes and workshops.
The Generalife, the sultans’ summer palace, stands nearby among gardens and water channels.
Water, stucco and light
Courtyards with pools and fountains, carved stucco, calligraphy, tilework and muqarnas domes make the Nasrid Palaces one of the great works of Islamic art in Europe.
Notice how a pool reflects a façade, how inscriptions run through a pattern, and how light changes as a room opens onto its courtyard.
A World Heritage site
UNESCO inscribed the Alhambra and the Generalife in 1984 and added the Albaicín in 1994. The designation concerns the monument and the city; it is not an accreditation of Apollonaut.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
