The Alcazaba or citadel, is the oldest part of the Alhambra. It is built on the precipitous foreland of the hill, on the western plateau.

This may have been the last fortress of the eleventh-century Ziridian rulers. I read that Abd-er-Rahmán III had the fortress built in the 10the century to defend the town of Granada town. Its reddish walls, as seen when viewing the hilltop, provided it a name: Al Qal'a al-Hamra, which in Arabic means literally "the red fort".

Ibn al-Ahmar rebuilt the Alcazaba and added to it a circuit of walls and towers which, even today forms one's first view of the castle. In fact, today only the massive outer walls, some towers and some of the ramparts are left.

Purportedly, in its former days it could keep 20,000 people inside (which I find rather incredible, as while its big, I didn't think it that big).

The Alczaba is the sort of castle that fairy tales of Kings, Queens, and Princess are written about.

Purportedly, it was in 1492, on the watch-tower "the Torre de la Vela", that the flag of the Catholic Monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabella) was raised, in recognition of the Spanish conquest of Granada.



Click on above image for a higher resolution view.

After their conquest of the city, Ferdinand and Isabel lived for a while in the Alhambra. They restored some rooms and converted the mosque but left the palace structure unaltered. On the other hand, their grandson Carlos I made substantial alterations.

It survived an earthquake in 1522, and was damaged again, this time by lightning in 1822. As noted on an earlier page, Napolean's army purportedly intended on blowing up the fort upon their departure, but were apparently thwarted in the attempt.