Facade of the Palace of Comares

Palace in Granada

Patio Cuarto Dorado, Palacio Del Mexuar, Alhambra 2 — CC BY-SA 2.0 / Jean-Pierre Dalbéra

Patio Cuarto Dorado, Palacio Del Mexuar, Alhambra 1 — CC BY-SA 4.0 / Øyvind Holmstad

The Facade Of Comares At The Patio Del Cuarto Dorado Courtyard At The Alhambra Palace — © 2024 Andrew Ashton

Arabesque, Cuarto Dorado, La Alhambra, Granada 1 — CC BY-SA 1.0 / Jebulon

Fountain In The Patio Cuarto Dorado, Palacio Del Mexuar, Alhambra — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Luis Alfonso Escudero

The facade of the Palace of Comares one of the buildings which make up the Palacio de Comares. Which is one of the palaces that make up the Palacio Nazaríes in the Alhambra Complex, in Granada, Spain.

Yusuf I wanted his official residence’s decoration to amaze the visitor, so he ordered the architects to build it and adorn it in a exquisite way, although he probably did not see the final result, as several inscriptions affirm that his son Mohammed V was responsible for it. Mohammed V finished the works and constructed a façade on the southern side of the Patio del Cuarto Dorado.

Mohammed V constructed a façade on the southern side of the Patio of the Gilded Room. The façade is built on a raised three-stepped platform that might have served as a kind of outdoor stage for the ruler. The carved stucco façade was once painted in brilliant colors, though only traces remain. On the façade there are two identical doors with lintels, tiles on the dado and plaster-work decoration above.

Above it are two twin windows with canted festoon and a smaller one in the middle, surrounded by inscriptions from the Koran. The whole wall is beautifully decorated with ornaments and inscriptions. On the plater work between the doors and the windows in the inscription “Only God is Victor“.

Above the central window, below which the ruler likely would sit on his throne has an inscription from the Quran’s chapter 2, verse 255, which is known as the “Throne Verse”: “His Kursi [throne] extends over the heavens and the earth, and their preservation tires Him not. And He is the Most High, the Most Great.” The placement of this inscription is symbolic of the Sultans power.

One of the poems by Ibn Zamrak is carved on the wooden eaves.

The left door of this façade leads to a hall decorated with plaster work with a frieze of mocarabes and the interlacing ceiling was painted during the reign of the Catholic Monarchs with an inscription that refers to the taking of the city of Granada. It leads to a dark winding passage leads to the Court of the Myrtles.

The Facade of the Palace of Comares appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Granada!

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