The Alcazaba (; ) is a fortress at the western tip of the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. Its name comes from the Arabic term al-qaṣabah ('the citadel' or kasbah), which became Alcazaba in Spanish. It is the oldest surviving part of the Alhambra, having been built by Muhammad I Ibn al-Ahmar, the founder of the Nasrid dynasty, after 1238. It stands on the site of an earlier fortress built by the Zirid kingdom of Granada in the 11th century.
History
The Alcazaba is situated at the western tip of the Sabika hill, a promontory projecting from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. It is a natural defensive position and was fortified from the 9th century onward. A fortress (ḥiṣn) named Ġarnāṭa (also transliterated as Gharnāṭa) existed on the south side of the Darro River. The settlement here had a mainly Jewish population and thus was also known as Gharnāṭat al-Yahūd ("Gharnāṭa of the Jews"). During the first Taifas period in the 11th century Granada became the center of a local Zirid kingdom whose rulers lived in a citadel and palace on the Albaicín hill known as the al-Qaṣaba al-Qadīma ("Old Citadel" or "Old Palace"). It was connected to two other fortresses on the Sabika and Mauror hills to the south. The fortress on the Sabika hill was known as the al-Qasaba al-Jadida ("New Citadel"). It was probably of modest proportions compared to the present Alcazaba. Its water supply was guaranteed by a cistern on site as well as by a wall with towers that descended down to the Darro River, allowing soldiers to safely collect water and bring it back up to the fortress.
In 1145 the fortress on the Sabika hill was used as a refuge by forces opposing the Almoravids. It was used this way again in 1167 by opponents of the Almohads. After capturing it, the Almohads undertook some repairs to the damaged fortress. In 1238 Ibn al-Ahmar (Muhammad I) made Granada the capital of a new emirate. He initially settled in the old Zirid citadel on the Albaicín hill, but after a few months he moved to the Sabika hill, where he founded a new citadel and began construction of the Alhambra. He re-used some of the foundations of the earlier Zirid fortress and built the new Alcazaba over them, enclosed the rest of the hill with a perimeter wall, and completed an aqueduct in the same year, which enabled the area's subsequent development. Ibn al-Ahmar did not have time to complete any major new palaces and he may have initially lived in what is now called the Torre del Homenaje in the Alcazaba, before later moving to a modest house on the site of the current Palace of Charles V. The Alcazaba is now the oldest surviving part of the Alhambra. Some of the foundations of the Alcazaba's northern inner wall probably still date back to the Zirid period. Among later Nasrid additions, Yusuf I (r. 1333–1354) added what is now called the Torre Quebrada ('Broken Tower') to the eastern wall of the fortress in the 14th century.
According to tradition, when Granada and the Alhambra were surrendered to the Catholic Monarchs on January 2, 1492, the flag of Castile was raised that same day over the Torre de la Vela in the Alcazaba. Multiple modifications and additions to the fortress were made by the Spanish in the 16th century to fortify it against gunpowder artillery weapons which had become a regular part of warfare by this time. These changes began in 1492 and were mostly completed by around 1589. Despite all these major fortification works, the fortress did not see much action in any military confrontations. After the end of the Morisco rebellion of 1568-1571 and the expulsion of the Morisco population in 1609 there were few threats to Granada or the Alhambra.
In the early 20th century archaeologists cleared the interior of the fortress of rubble and excavated the remains of the urban area there. Repairs and restorations were also carried out on the rest of the fortress in modern times, particularly under the direction of Leopoldo Torres Balbás, who was the architectural conservator of the site from 1923 to 1936.
Description
General layout and structure
The Alcazaba has a roughly triangular layout, with the peaks of this triangle formed by the Torre de la Vela to the west, the Torre del Homenaje to the northeast, and the Torre Hueca to the southeast. The empty space within the walls of this triangle is occupied by a residential area with urban amenities.