Domed roof from the Palacio del Partal in the Alhambra

The Palacio del Partal is the oldest palace of the Alhambra, the Nasrid royal residence above Granada. Of the building erected by Muhammad III in the early fourteenth century, only one hall survives, with an arcaded portico giving on to a long pool. Connected to this hall is a tower that in the nineteenth century, when the area was in private hands, was called the Torre de las Damas. It also forms part of the Alhambra walls and provides a unique view over the valley of the Darro and the city of Granada, which after its 200-year golden age was conquered in 1492 by the Christian monarchs of Castile and Aragon. A wooden ceiling from this tower today forms an incomparable 'heaven' above the 'Moorish Cabinet' in the Museum of Islamic Art: at its crown is a sixteen-pointed star motif from which radiate sixteen trapezoidal panels, each composed of an interlaced framework whose interstices are inlaid with decorative elements, among them many eight-pointed stars. The carved inlays, picked out in colour, have scrolling tendril and leaf motifs or inscriptions with the Nasrid motto, 'There is no victor but God'. This formula of faith in God is endlessly repeated on the sixteen-sided base with its characteristic muqarnas cornice, a decorative series of miniature niches. The flat wooden ceiling which still survives today above the porticoed hall of the Palacio del Partal makes use of same elements in its own harmoniously balanced two-dimensional design.