The Alhambra

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The Eurostars Catedralis a lovely hotel housed in a 16th century manor, just a short walk from the cathedral. The Catalonia Granadais a lovely hotel that comes complete with a plunge pool and open air terrace. Stalactites at first were structural elements — rows of small projecting corbels to fill in the upper corners of a square room to the circle required for a dome. But later stalactites were purely decorative — often of plaster or even, in Persia, of mirrored glass — and applied or hung to the actual hidden construction." — Professor Talbot Hamlin

VERDICT: I bought this book early on when I started learning to draw Islamic Geometric Patterns. It seemed ideal that such a book existed, so I dived in and drew lots. But as I did, some things seemed odd, but I didn’t know if it was me or the book. As I learned & discovered more I started noticing the errors and learnt of how to see errors from my more experienced friends and teachers. I was really disappointed, I lost trust in the content and stopped using it altogether. Later on, I did go through it and make note of the mistakes in the pattern index so I knew what's what. The city of Alhambra, California is named after the book. In 1874, the daughter of Benjamin Wilson was reading the book and encouraged him to use the name for his new Los Angeles suburban development. [14] [15] VERDICT: The actual books are stunning (thye seem to live on my desk catching the light!). The content is just wow. So well put together, the visual communication is brilliant; I know Serap is so good at this anyway, always making me see things in a different way, making connections between things I had seen separate. There are so many architectural photos I’ve not seen too. The story telling of the patterns, the step by steps, the different renderings of patterns and their variations, so very beautiful and comprehensive. The three volumes cover six, four, twelve, five and tenfold, so beautifully. I can’t wait to actually get drawing. Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together. Located in Granada, one of the most important cities of the south Iberian Peninsula, the Alhambra was built at the top of Sabika Hill, a foothill of the mountainous massif of Sierra Nevada. As explained in our Alhambra books, the oldest part of the palatine city was built in the 13 th century to house the leaders of the Nasrid kingdom of Granada, the last bastion of Muslim power in the Iberian Peninsula.a b Jones, Brian Jay. Washington Irving: An American Original. New York: Arcade Publishing, 2008: 289. ISBN 978-1-55970-836-4 Wooden Books are a small publishers based in Glastonbury, Somerset, UK. Established by John Martineau, a graduate of the PSTA, he published his first book, Book of Coincidences, based on his MA project. Many other PSTA alumni & friends have authored and helped build this collection of beautiful & fascinating books, often witty and a touch magical! Tales of the Alhambra (1832) is a collection of essays, verbal sketches and stories by American author Washington Irving (1783–1859) inspired by, and partly written during, his 1828 visit to the palace/fortress complex known as the Alhambra in Granada, Andalusia, Spain. ACQUIRED: I bought this from the Alhambra book shop in Granada in 2019. Another difficult one to acquire outside of Spain.

Although located in Western Europe, the architecture of Alhambra displays traditional Islamic details of the East, including column arcades or peristyles, fountains, reflecting pools, geometrical patterns, Arabic inscriptions, and painted tiles. A different culture not only brings new architecture, but also a new vocabulary of Arabic words to describe features unique to Moorish designs: While medieval Christians established small communities, with Romanesque basilicas dotting northern Spain's landscape, the Moorish-influenced citadels, including Alhambra, dotted the south well into the 15th century — until 1492 when the Catholic Ferdinand and Isabella captured Granada and sent off Christopher Columbus to discover America. You may visit the andalusian monuments during three days: the day of the visit to the Alhambra and the previous and following day of this visit.

VERDICT: I love this book. I’ve used it a lot to get inspired. To look up patterns or find the next one I want to analyse, play with or teach. Granted it is very simple, line drawings, but they are of what I love! They are grouped by family of symmetry and get progressively more complex. The book becomes extremely useful with a copy of AJ Lee’s PDF that takes you to the source of the pattern (where he was able to find it). This added information adds the missing layer of beauty, as you can then see the pattern in it’s full glory, be it in plaster, woodwork, tiles or other material. Some he wasn’t able to find a source for. If they look particularly iffy, I avoid them as there are a few questionable patterns. For example the innaccuate eightfold rosette that I often mention, is incorrect in quite a few of the versions of it in this book. The twelvefold rosette from the Alhambra is also incorrect (plate 70) one that Mohamad Aljanabi explains in his excellent YouTube video.

VERDICT: I haven’t used it much, but recognise its value and the role it plays in valuing & cataloguing surface pattern. There is no pattern instruction. It irks me that pattern is used so widely across the world, has its own layers of complexity and meaning but somehow is not always considered “Art” by a narrow European point of view. Legacy and influence [ edit ] Commemorative plaque at the Alhambra, saying "Washington Irving wrote his Tales of Alhambra in these rooms in 1829" in Spanish Notice the angle of the windows leading up to the dome. The engineering challenge was to put a round dome on top of a square structure. Indenting the circle, creating an eight-pointed star, was the answer. The decorative and functional use of the muqarnas, a type of corbel to support the height, is similar to the use of pendentives. In the West, this architectural detail is often referred to as honeycomb or stalactites, from the Greek stalaktos, as its design appears to "drip" like icicles, cave formations, or like honey: VERDICT: An excellent and beautiful resource which I used to draw many islimi style patterns. I copied one and then from the instruction and references invented my own patterns. I think it’s especially powerful when a book enables you to do this.

For children

The Granada Card Tourist Pass is a pass to visit the main monuments and museums of this city. It includes trips in public transport and discounts in other tourism services.

CONTENT: I have a second hand copy of this as published in the Dover Pictorial Archive Series. There are 190 b&w line drawings of patterns and 10 further plates with one or more b&w detailed drawings of patterns. There are dotted lines on my copy, which may help some to draw the pattern. Not sure that it does, however it does help you see the breakdown of the repeat unit. PATTERN INSTRUCTION: No compass & straight edge instruction, but for those who draw digitally, you may find it especially useful as all the information you need is there in the many many diagrams. Then there is Spanish Gothic of the 12th century and Renaissance influences even at Alhambra with the Palace of Charles V — the geometry of the circular courtyard within the rectangular building is so, so Renaissance.Villa Zorayda, a museum in St. Augustine, Florida based on a wing of the Alhambra, takes its name from a character in Irving's book [12] (specifically from "Legend of the Three Beautiful Princesses" [13]).