Landmark Europe
Alhambra
The Alhambra is a palace and fortress on a hill in Granada, Spain. Its name means 'the red'. Inside are courtyards with pools, fountains and walls covered in carvings.
The Alhambra is a palace and fortress above the city of Granada, in Spain. The Nasrid rulers built most of it between 1238 and 1358. It is famous for its courtyards, fountains, carved plaster and tiles, and the gardens of the Generalife next door.
Built chiefly between 1238 and 1358 by the Nasrid dynasty, the Alhambra is the palatine city of the last Muslim rulers of Granada, later a Spanish royal residence. UNESCO calls it the best example of Nasrid art; with the Generalife and the Albayzín it has been a World Heritage Site since 1984.
Photo: Jebulon, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Alhambra
The Alhambra is in Granada, a city in Spain.
It sits on top of a hill, with strong walls and towers. Inside are beautiful palaces. Water flows in pools and fountains, and green gardens grow all around.
The Alhambra stands on a flat-topped hill above the city of Granada, in southern Spain. Its name comes from the Arabic for 'the red', probably because of the reddish rammed earth used for its outer walls.
It is a fortress, a group of palaces and a small royal city all in one. The Nasrid rulers of Granada built most of it between 1238 and 1358. Its courtyards are known for pools and fountains, and its walls and ceilings for carved plaster, wood and colorful tiles. UNESCO lists it, with the Generalife gardens and the old Albayzín district, as a World Heritage Site.
Britannica describes the Alhambra as the palace and fortress of the Moorish monarchs of Granada, on a plateau overlooking the city; its name, Arabic for 'the red', probably comes from the reddish tapia (rammed earth) of its outer walls. UNESCO's property, Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada, spans two hills divided by the Darro river: the palatine city of the Alhambra and the residential Albayzín, origin of the city.
UNESCO calls the Alhambra the only preserved palatine city of the Islamic period and the best example of Nasrid art in architecture and decoration, containing all the known artistic techniques of the Hispano-Muslim world on a single proportional system, with particular emphasis on the intelligent use of water and vegetation. The site was inscribed in 1984, its boundaries extended in 1994, under criteria i, iii and iv.
- Where
- A plateau above Granada, Spain
- Built mainly
- 1238 to 1358
- Builders
- The Nasrid dynasty, from Ibn al-Ahmar
- World Heritage Site
- since 1984 (extended 1994)
Nasrid palace, royal residence
Long ago, rulers called the Nasrids lived in Granada. They built the Alhambra.
Later, kings and queens of Spain lived there. They added a new palace. Some parts were damaged, and people have been repairing them for a long time.
Building began in 1238, under Ibn al-Ahmar, who founded the Nasrid dynasty. His family went on building for more than a hundred years. Yusuf I, who died in 1354, is credited with many of its finest decorations.
In 1492 the Nasrid era in Granada ended, and the Alhambra became a residence of the Spanish kings. Much of the inside was changed, and in 1526 a new Italian-style palace was designed for King Charles V. In 1812, soldiers blew up some towers, and an earthquake damaged more in 1821. Repair work started in 1828 and has continued ever since.
Britannica dates the main construction to 1238 to 1358, under Ibn al-Ahmar, founder of the Nasrid dynasty, and his successors, and ascribes the splendid interior decoration to Yusuf I (died 1354). UNESCO sees the Alhambra and Generalife as testimony to Muslim Spain of the 13th to 15th centuries, palatine residences of medieval Islam neither destroyed nor changed as those in the Maghreb were.
After what Britannica calls the expulsion of the Moors in 1492, much of the interior was effaced and the furniture removed or ruined; from then, UNESCO notes, the Royal House brought the most advanced palace and military architecture and art of Western humanism to the site. Charles V rebuilt portions and demolished part of the complex for Pedro Machuca's Italianate palace (designed 1526). A French force blew up some towers in 1812, during the Peninsular War, and an earthquake struck in 1821. José Contreras began a repair program in 1828; his son Rafael and grandson Mariano continued it until 1912, and conservation has gone on into the 21st century.
Rammed earth, plaster and water
The outside walls were made of packed earth. It looks reddish in the sun.
Inside, builders covered walls with carved plaster, painted wood and shiny tiles. They brought water into the palace for pools and fountains.
The Alhambra's builders used simple materials in clever ways. The outer walls were made of tapia, or rammed earth, which gives them their reddish color. Inside, the walls were covered with carved plaster, decorated wood and ceramic tiles.
Many walls also carry carved writing in Arabic, about religion, politics and poetry, which UNESCO says makes it 'talking architecture'. Water was just as important as stone. Using the irrigation skills of al-Andalus, as Muslim-ruled Spain was called, the builders supplied water to the palaces' pools, fountains and gardens.
The outer walls are of tapia, rammed earth, whose reddish tone probably gave the complex its name. UNESCO singles out the development of decorative materials, above all plaster, wood and ceramics, and the use of Arabic epigraphy, which turned the buildings into an ensemble of 'talking architecture' whose texts relate to the religious, political and poetic world of the Nasrid dynasty.
The palaces depended on the irrigation engineering of al-Andalus, well established at the Alhambra and the Generalife, whose technological elements archaeologists study. UNESCO describes the result as a real urban system integrating architecture and landscape, with gardens and distinctive hydraulic works extending into the surrounding area; the Generalife's garden and vegetable farms are among the few surviving medieval areas of agricultural production.
Courts, halls and gardens
One courtyard has a long, green pool with bushes on each side.
Another has a fountain held up by 12 stone lions. One room has a ceiling that looks like thousands of tiny honeycomb cells!
The oldest part is the Alcazaba, the fortress, of which strong walls and towers remain. Beyond it are the palaces. The Court of the Myrtles is 43 meters long, with a long reflecting pool lined by myrtle bushes. Around it is the Comares Palace, whose Hall of the Ambassadors, the largest room, was where the sultan sat on his throne.
The Court of the Lions is surrounded by 124 slender marble columns. In its center, 12 marble lions hold up a fountain basin. Nearby, the Hall of the Two Sisters has a dome said to be made of 5,000 tiny cells, like a honeycomb. To the east lies the Generalife, a summer palace with terraced gardens and pools.
The Alcazaba, the citadel, is the oldest part; only its massive outer walls, towers and ramparts remain. The Court of the Myrtles (43 by 23 m) centers on a reflecting pool in a marble pavement, framed by the rooms of the Comares Palace; Muhammad V built the ornamental Facade of Comares in the 14th century. Inside the Comares Tower, the Hall of the Ambassadors, 11 m square under a dome 23 m high, is the largest room, where the sultan's throne faced the entrance.
The oblong Court of the Lions (35 by 20 m) is ringed by a gallery on 124 white marble columns, with a pavilion projecting at each end; at its center an alabaster basin rests on 12 white marble lions. The Hall of the Two Sisters, named for two large marble paving slabs, has a dome of muqarnas ('stalactite work') said to number 5,000 cells. On the Cerro del Sol to the east, the Generalife, an early-14th-century summer palace, gathers terraced gardens, pools and fountains, as in the Patio de la Acequia, named for its water channel.
- Court of the Myrtles
- 43 by 23 m, with a long pool
- Court of the Lions
- 35 by 20 m; 124 marble columns
- Fountain of the Lions
- basin on 12 marble lions
- Hall of the Ambassadors
- 11 m square; dome 23 m high
The Alhambra and Granada today
Today, the Alhambra is a place to visit and learn.
From its walls, you can see the whole city. Across the valley is an old neighborhood with narrow streets and small squares.
Across the Darro river from the Alhambra rises the Albayzín, the oldest part of Granada. It keeps its medieval street plan of narrow lanes and small squares, with houses in Moorish and Andalusian styles, mixed with later Christian buildings.
The park below the Alhambra is shaded by a dense wood of elm trees, brought in 1812. Concerts of music and dance are held in a theater in the Generalife. UNESCO lists the Alhambra, the Generalife and the Albayzín together as one World Heritage Site.
UNESCO presents the Albayzín, origin of the city, as one of the best illustrations of Moorish town planning, its narrow streets, small squares and modest Moorish and Andalusian houses enriched by Renaissance and Baroque additions, with Nasrid and Christian buildings side by side. It describes the Alhambra and the Albayzín as two complementary medieval urban types: palatine city and residential district.
Below the palace, the Alameda de la Alhambra was planted by the Moors with roses, oranges and myrtles; its dense wood of English elms dates from 1812, Britannica records. A statue of Washington Irving, raised in 2009, marks the writer's role in reviving interest in Spain's Moorish past, and a theater in the Generalife hosts international music and dance.
Amazing facts
-
The name Alhambra means 'the red'.
Alhambra comes from Arabic words meaning 'the red', probably because of the reddish earth of its outer walls.
The name, Arabic for 'the red', probably derives from the reddish tapia (rammed earth) of the outer walls.
-
The walls 'talk' with carved writing.
Arabic writing carved on the walls turns the palaces into what UNESCO calls 'talking architecture'.
UNESCO: Arabic epigraphy transformed the buildings into 'talking architecture' tied to the religious, political and poetic world of the Nasrids.
-
One ceiling looks like a honeycomb.
The dome of the Hall of the Two Sisters is covered in tiny cells, said to number 5,000.
The Hall of the Two Sisters' muqarnas dome is said to contain 5,000 cells, all different.
-
The Alhambra's gardens grew vegetables too.
The Generalife's garden and vegetable plots are one of the few medieval farming areas that survive, UNESCO says.
UNESCO counts the Generalife Garden and its vegetable farms among the few medieval areas of agricultural productivity.
Words to know
- palace
- a very large, grand home for a ruler
- fortress
- a place with strong walls built to keep the people inside safe
- courtyard
- an open space surrounded by walls or buildings
- rammed earth
- earth packed down very hard to make a wall
- plaster
- a soft paste that hardens; it can be carved into patterns
- dynasty
- a family of rulers, one after another
Discovery challenge
-
What does the name Alhambra mean?
What does the Arabic name 'Alhambra' mean?
What does the name Alhambra signify in Arabic?
- The red
- The tall
- The river
Show the answer
The red
'The red'! Its walls look reddish.
'The red', probably because of the reddish rammed earth of its outer walls.
'The red', likely from the reddish tapia of the outer walls.
-
How many stone lions hold up the famous fountain?
How many marble lions hold up the fountain in the Court of the Lions?
How many white marble lions support the alabaster basin in the Court of the Lions?
- 4
- 12
- 124
Show the answer
12
12 lions! They stand in a circle.
Twelve. The 124 is the number of columns around the court.
Twelve; 124 is the number of columns in the surrounding gallery.
-
Who built most of the Alhambra?
Which family of rulers built most of the Alhambra?
Which dynasty, founded by Ibn al-Ahmar, built the Alhambra chiefly between 1238 and 1358?
- The Nasrids
- The Romans
- The Vikings
Show the answer
The Nasrids
The Nasrids, rulers of Granada long ago.
The Nasrid dynasty, the rulers of Granada, built most of it from 1238.
The Nasrids, from Ibn al-Ahmar; the interior decoration is ascribed to Yusuf I.
-
What did the builders bring in for the pools and gardens?
What did the Alhambra's builders supply to fill its pools, fountains and gardens?
According to UNESCO, the irrigation engineering of al-Andalus made the palaces possible by supplying what to their pools, fountains and gardens?
- Water
- Sand
- Snow
Show the answer
Water
Water! It fills the pools and fountains.
Water, using the irrigation skills of al-Andalus.
Irrigation (water) engineering, integrating architecture and landscape.
Nearby places
-
Watch
City
Madrid
Madrid, the capital of Spain, sits almost exactly in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula, high on a flat plateau. Once a small fortress, it became the royal capital in the 1500s. About 3.5 million people lived there in 2025.
-
Watch
Landmark
Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado in Madrid opened in 1819 to show the paintings collected by Spain's kings and queens. Its stone building was first planned as a science museum. Today it holds about 8,600 paintings, including the world's most complete collections of the Spanish painters El Greco, Velázquez and Goya.
-
Watch
Landmark
Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial
The Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial stands at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains, northwest of Madrid, Spain. King Philip II began it in 1563, and it was finished in 1584. Inside its granite walls are a monastery, a church, a royal palace, a school and a famous library.
-
Watch
City
Lisbon
Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, is the westernmost capital in mainland Europe, on the hills above the Tagus River near the Atlantic. By the 1400s it was the base for Portugal's voyages of exploration. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1755 and rebuilt, it is a city of steep streets, viewpoints and a famous tower at Belém. About 546,000 people lived there in 2021.
-
Watch
City
Barcelona
Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia in northeastern Spain, lies on the Mediterranean between mountains and the sea. It is famous for the buildings of the architect Antoni Gaudí, including the Sagrada Família, a giant church begun in 1882. About 1.7 million people live in the city (2025).
-
Watch
Landmark
Sagrada Família
The Sagrada Família is a huge church in Barcelona, Spain, designed by the architect Antoni Gaudí. Building began in 1882 and is still going on. In February 2026 its tallest tower was finished at 172.5 meters, making it the tallest church in the world.
- Watch Natural wonder Cave of Altamira The Cave of Altamira, in northern Spain, holds some of the most famous prehistoric paintings in the world. People who hunted and gathered their food used the cave between about 36,000 and 13,000 years ago, and painted and engraved bison, horses, deer, hands and signs on its walls and ceiling. It was the first cave where prehistoric cave art was ever recognized.
-
Watch
Landmark
Way of Saint James
The Way of Saint James, or Camino de Santiago, is a network of old pilgrim routes across Europe that all end at the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. People have walked it for more than 1,000 years, and each year hundreds of thousands still set out on foot, by bicycle or on horseback.
Explore next
-
Watch
Country
Spain
Spain covers most of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. Its middle is a high, flat plateau, the Pyrenees mountains stand between it and France, and almost 50 million people live there, with Madrid as the capital.
-
Watch
Landmark
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin is the oldest part of Moscow. It began as a wooden fort on a hill by the Moskva River. Its present walls and towers were built from 1485 to 1516. Inside stand golden-domed cathedrals, palaces, a tall bell tower and museums.
-
Watch
Landmark
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white marble tomb in Agra, India, beside the Yamuna River. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan had it built in memory of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. More than 20,000 workers spent about 22 years on the tomb, its gardens, a mosque and a great gateway.
-
Watch
Landmark
Palace of Versailles
The Palace of Versailles began as a small royal hunting lodge. King Louis XIV turned it into a vast palace, and from 1682 it was the center of the French government. Today it has 2,300 rooms, the famous Hall of Mirrors and enormous gardens.
- Watch Geography What is a World Heritage Site? World Heritage Sites are places so important that they belong, in a way, to everyone. Under a 1972 agreement, countries nominate their most outstanding places, experts check them, and a UNESCO committee decides. By 2026 the list held 1,273 sites: cultural places like the Taj Mahal, natural places like the Galápagos, and mixed ones like Machu Picchu.
-
Watch
Landmark
Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial
The Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial stands at the foot of the Guadarrama mountains, northwest of Madrid, Spain. King Philip II began it in 1563, and it was finished in 1584. Inside its granite walls are a monastery, a church, a royal palace, a school and a famous library.
-
Watch
Landmark
Sultan Ahmed Mosque
The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul was built between 1609 and about 1616 for the Ottoman ruler Sultan Ahmed I. Its central dome is ringed by half-domes and smaller domes, and six slender minarets rise around it. Many people call it the Blue Mosque because of the blue and green tiles and painted decoration inside. It is still a working mosque, where Muslims come to pray.
-
Watch
Landmark
Samarra
Samarra, on the Tigris River in Iraq, was the capital of the Abbasid caliphs, rulers of a huge Islamic empire, from 836 to 892. In that short time they built enormous mosques, palaces, canals and even racecourses. Because the city was left so early, its plan survives, and its Great Mosque still has a famous spiral minaret.
For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Granada and describe the Alhambra as a Nasrid fortress and palace city.
- Explain how materials like rammed earth, plaster, wood and tiles were used.
- Describe the Court of the Myrtles, the Court of the Lions and the Generalife.
- Explain how the Alhambra changed after 1492 and how it has been restored.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- The Alhambra's builders used water in pools and fountains everywhere. How does water change how a place looks, sounds and feels?
- Writing was carved into the walls. What would you write on the walls of your home, and why?
- Later rulers added a very different palace beside the old ones. Should new buildings match old ones, or look different?
Try at home or in class
- Draw a repeating geometric pattern on squared paper, inspired by tile designs, using only a ruler and two or three colors.
- Make a small 'reflecting pool' with a dark tray of water and look at how it mirrors objects placed around it.
Key vocabulary: palace, fortress, courtyard, rammed earth, plaster, dynasty
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- UNESCO World Heritage List , UNESCO World Heritage Centre (Linked as a reference; site facts come from Wikidata)
- Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzín, Granada , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Alhambra , Encyclopaedia Britannica
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 27, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.