Comares Palace & Royal Baths: A Journey Through Alhambra’s Heart
Comares Palace and Royal Baths
Stilted arches and interior angrelado. Variegated Yeserías. Medallions in prominence. The doors are surrounded by ceramics.
At the top, we have the timber roof, which features a frieze on roll corbels.
The Palace of Comares
Following a narrow corridor with recesses, we find the Patio of the Myrtles, also known as Comares Courtyard.
The palace’s construction began during the reign of Yusuf I and was completed before the year 1354.
It is built upon the palace that his father, Ismail I, had previously constructed, which was later demolished.
Yusuf I did not see the palace completed; his son, Muhammad V, finished the work in the second half of the fourteenth century.
It is considered the core and remains of the highest quality within the Alhambra.
We observe a backyard pool in the center, with two small jets at the ends, emphasizing the importance of reflection in the water.
The courtyard is rectangular, adorned with myrtle hedges, hence its name. On the short sides are two porches facing the long sides, leading to the rooms or apartments of the Sultan’s wives on two levels.
The upper floor was used in winter. On the eastern side is the door to the Royal Baths.
The main facade on the north side is symmetrical.
The Great Tower of Comares is preceded by a room called the Boat Room, which houses the Hall of Ambassadors, the most important hall in the Alhambra, serving as the throne room and reception area.
Boards line the long, narrow passage. La Sala de la Barca has a roof shaped like an inverted boat hull, hence the name. All the plaster of the walls is covered with inscriptions invoking Baraka. This lobby lounge served as a reception area for ambassadors and, during the summer, as a royal chamber. One of the most interesting aspects is the roof, which was burned in the nineteenth century and later reconstructed exactly. The scallops of mocárabe give way to an elongated hemispherical roof. This room is above the Hall of Ambassadors, a place of reception for arriving ambassadors, a space of political propaganda extolling the power of the caliph. This room is designed as a qubba (a square space covered by a dome, surrounded by three small rooms that open to balconies, offering panoramic views), always of a commemorative nature. On axis with the door, Yusuf would be positioned to receive visitors. The Hall is covered with profuse and colorful decor, from metal at the bottom to polychrome plasterwork in many cases with various geometric effects, and original wooden ceilings, one of the masterpieces of Hispano-Islamic art, a wooden roof or ataujerada (whose structure is not visible), plus a vaulted transept (split in cloth), resting on a stalactite frieze, had a meaning: it is a vault astral evocation of paradise, and below this astral vault stood the Sultan, this model is constantly repeated.
The Royal Baths
The Royal Baths are located between the Comares Palace and the Lions’ Court. They were built by Yusuf Ismail I and have undergone many reconstructions, especially in the nineteenth century. Access is through the northern part of the Comares Palace, via stairs and a slightly sunken courtyard with respect to Comares, copying the model of a Roman bath.
It features a space for Apoditenyum, or dressing, followed by three successive rooms ranging from cold to hot, and finally, a few rooms for services, including the hiposcatyum, which was used to warm the rooms. The rest room, or chamber of the beds, is kept in good condition. This room is a qubba whose roof rests on four columns, with a small fountain in the center. There are two floors and a wooden roof; the second stories were intended for the guard and for people looking after the bathrooms.
A column rests on a capital and a shoe that supports the weight of the upper gallery.