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admelioraii · 2 years

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Alhambra - A Maze of Mystery

Granada’s last proclamation of love to the Moors

The Alhambra palace complex, Granada

On the secluded Sabika hill, by the lavish banks of river Darro, rigorously protected by the brooding Sierra Nevada peaks and surrounded by a dense forest, lies Granada’s last proclamation of love to the Moors. The Alhambra rises majestically over the vast green plains, resembling a magical vision, for it was built to impress!

This splendid monument with its sturdy and robust outer walls hides a delicate and fragile interior. The emblematic fortified palace started its life as a walled citadel before becoming the opulent seat of Granada’s Nasrid Emirs. Its construction was ordered in the 13th century by the Nasrid Emir Mohammed Ibn Yusuf Ben Nasr, also known as “Al Ahmar”. It is one of the best-preserved palace complexes in the Islamic world and represents Moorish rule in Spain.

Moreover, it was the last Moorish, Muslim state and stronghold in Al Andalus. Alhambra is a construction wonder, so sophisticated that we first now, after 500 years, start to realise, and learn its true potential.

From underground tunnels that snake below the palace’s surface to enigmatic carvings are just now being understood, is Alhambra finally revealing its mysteries?

Alhambra is not just a palace, even though it is often referred to as such, but this place is actually a whole citadel within the city of Granada. It has a complex of different palaces, gardens, passageways, and a fortress. It became the home to the Sultan and his family, as well as the home to the court, and many workers.

The Alhambra is the only extended citadel that still stands today almost as perfectly as it was since the beginning. The colourful name Alhambra originates from the Arabic word; al-Hamrā, which means “the red one”.

There are several reasons for the name, one alludes to the colour of the fortress, which in Arabic is; al-Qal’at al-Hamrā or, “the red fortress”. In addition, the rulers of Alhambra derived from a Berber tribe called al-Ahmar meaning “the red”.

The red palace city is built from Tapia earth, found at the foot of the Sabika hill. The palace complexes got their colour from this red earth, but the surroundings are just as colourful, there is no confusion as to where it got its name.

The old historical path embedded in mystery and a witness to a murder

Wall towers of the Alhambra palace complex, Granada

Having sorted out the origins of the name Alhambra, we can further conclude that this reddish palatial city is beyond the shadow of a doubt a palace of concealed wisdom and ancient secrets, yet to be discovered.

Even though the old historical path of upper Alhambra, leading to the elevated levels of the citadel is commonly known, it is also embedded in mystery and even witnessed an ancient murder.

In the front of the gate ruins, in the oldest part of Alhambra for which any remains have been found, that served as an entryway to the remains of the stone-paved road that once joined the inside of the palace Medina to the outside gates, known as Arrabal. Even though the portal now feels more like a gateway to travel in time, as if it would bring you into the Nasrid’s glorious past.

Here is where the path, scattered with divers towers and named “the promenade of the towers” began. The reason for its name is the fact that this route, which followed the main wall of Alhambra, from the portal gardens to the upper Alhambra passed by a number of towers*. The towers stood out as milestones along the narrow path. The trail started by the tower of the pointed battlements.

*Six of the 30 Towers are named as follows; the tower of pointed battlements, the tower of the Cadí, the captive’s tower, the infant tower, the career corporal’s tower, and the water tower.

The walk intermittently crossed landscaped terraces filled with the Damascus rose, jasmine and trumpet creepers over a fortress wall. From up here, you could also see the pink blossoms and, sometimes if they are blooming, even smell the sweet scent of the crape myrtle trees. It is one of the loveliest views from upper Alhambra.

It was on this same path, somewhere from these altitudes, on the 19th of October 1354, through the dense morning mist that a security guard spotted the young Sultan Yusuf I initiating his daily morning prayer. It was just before daybreak, and even though it was still dark and foggy, he could see from up here how Sultan Yusuf’s bodyguard suddenly launched on the praying Emir with a knife and stabbed him to death, Yusuf was only 33 years old.

It was no coincidence this guard was up here witnessing the murder unfold. In historical times this path was frequented by both guards, military personnel and messengers. The towers served multiple purposes, as accommodation containing bedrooms, as a lookout to guard the inner palace complexes and the outside areas of the citadel from danger, as well as controlling who entered and exited the city.

It also served complex military purposes, but it was also a location for sending and receiving secret mirror messages from far away places. These messages were sent throughout the entirety of al-Andalus forming a complex and sophisticated network of mirror signalling, to exchange information and as an early warning, in case of danger. This practice and way of communication was especially important and vital to the Muslim states in al Andalus during the later periods of its existence.

To receive information as early as possible was key to survival, and the Nasrids rulers of Alhambra were exceptionally progressed and elaborated in these techniques. Alhambra was probably the most advanced of all Moorish states, and as a result of their advancement in the field, they were the last standing Moorish settlement in the Iberian peninsula at the end of the existence of al-Andalus.

The Muslim architects who built the citadel were geniuses, there is no doubt about that. There are plenty of fascinating building surprises hidden in Alhambra. For instance, they used anti-seismic structures in their buildings, well aware that the region was a seismic area. Alhambra was no exception, thanks to its seismic building knowledge it has survived earthquakes for almost 800 years.

They used lead foils in between the columns and the foundations, so whenever there was an earthquake the building followed the movement without collapsing.

The talking walls

Walls of the Alhambra palace carved with calligraphic text.

The walls can talk, not literally, the walls are not exactly going to speak to you, but the walls of Alhambra do have words carved all over them. The enigmatic inscriptions on the walls are a type of calligraphic decoration as well as they rely on a message, in the form of poems that describe parts of the holy Quran. The palace also used water lilies to create scent in its rooms.

Isn’t it amazing how the sabika hill, Sierra Nevada mountain chain and the rest of al Andalus have lived more time listening to Arabic than they have to Spanish?

For almost 800 years, this place witnessed power and love stories from the Muslim Sultans; but has only witnessed Spanish passion for a little over 500 years. But don’t worry if you don’t speak Arabic, there is always someone to ask who can explain the beauty of these phrases to you.

One of the most interesting facts about the Alhambra is that besides being a giant book, it can also tell you what time it is. The truth is that the genius architects surprise us again with yet another amazing feature, the entire palace complex is perfectly aligned to work as a massive sundial. Just by watching the sun and the shadows in the red palace, you will know what time it is.

At noon, half of the rooms will have shade, and the other half sunlight, so choose your visit time wisely!

The chambers of secrets

Whispering galleries can also come to be beneath a dome or vault, like in this lovely decorated ceiling in Alhambra.

The Alhambra does actually have its own “chambers of secrets”, also known as the whispering gallery. The reason for its name is, yet another architectural feature, created in the palace.

The Andalusian builders constructed a curation in the ceiling that made the sound travel from one corner of the room to the other, so be careful what you say and to whom you say it too, and don’t share any secrets while you are there!

Something that any engineer or architect lover realises as soon as they step foot in Alhambra is mathematical precision as the main element of construction. The beauty that you will see in this place is all thanks to minuscule mathematical calculations, and perfect engineering and geometry in the structures, decorations and tiles.

However, the original Muslim architects are said to have left unnoticeable imperfections in the decorations and tiles, as they used to say;

“only God can do perfect”.

If you want, you can take on the challenge and try to find some!

A network of tunnels

Tunnel in the Alhambra, Granada

Standing on the beautiful square of “Paseo de los tristes” in Granada, with your back facing the old Arabic neighbourhood of Albaicin, you look up at the forbidden walls of Alhambra, the most iconic Moorish monument in Spain. Beneath you, and separating you from this great 10th-century fortress is the Darro river, which gurgles through central Granada amidst lush banks and under century-old bridges.

If you look closer, set into the steep hillside, beneath a gracefully crumbling old townhouse, are small iron gates almost entirely obscured with grass and ivy. These are the entrances to just a few of what is believed to be an extensive network of underground tunnels linking the Alhambra to Albaicin and the rest of the city.

This secret world beneath one of Spain’s most famous attractions has recently made the Spanish news. Even if the track on the dilapidated bank of the Darro river that faces the paseo de los tristes is open to visits, it is only one month a year and only small groups of visitors are allowed.

On one hand, this is because of security risks as these deteriorated, badly kept tunnels can pose a danger to the visitors but also the other way around; mass tourism can damage the already old and fragile tunnel system. They seem set to remain shrouded in mystery and legend, and to keep their dark secrets forever.

However, the extended tunnel network that snakes below the glorious palace-city, would in its time, have served several purposes. The enigmatic subterranean pathways consist of at least 21 underground dungeons, meticulously connected to the ancient underground passages. These dungeons were linked to the outside world only by small openings in their ceilings, and they had access to the earlier mentioned labyrinth web. The caverns are believed to have served as storages for, amongst other things, grain, wheat, and other necessities.

As for the entire labyrinth of tunnels; it would have allowed the residents of the palatial city to come and go unseen, especially important during sieges and as a last resort for the Moorish rulers, in need of urgent escape.

The secret underground network of tunnels would prove to be of utmost importance when the Moorish rule came to its end, and the Nasrids lost their grip on power and abruptly faced their downfall. As the 800 years of glorious Moorish rule was over, everyone remaining with a dissimilar opinion to the new re-conquers faced harsh retribution, and was either killed, exiled, or underwent the most horrible torture imaginable. The country entered a very dark and eerie time period, a time that struck terror into the rest of the known world and shook it to its core.

Court of the Lions by night, Alhambra, Granada

The beauty and splendour of the Nasrids palace city is incomparable to anything ever seen. The mathematically calculated architecture combined with the sophisticated fragile artwork, ornated with fine details, rough robust walls and delicately decorated pillars everything is in perfect balance, in a divine harmonic symphony!

Alhambra radiates sophistication, elegance and mystery, a greatness that words fail to describe. A superior jewel beyond comparison.

But with great beauty comes great pain.

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biboomerangboi · 8 months

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Sometimes I think about Zuko being the Firelord and I just giggle like yeah it is an angsty situation, yes it’s got great fanfic material but guys your just going to give a 17 year old a whole country. Like not even a normal trained from birth Prince you’ve got a guy that was officially the Crown Prince for like 3 years and then he was out at sea causing problems. His special skills include hunting the avatar, B&E, being buddies with mythical beasts, prison breaks and customer service and you gave him the ultimate power to do whatever he wants. Not to mention he’s got friends who are just as insane and feral and he’s got all the money. Toph and Sokka are going to talk him into the most insane purchases in seconds. Guys c’mon.

#atla #zuko #like yes Angst evil ministers removing your country’s genocidal rage with your guilt complex that’s all there too but guys he’s 17 #he’s going to make the biggest shinest statue to just aangs bald head to piss him off and say it’s in the name of peace #melon lord is going to become an offical title with duke status #zuko somehow not setting the palace on fire by accident is an achivement #firelord zuko #avatar the last airbender #zuko meta

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saezurumurmurs · 9 months

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Hug Me Like The Night Holds The Moon

📌 SAUCE/TITLE:

_The Pizza Delivery Man and The Gold Palace

_ Sketch

_ Dawn of the Dragon

_ Omega Complex

_ The Unquenchable Mr. Kim

_ Here You Are

_ Painter of the night

_ 19 Days

_ Night Fragments

_ Cherry Blossom After Winter

_ Love Jinx

_ Dear Door

Via Sung Jilwo ♥️

#pizza delivery man and the gold palace #sketch manhwa #dawn of the dragon #omega complex #the unquenchable mr kim #here u are #painter of the night #19 days #night fragments #cherry blossom after winter #love jinx #dear door

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inkpotsprite · 3 days

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Dead Boy Detectives is everything I ever wanted in a show.

That's all I have to say, really.

#dead boy detectives #crystal palace #edwin payne #charles rowland #renew dead boy detectives #season 2 #this show is everything i wanted as a teen but never had #its what sherlock and supernatural were too scared to be #and it's way better #female characters are fun and complex #queer characters are respected and not unnecessarily tragic #poc characters aren't just there for the sake of it #representation matters #niko sasaki #jenny the butcher #cat king

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bijoumikhawal · 1 year

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anyway I am going to spoil everyone's fun. The Mummy is a racist movie, it's frustrating that it's popular and no one discusses that, and let me explain why

Whitewashing/brownface/self orientalism. The Carnahan's are meant to be mixed race. Their actors are white. Oded Fehr is white and a significant portion of his career has been playing exotic brown people in media made for white people, specifically while weaponizing the ethnic ambiguity he does have. Imhotep is white- insult to injury, his actor is an Afrikaner! Playing a pre-colonial African character! The only Egyptians played by people who arent white are the sex pest warden, Dr. Bey (also a minor character who dies), and Anck-su-namun. None of their actors are Egyptian.

The portrayal of Egyptian men. The warden and Jonathan are both portrayed as pathetic, weak, morally circumspect, and the warden is a pervert. Imhotep is also a pervert, frankly. The Egyptian public at large- mostly male crowds and male workers- are literally canon fodder and senselessly killed on multiple occasions. They're turned into mindless zombies, with no consideration given to what happens to them afterwards. Did hundreds of people just die? In public? The only two Egyptian men that aren't utterly horrible are Evie's boss, Dr. Bey, and Ardeth.

The portrayal of Egyptian women. The only two we actually hear speak is Evie and Anck-su-namun, both of whom have orientalist tropes applied to them- Evie, when they make her dress "local", and Anck-su-namun with the whole titlating "the pharaoh has me walk around naked and covered in wet body paint so no one can touch me without him knowing" nonsense- similar tropes are applied to Ardeth, frankly, with how his tattoos are portrayed, his ethnic background, etc. They specifically chose tattoos a Western audience would still find sexy (which aren't based on the actual local tattooing traditions). Face veils in early 20th century Egypt didn't really look like that, even the ones you might call flirty, and I find portrayals that make Ancient Egyptian society's overall often greater comfort with bared skin into titillation for the audience pretty offensive, especially as there are currently existing cultures in Africa viewed through lenses like that. It's not merely ahistorical, it's apart of a broader issue with how living people are viewed by others.

This is more of a me thing, other Egyptians may not agree: I think mummies as a horror trope are racist. The key fear to mummy movies is that white people might get punished for disturbing the graves of the honored dead. You are asked to identify with literal colonizers and view the local population as antagonistic (past and present in this case), especially in this movie, which is set before England started pretending it wasn't controlling Egypt (and by the damn way, ask ANY Egyptian when the country got independence and we'll say 1956. Between 22 and 56, England still had explicit control over some of the government, notably foreign relations and military, it used this an excuse to justify control of Sudan, and it was militarily occupying the country, especially the Suez area. When King Farouk tried to make a decision they didn't like, they put his palace under seige. That is not independence. Whoever made the 1922 declaration the first result on Google is manufacturing apologia for imperialism).

#cipher talk #There is a great deal of complexity with the Abdeen Palace incident and I don't think Farouk was in the right- I think the royal fam were #Fucking idiots frankly and I'm glad we're rid of them. But the fact that it happened???#the mummy 1999 #ardeth bey #Like Britian didn't have moral reasons to oppose Farouk's politics. It was purely a matter of who they were allied to #Anyway. Duh the stupid mummy movie is racist but I have personal beef with the stupid mummy movie

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lierenprotectionsquad · 4 months

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If you want to read the Maze Runner books, but the size of the universe is intimidating, here’s my recommendation.

Obviously, you’d need the main trilogy, The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure. But after that is where it gets optional and interesting.

The Kill Order is the origin of WICKED and the flare, and is very good for anyone who wants more exposition and world-building. As well as a deeper look into Teresa and her motivations.

The Fever Code is the origin of the maze and the gladers. It’s very bts-heavy, and dives deep into Thomas’ motivations, as well as his relationships, not only with his friends, but the people in charge as well. It’s also where you want to go if you want more backstory on Newt, both his life before WICKED and during. Also if you just wanna see Newt living rent free in Thomas’ head for three hundred-something pages.

Crank Palace is for us mentally ill Newt-girlies (gender neutral) who just want to see him happy and loved, and is somehow naive enough to think we’ll get the former in this novella.

The sequel series is also heavy on what was going on behind the scenes for Newt, but it’s a whole other commitment, especially since it’s an ongoing series. I’d mostly recommend it if you read everything else and miss the universe and want to go back. I will say, tho, Crank Palace is imperative to these two books.

There’s also the short e-book, The Maze Runner Files, which contains some exposition, and some short stories about Thomas, Minho and Frypan.

Now, everything I listed that isn’t the main trilogy is a fully optional read, they are not necessary. However! I will list the entire series, both in chronological order and my recommended first-time-reading order, in case anyone else might want to try all of it.

So the chronological order goes as follows:

The Kill Order, The Fever Code, The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Maze Runner Files, Crank Palace, The Maze Cutter, The Godhead Complex

And for my recommended reading order for first time readers:

The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure, The Kill Order, The Fever Code, The Maze Runner Files, Crank Palace, The Maze Cutter, The Godhead Complex

TLDR

The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure are must-reads

The Kill Order is for world building and Teresa

The Fever Code is for maze building, Thomas and Newt

The Maze Runner Files is an add-on that is wholly unnecessary for understanding the context of any of the books, but is just kinda fun

Crank Palace is for Newt and being very very depressed

The Maze Cutter and The Godhead Complex is for continuing in the universe, longing for Newt and depression

#newtmas #the maze runner #the scorch trials #the death cure #the kill order #the fever code #the maze runner files #crank palace #the maze cutter #the godhead complex #newt #newt tmr #tmr newt #thomas #tmr thomas #thomas tmr #teresa agnes #james dashner #shut up sparky

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v-arbellanaris · 1 year

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i think positing loghain's patriotism over everything else actually directly ignores loghain's characterisation in both tst and the calling. as far back as tst, loghain's goal was never the liberation of ferelden from orlais. i do think & agree that he hates orlais, and he's furious about the occupation, but he also doesn't rly seem to think there's any way to oust them. he doesn't see the point in trying & he doesn't understand his father's sudden loyalty to a "king", to maric. he looks out for maric, not out of a sense of patriotism or duty to his country, but because it was the last wishes of his father - something maric himself makes explicit when loghain attempts to abandon him. loghain sacrifices hundreds of soldiers to save maric - to maric's fury. it's maric who is patriotic. loghain takes over maric's job in the calling not because of ferelden but out of love and concern for maric. he tries to talk to maric about his depression several times and he comes back to denerim specifically & explicitly to support maric after rowan dies. he does the same after celia dies, to support anora and cailan.

i don't think patriotism is really what drives loghain. it's loyalty, it's love. loyalty to his father, because he loves him, leads him to protect maric and act in (what he thinks is) maric's best interests. loyalty to maric, because he loves him, is what leads him to protect ferelden and act in (what he thinks is) ferelden's best interests. protecting maric - who his father sacrificed everything to keep safe - kept his father's principles alive and, in that way, he honours his father. protecting ferelden - which maric sacrificed everything for - keeps maric alive and honours maric. and if the warden wins his loyalty, he's willing to follow the warden's lead on whatever they think is best - whether that's the dark ritual, or for either of them to take the sacrifice, or anything else.

to me, it seems like his patriotism is a symptom, not a cause. i don't think it's as clear cut as loghain makes it in his dialogue in dao, but i do think he's self-aware enough to accurately gauge his motivations here. he says that he didn't do any of this because he hated orlais, he did it because of maric. and when the warden comments that maric is dead, loghain's response is telling.

why should that matter?

#he abandons ostagar for layered reasons but i don't ever imagine that maric's orders to abandon him #and save their soldiers if it came down it. did NOT factor in.#narrowing his motivations down to 1. his intense hatred of orlais and b. patriotism #actually flattens the complex & layered motivations he has throughout dao #anyway.#vee rewrites da #my da meta #loghain mac tir #yes this was my first thought after finishing work today. rotating that old man in my mind palace like a prized jewel

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