Tales of the Alhambra

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Published December 2011, 2nd Edition 2015 by The Alhambra and Generalife Trust and EDILUX s.l. ( ISBN 9788486827). There is something special about the way David writes about these times, the people, how they relate to each other, their broader interests/context, especially astronomy, technology, religion all with this connecting thread of geometry. I kept working out their ages to get a sense of them and how they linked to what came before and comes after. Writing about historical figures, when done well, brings these figures to life in such a beautiful relatable way. The beautiful generous illustrations are just wonderful, I'm so glad the book is the size it is! I didnt not know about Nuremberg and it felt so relevant to 2020, all those plagues and how they worked/evolved through them. By the time I'd reached Durer, I was so "pleased to meet him"! I really look forward to digging deeper in to the further reading list and looking up some of the names again.

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.Even its purpose - palace or theological college - is not always clear. Its influence on art, and on literature, orientalist painting and Granada cinemas, Washington Irving and Borges, has been significant. These monuments have been the subject of many books over the centuries, but our aim, through the skill and stature of the writers, is to get something much more enlightening, stimulating, even controversial, than straightforward histories or guides. About the Author Shortly after completing a biography of Christopher Columbus in 1828, Washington Irving travelled from Madrid, where he had been staying, to Granada, Spain. At first sight, he described it as "a most picturesque and beautiful city, situated in one of the loveliest landscapes that I have ever seen." [1] Irving was preparing a book called A Chronicle of the Conquest of Granada, a history of the years 1478–1492, and was continuing his research on the topic. [2] He immediately asked the then-governor of the historic Alhambra Palace as well as the archbishop of Granada for access to the palace, which was granted because of Irving's celebrity status. [3] Aided by a 17-year-old guide named Mateo Ximenes, Irving gathered legends and tales about the Alhambra, and then left for other parts of Spain. The following year, he returned to the Alhambra and lived in an apartment there for about three months, and was given access to its archives. Irving was inspired by his experiences to write Tales of the Alhambra. [4] The book combines description, myth and narrations of real historical events, even up through the destruction of some of the palace's towers by the French under Count Sebastiani in 1812, and the further damage caused by an earthquake in 1821. Throughout his trip, Washington filled his notebooks and journals with descriptions and observations, though he did not believe his writing would ever do it justice. He wrote, "How unworthy is my scribbling of the place." [3] Irving continued to travel through Spain until he was appointed as secretary of legation at the United States Embassy in London, serving under the incoming minister Louis McLane. [5] He arrived in London by late September 1829. [6] Publication history [ edit ] 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. However the author doesn’t change or simplify or distort the Alhambra patterns. This is KEY! Islamic Geometric patterns look a certain way, each shape has certain angles, symmetries and proportions that means that they are correct individually, they are correct together as a fuller pattern and correct as a system to draw many patterns.

Mozarabic describes Christians under Muslim rule; Mudéjar describes the Muslims under Christian dominance. The muwallad or muladi are people of mixed heritage. Alhambra's architecture is all-inclusive. CONTENT: This is vast catalogue of patterns and their locations. It’s an entirely b&w book in Turkish. It’s structured systematically in each section by family of symmetry, 4,6,8,10 fold and so on. For each pattern you have a line drawing on the left, photograph on the right (where available) and below all the locations it can be found, usually in Turkey but for many in other places too. Some of the pattern illustrations are distorted and the quality of the print, paper and photos isn’t high quality. 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. Alhambra has restored three Nasrid Royal Palaces (Palacios Nazaries) — Comares Palace (Palacio de Comares); Palace of the Lions (Patio de los Leones); and the Partal Palace. The Charles V palace is not Nasrid but was built, abandoned, and restored for centuries, even up to the 19th century.

Despite being named a UNESCO City of Literature in 2014 and being the birthplace of renowned poet Federico García Lorca, Granada is not really known for any celebrated or famous bookshops. However, if you do find yourself in the city looking for reading materials for research or pleasure, you will find a handful of good places.

To understand why Moorish architecture exists in Spain, it's helpful to know a little bit about the history and geography of Spain. Archeological evidence from centuries before the birth of Christ (B.C.) suggests the pagan Celts from the northwest and the Phoenicians from the East settled the area we call Spain — the Greeks called these ancient tribes Iberians. The ancient Romans have left the most archeological evidence in what is today known as Europe's Iberian Peninsula. A peninsula is almost entirely surrounded by water, like the state of Florida, so the Iberian Peninsula has always been easily accessible to whatever power invaded. Their names will be familiar to almost everyone: they have achieved iconic stature and are loaded with a fair amount of mythological baggage. Based on a complex iconographic language , the coffered ceilings, ceramic work and plasterwork that decorate the different rooms of the Nasrid palaces show the perfection reached by Islamic architecture, while the elements introduced during the Christian period include numerous details typical of the Renaissance style. 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.