Oratorio de Mexuar

Historic Room in Granada

Oratorio De Mexuar, La Alhambra, Granada 2 — CC BY-SA 2.0 / Daniel Villafruela.

Oratorio De Mexuar, La Alhambra, Granada — CC BY-SA 3.0 / AdriPozuelo

Oratorio De Mexuar, La Alhambra, Granada 5 — CC BY-SA 4.0 / Øyvind Holmstad

Oratorio De Mexuar, La Alhambra, Granada 6 — Pixabay / Alice_Alphabet

Oratorio De Mexuar, La Alhambra, Granada 7 — CC BY-SA 2.0 / Dennis Jarvis

The Oratorio de Mexuar or the Oratory of the Mexuar is one of the rooms of the Palacio del Mexuar. The Palacio del Mexuar is one of the palaces that make up the Palacio Nazaríes in the Alhambra Complex, in Granada, Spain. An oratory is a small chapel, especially for private worship.

What can you see in the Oratorio de Mexuar?

You are not usually allowed to enter this room and need to look in from the doorway.

The front wall has four balconies, with twin arches and small windows. The mihrab, which is a niche in the wall of a mosque, at the point nearest to Mecca, is very decorated, has a horseshoe arch, and has several inscriptions that refer to the precepts of the Koran, as well as praise of Mohamed V. One of the inscriptions says: “Come to pray. Don’t be one of the negligent people.”

Restoration of the Oratorio de Mexuar

This oratory that was in a terrible state due to the explosion in 1590 of a powder magazine in the Darro Valley, and was restored in 1917.

Originally access to the Oratory was through the gallery of the Patio de Machuca. Ground level in the Oratorio de Mexuar was higher and was level with the height of the stone bench by the windows. In the last century the floor was lowered to allow access to the oratory from the Sala del Mexuar. The height of the windows would have originally allowed worshipers who were kneeling on the floor with their arms leaning on the window sill to observe the landscape and reflect on the greatness of nature and divine creation.