History, architecture & heritage

A palace-city.
A Granada landmark.

The story of the Alhambra, from the fortress and palaces of the Nasrid sultans to one of Europe’s best-known monuments.

The Alcazaba and the walls of the Alhambra above the trees of Granada — The Alcazaba, the oldest part of the Alhambra, above Granada.

A Nasrid palace-city

From the 13th century the Nasrid sultans of Granada built the Alhambra on the Sabika hill: a fortress, the Alcazaba, with palaces, gardens and homes within its walls.

The Alhambra on its hill, seen from the Mirador de San Nicolás

The carved muqarnas dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters in the Alhambra

The Nasrid Palaces

In the 14th century Yusuf I and Muhammad V built the Comares Palace and the Palace of the Lions, with their courtyards, pools, carved stucco, tilework and muqarnas domes.

After 1492

The Catholic Monarchs took Granada in 1492. Charles V began a Renaissance palace inside the walls in 1527, and in 1984 UNESCO inscribed the Alhambra and the Generalife on the World Heritage List.