Les secrets de l'Alhambra

A jewel of Islamic art, the uniquely preserved Muslim palace complex in the West, the Alhambra is a highly visited monument. It is the Alhambra as built by the Nasrid sultans, quite different from the present fortress, that the exhibition Secrets of the Alhambra at the Institut du Monde Arabe highlights, revealing and deciphering some of its secrets at the height of its splendor, during the reign of Sultan Muhammad V in the 14th century, along an immersive walk punctuated by works of art.

An evocation of the Lion Fountain, the poetry of water, the geometric intricacies of the décor, the refinement of the epigraphy that gives voice to the palace, the sultan’s festivities, the gardens, cultural exchanges despite constant military tensions: this exhibition tells the Nasrid Alhambra, illuminates its splendor and reveals some of its mysteries.

The beauty of the Alhambra might make one forget that, first and foremost, it is a fortress, walled and turreted, and the seat of a garrison, and that the Nasrid Emirate is in reality a state on the brink, threatened and relentlessly gnawed by neighboring states. Alongside a selection of weapons and armor and horse tack, the immersive experience will allow visitors to discover a hidden and little-known masterwork of Islamic painting, showing the return of a victorious military expedition.

The Lion Fountain, which gave its name to the palace that houses it, emblematic piece of the Alhambra and a masterpiece of Nasrid art, was remodelled in the centuries following the Christian conquest. What did it look like in the time of Muhammad V, who had it installed? Around a replica of the fountain, visitors will encounter different scholarly hypotheses about the meaning, form and mechanism of the fountain. A major piece of the exhibition, this will also be an occasion to address the importance of water for the entire palace complex, both aesthetically and for its essential role in the life of the site.

To exalt the perfection of divine creation without having to imitate it, Muslim artists, particularly the Nasrids, used abstraction, made possible by mathematical rigor. Thus, the entire edifice, both architecturally and ornamentally, is based on the infinite repetition of geometric motifs. The decorative patterns are the product of compositions made from motifs that move and rotate according to all possible types of symmetry, thereby giving rise in turn to new varied geometric forms. A section of the exhibition is devoted to these designs and to their technique, to the discovery of a major artistic principle, typically Muslim, developed on different supports, whether the palace’s ceramic wall tiles or art objects that decorated it: silks, manuscripts, wood inlays, marquetry, etc.

A fundamental element of the Alhambra’s aesthetics, the colors are magnified by light, which creates chromatic effects and movement on various decorative motifs. The display of this polychromy, which is only partially discernible today, will be made possible by immersive techniques, highlighting the play of light on the Lindaraja ceiling, as well as the details and delicacy of the drawings of the muqarnas or ceilings.

The walls of the Alhambra are covered with inscriptions. Far from being confined to a mere decorative function, these inscriptions are literally the voice of the palace. Visitors are invited to discover the different types of calligraphy and to read some inscriptions by deciphering them within complex ornamental motifs, mottos, the word baraka, poems, Qur’anic verses, while absorbing their musicality thanks to the audio rendition of their reading. Here again, a selection of artworks will show that this decorative principle based on calligraphy is far from being limited to the palace walls alone.

Despite the fluctuating relations that the Nasrid emirate maintains with neighboring states, artistic exchanges are particularly fruitful, as evidenced by works coming from both the Christian and Islamic worlds. The exhibition will also decode the paintings in the Hall of the Kings, notable for its surprising iconography in a Muslim palace.

Historical sources and diwans of poetry recount the festivities held within the palace on the occasion of Mawlid, royal weddings, or the circumcisions of the sultan’s sons. To restore the atmosphere, set to music, to the works and to the reconstruction of the automaton presented during Mawlid in 1362.

The exhibition ends with an evocation of the garden. Isn’t the Alhambra a metaphor of the garden? In addition to references to the Garden of Paradise or earthly gardens engraved on its walls, the fortress houses real gardens, ornamental or productive. To be discovered, an installation created for the occasion, based on scientific knowledge relating to the Alhambra’s gardens, engages our senses, notably hearing and smelling.