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| Awards for Excellence
The Alhambra, in Granada, is a tribute to the last flowering of Islamic civilisation in Western Europe. When it was built in the 13th and 14th centuries, the Alhambra was not constructed as a palace, although this is how it depicted by successive Spanish administrations wishing to downplay the fact that it stands as a masterpiece of Islamic planning and design. It was built as a royal city incorporating mosques, administrative and military quarters, residential buildings, and the legendary palaces. A testament to beauty and utility, its rich brickwork inspiring its name - al hamra, red in Arabic - the Alhambra's Islamic design forms a focus for meditation. Its very walls proclaim the Majesty of the Creator. One does not think of the Alhambra as the oeuvre par excellence of any one architect. The impressive but wholly incomparable cathedrals, castles and colleges throughout the rest of Spain, indeed around the world, all boast the signature of a recognised artist or a benefactor, but the Alhambra feels and survives as the work of thousands of nameless artisans, each crafting an intrinsic but anonymous part of the greater picture. In the Alhambra, one sees dimensions missing from the conventional great masterpieces and edifices: spirituality and purpose. With all Islamically inspired ornamentation and construction, the motive (to glorify, and not compete with, the Divine), the form (essentially uncluttered and vegetal), and the structure (to facilitate usage and introduce function) are expressly part of the artistic technique. The result is awe-inspiring and few places illustrate this as superbly as the gardens, courts, doorways and palaces of the Alhambra. |
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