Alcázar Genil


The Alcázar Genil is a Muslim-era palace in the city of Granada, Spain. It was originally called al-Qasr al-Sayyid and is located beside the River Genil outside the city walls. Today, only a pavilion of the palace is preserved. It currently houses the Francisco Ayala Foundation.

History

It was first built in 1218 or 1219 by Sayyid Ishaq ibn Yusuf, a member of the Almohad dynasty. The palace, built along the south shore of the Genil River, was located outside the city walls. It served as an almunia, a country villa that was used both as a private retreat for its elite owners as well as a farming estate with agricultural functions. A small ribat was also built nearby at the same time, consisting of a simple square hall covered by a sixteen-sided cupola with groin-vault squinches, with a sloped roof on the outside. This was later converted into a Christian hermitage and is now known as the Ermita de San Sebastián or the rábita.
In 1237, Muhammad I of the Nasrid dynasty took over Granada and the palace came under the new dynasty's possession. Muhammad I's grandson, Muhammad III temporarily lived here after he was dethroned, before he moved to Almuñécar. The decoration of the palace dates from the reign of Isma'il I or of Yusuf I. It's possible that the current structure was also rebuilt at that time.
In 1892 the Spanish architect Rafael Contreras expanded the building by adding two wings on either side and a small porch on the front. The building was restored again in the 1980s and in 1994 by Pedro Salmerón Escobar.

Architecture

Originally, the palace stood next to a large pool measuring, which formed part of an extensive water supply network used for agricultural irrigation. The pool may have also been used for aquatic games and displays. The original layout of the building, consisting of a central square chamber in the form of a qubba, with rectangular side chambers opening onto it, is an early example of a type of interior space which became common in Nasrid architecture. Only the central chamber of the palace was entered from the outside, such that the building was a relatively introverted space rather than one that was open to the gardens around it. Inside, the palace is decorated with carved stucco on its walls. The stucco decoration culminates in a cornice of muqarnas, above which is a ceiling consisting of a square wooden cupola painted with interlacing geometric motifs.