The Alhambra in the Middle East: Architectural Revivals of a Nasrid Palace in the 19th Century
The 19th century literary and artistic associations of the Alhambra palace in Granada with an exotic, fairy-tale palace help to explain why it became so popular among architectural patrons in the West. The Alhambra was the fantasy that inspired countless public and private buildings, from a bandstand in New York to the Alhambra Theatre in London, to a French princess’s bathroom in St Petersburg. But this obsession with the Alhambra was not just a Western phenomenon. During the 19th century, versions of the Alhambra were also built in Islamic contexts – in cities like Cairo, Beirut and Istanbul. These versions of the Alhambra actually have little to do with the Nasrid palace. Instead they were versions of the Alhambra as mediated through the eyes of Western architects who studied the monument and published its details in full colour – specifically Owen Jones in England and Carl von Diebitsch in Germany. This research project will investigate how and why the Alhambra became such a potent source for architects and patrons in the latter part of the 19th century. With a focus on patronage, it will explore the rise of the fashion for the Alhambra from a style favoured by royalty to one suitable for public architecture and popular in luxurious domestic interiors.
