Sala de los Mocárabes

Historic Room in Granada

Ceiling Of The Sala De Los Mocarabes — CC BY-SA 4.0 / Kolforn

Sala De Los Mocarabes — CC BY-SA 2.0 / Ángel M. Felicísimo

Sala De Los Mocarabes 2 — CC BY-SA 2.0 / Horst Goertz

Sala De Los Mocarabes 3 — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Andrzej Otrębski

The Sala de los Mocárabes or the Hall of the Mocarabes is a hall in the Palacio de los Leones. The Palacio de los Leones is one of the palaces that make up the Palacio Nazaríes in the Alhambra Complex, in Granada, Spain. The hall serves as entrance to the Palacio de los Leones from the other palaces.

What does the Sala de los Mocárabes look like?

The Sala de los Mocárabes is the simplest hall of the Palace of the Lions. It runs from north to south with three arches of mocarabes on its eastern edge, which overlook the Patio de los Leones.

Why is the vaulted ceiling of the Sala de los Mocárabes only half finished?

Slightly after 1590 the room was divided in two by a iron gate called Sala de la Reja. The northern part was the major room and incorporated the northern and central arches and in the south was the minor one which included the southern arch. In 1614 the ceiling was plastered but for financial reasons, only the northern room was covered with a plaster vault.

The smaller room was never covered, and when the Sala de la Reja was demolished in 1863, the southern hemispherical cap of the plaster vault was lost.

What can you see on the Vault of the Sala de los Mocárabes?

The Christian Vault, designed by the painter Blas Ledesma, alluded to the conquerors of the Alhambra and their great-grandson. Isabel and Fernando are represented with their dynastic letters (“Y”; Isabel and “F”; Fernando) and with their symbols (“Y”; Yugo and “F”; arrows).

Felipe II ordered to place them on the hemispherical caps on the ends of the vaulted ceiling his imperial shield. On this, his possessions including the necklace of the Order of the Golden Fleece that his father gave him are indicated. The southern cap is missing.

On its walls’ plasterwork strip are the Nasrid coat of arms and motto: “Only God is an Overcomer!”.

Where does the Sala de los Mocárabes get its name?

The Sala de los Mocárabes is named such because of the vault of mocarabes, the honeycomb or stalactite looking design, that covered it, but which was demolished due to the poor state it was in after the explosion of a powder magazine in 1590. Part of the current roofing was put in the 18th century.