Torre del Peinador de la Reina

Palace and Tower in Granada

Peinador De La Reina — CC BY-SA 3.0 / AdriPozuelo

Torre Del Peinador De La Reina, Alhambra 1 — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Adam Jones, Ph.D.

Torre Del Peinador De La Reina, Alhambra 2 — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Fabio Alessandro Locati

Torre Del Peinador De La Reina, Alhambra 3 — CC BY-SA 3.0 / Fabio Alessandro Locati

The Torre del Peinador de la Reina or the Queen’s Dressing Room, is a Tower-Palace in the Palacio Nazaríes in the Alhambra Complexin Granada, in Spain. It was part of the palace but also had a defensive character. The building exhibits a mixture of medieval Islamic and Christian Renaissance architecture. It is believed that it was the place chosen by the sultans for meditation or recreation, while in Christian times it became a place of retirement for the Catholic Monarchs and its upper part, a place chosen by Queen Elizabeth of Portugal, wife of Carlos V, either as a room, viewpoint or as a dressing room; in addition it was also used in 1729 by Isabel de Farnesio and her husband Felipe V.

What can you see in the Torre del Peinador de la Reina?

The entrance to the tower has a carved wooden lintel, plaster voussiors above and a rectangle with stars in relief. Unfortunately, the inscriptions that existed around the door are not all preserved, but at least it is known (thanks to the fragments that remain) that they were praises to God and Mohammed V.

On the tower’s southern side there is a semicircular arch that leads to the Dressing Room, which was before an Arab lantern. On the rest of its sides there is a corridor open to the landscape. To the right of the entrance there is a sort of burner, formed by a marble flagstone with holes through which the perfume came out. The fresco paintings are of interest, especially the ones representing Charles V‘s campaign to Tunisia in 1535. These show the squadron’s departure from the port of Gagiliari, the journey, the manoeuvres, the withdrawal of the troops and their return to Sicily. Other paintings represent various scenes, from allegories of the Virtues to Phaeton’s fable. They were probably made between 1539 and 1546.

Where is the Torre del Peinador de la Reina located?

Torre del Peinador de la Reina was built on the walk by the ramparts and it has a view over the whole valley of the river Darro.

It was accessible from the covered walk by the ramparts underneath the Salón de Embajadores, by the Patio de la Reja. The wall used to reach the windowsill of the Dressing Room’s balconies, but when it was destroyed in 1831, it was rebuilt to a lower height and a secret staircase was discovered. These stairs go through the lower part of the tower and lead to a clearing in the woods at the base of the tower.

History of the Torre del Peinador de la Reina

The Torre del Peinador de la Reina was built in 1537 at the top of Torre de Abu l-Hayyay or Abu l-Hayyay’s Tower. It was was decorated by Yusuf I and completed by Mohamed V.

Where does the name Torre del Peinador de la Reina come from?

Torre del Peinador de la Reina or the Queen’s Dressing Room received its name as the Empress Isabel, Charles V’s wife, lived there.

One of the rooms of the tower had a stove that burnt spices and for this reason this tower was also called the Torre de la Estufa or Tower of the Stove.
It was also known as Tower of Abul Hachach or Torre Abul-l-Hayyay

The Torre del Peinador de la Reina appears in our Complete Guide to Visiting Granada!

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