Hall of the Abencerrajes

Both life in the Alhambra and Generalife and its landscape have been the subject of artistic creations since their construction. This is demonstrated by the countless literary, musical, sculptural and pictorial compositions of all times. If we focus on the latter, it is considered that it was the decade of the 70s of the 19th century, when orientalism was fashionable in European capitalist bourgeois society, they found a source of inspiration for their creations in the last Muslim kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. .

The fountain in the center of the Abencerrajes Room acts as an element that regulates the comfort of the room by promoting passive evaporation (circulation of air in contact with a mass of water). But, also, it is one of the symbols that characterize Paradise. In the Sūra of the Merciful (ar-Raḥman), Quran (55:46-78), four gardens are described. Two, leafy, with two flowing fountains and two species of each fruit [Abencerrajes and Dos Hermanas rooms]. In addition to those two, there will be two other green-black gardens, with two abundant fountains, palm trees, pomegranates and fruits [rooms of the Mocárabes and of the Kings].

However, attracted by the legends transcribed from oral tradition to the books written by romantic travelers, it is common to hear people who visit the Sala de los Abencerrajes say that “the reddish color of the marble bottom of the fountain in its center It is due to the remains of the blood of those Abencerrajes who were beheaded there.

Marcos Úbeda captures a realistic image of the Sala de los Abencerrajes and escapes from the legend. It faithfully reflects the Nasrid period ceramics on the floor of one of the side beds, being identical to that of the symmetrical bed. He shows his zigzag drawing which is an abstract shape used to represent waves that form on the surface of water.