Islamic Garden in Spain

Influence
The origins of the Islamic garden
are a subject of considerable debate
wich centers on the relative
importance of two earlier traditions,
those of ancient Rome (The Islamic
gardens were influenced by the villa
culture of the Romans and
structures of early Christian
buildings)and ancient Persia. Some
argue that it is the only significant
influence on the great Islamic
gardens of Spain, and resist the
notion of Persian influence. Others
champion the influence of ancient
Persia through the design of the
garden.
 History
From the 9th Century , an era of beautiful Islamic
gardens had begun in the countries which today are
Iran, Iraq, Syria and Spain. Baghdad became a city
of gardens. By the 10th Century CE, the Arabs in
Spain had formed a separate government of their
own. It had its capital in Cordoba, southern Spain
where a very large and beautiful mosque was built.
Other famous cities in Arab Spain were Seville and
Granada and all three had fabulous gardens.
Historically, Muslim has ruled Spain from early 8th
century until 1492 . Al-Andalus, the Muslim political
sovereignty in Spain was governed by the Umayyad
caliphs in Damascus until 750 when the Abbasid
dynasty came to power in the East. Abd ar-Rahman
I (756-788 A.H. 139-172), established an independent
Umayyad state in Cordoba, thus became the
founder of Umayyad dynasty there. He built the first
garden called Al-Rusafa in the city of Al-Rusafa,
Cordoba based on what he saw at Damascus, Syria
that had influences from the Umayyad dynasty
during the caliph Hisham’s , this garden was the
earliest Islamic garden. When the Christians
conquered Cordoba in 1236, the moors fled to safety
in Granada , and extended the city fortifications.
Characteristi
• The Islamic garden was designed as the earthly symbol

cs
of paradise.
• It is a cool place of rest, relax and contemplation and
for that reason there is plenty of seating.
• The Islamic garden promotes the concept of simplicity
• There is an intensity created by contrasts
between large and very tight spaces, and the
contrast between deep shade and bright light
• Islamic gardens also contained rills and fountains
and they were decorated with mosaics and glazed
tiles
• Islamic gardens in Spain also contained fruit trees like
orange and lemon trees as well as dates, figs, almonds,
apricots, apples, pears, quinces, plums and peaches
• Arabs or moors also grew wide variety of flowers
including roses, hollyhocks, narcissus, violets,
wallflowers and lilies.
• the Muslim garden celebrates the sound of
water flowing from various directions, and
shrubs and trees are scattered with studied
carelessness to beautify nature without
violating it, to emphasize its spirit rather than
suppress it. It is this spirit of harmony with
nature that is the most obvious characteristic
of the Muslim garden.
• Symmetry is another important feature. If you
take a look at Islamic gardens, you’ll often find
flowers and trees being in a symmetrical pattern.
• Geometric patterns are popular. Whether they’re
painted onto the walls of arches in the garden or
whether you find these patterns on the floor work
paving the way into the garden.
• These gardens are amazingly powerful, because not
only are they a place for laughter and chatter, but for a
believer it gives a taste of what paradise could be like,
of what eternal happiness could be like, this will most
likely make a follower become closer to their creator
and want to lead a good life.
Elements of
Islamic
Garden
 Water
According to the koran , water in its clarity and purity is an image of
paradise…the garden that is kept alive by water becomes a symbol of the
earthly paradise created by man.
Water is the heart of the Islamic garden. Water
not only refreshes the spirit and cools the body, it
and important symbol in landscaping. A water
feature is placed in the centre of an Islamic
garden.

Water is also used to create luminosity:

shimmering in sun and shade. It also provides
sound and the gentle murmuring of the waterways
and the trickling of fountains relaxes guests.
 Geometric
layout
-The traditional shape for an Islamic garden is a rectangle,
symbolizing symmetry and harmony.
-Islamic gardens are generally split into four quarters -
usually via waterway . The number four is not only the basis of
an artistically harmonious layout, it also has a profound and
complex spiritual meaning. Four represents the order of the
universe with its four directions and four elements. Moreover,
in Islam, four rivers of water, milk, honey and wine are
mentioned in Sura Muhammad. The garden divided into four
quarters is traditionally called a "chahar-bagh," which comes
from Persian and means "four gardens."
 Scent
  -Scented plants are planted in Islamic garden to
bring parfume and fresh air

-Heavily scented flowers like jasmine, hybrid lilies,

violets
and roses are favorites in an Islamic garden.
 Enclosu
re  

 -An Islamic garden is enclosed and

secret. Privacy and seclusion are
paramount in Islamic landscaping
because it is a place for
contemplation. Typically, a high wall
surrounds an Islamic garden, or the
garden is located in an interior
courtyard of the house. Trees and
shrubs soften the hard outline of
garden landscaping
 Physical
characteristic
s of
Islamic
Garden
 Plants arrangement

Layout of planting design Shrub Tree

• Follows the watercourse and • Massing shrubs as hedges and • Planted in a row along the main axis
pathways pattern framing
• Symmetrical patterns and linear • High shrubs to enhance lines and • Trees are planted closely to one
form direct view another
• Plant’s boundary made with various • Flowering plants close to pathways • Shady trees planted beside
materials or building watercourses and paths
• Varied selection of plant at the edge • Small or low shrubs selected for the
of the plant bed courtyard
 Water arragement

Layout of water flows

• Central axis have a channel or broad
pool Water Course
• Creates a cross plan section of four Irrigated in a straight line
divisions Direction depends on the topography
• Occupied the primary and secondary Followed various angular paths
axes Turns 90 degree angle
• Water channels are laid from the Flows in geometrically regular
garden courtyards, wich are provided Influence plants arrangement and path circular
with pools,to deep inside the residential
 Entrance • Water channel at the central axis
Building • Direct/bend entrance at main axis or shaped pathway
• At central axis or a distance from the • Main pathway does not occupy the
middle line
entrance • Porous curtain wall between garden and central axis
• Secondary buildings follow • Perpendicular from the wall of the
entrance
geometrical pattern • Clear view between main entrance and entrance
building • Main paths are parallel to each other
• Secondary entrances are for the other
building and services • Stairs and ramps follow the layout
 Evolution of most important Islamic gardens in Spain.
The most famous hispano-Islamic gardens were in the three Arab cities in spain: Cordoba, Seville and
Granada.
1. Dating to the beginning of Abd al-Rahman I’s 2. The concept of the garden continued to develop in
reign (756-788) and built three kilometres Córdoba for the next two centuries, a particularly important
northwest of Córdoba in the area known even expression of which was realized in the palace city of
today as Arruzafa, al-Rusafa was the first Madinat al-Zahra. Al-Zahra emerged from the Córdoban
garden state in al-Andalus. The historian Ibn tradition of building farm and recreation estates in the
Said praised its beautiful irrigated gardens, saying agricultural zone surrounding the city, yet it was an
that Abd al-Rahman had sent a messenger to architectural type new to al-Andalus. Like al-Rusafa,
foreign parts in order to obtain special plants, so  Madinat al-Zahra was built well apart from Cordoba in a
that “al-Rusafa became famous for the excellence landscape made green and fertile through the introduction o
of its plant varieties”. Among the introduced water from the mountains for irrigation and through the
plants were the date palm and the pomegranate planting of gardens and orchards for both enjoyment and
profit. However, Madinat al-Zahra was larger and more
architecturally complex than previous estates, for it unified
the typology of the Córdoban garden estate with the
sophisticated palace architecture of the Abbasid court in
Samarra in Iraq, which was more cosmopolitan than that of
the Umayyads.
3-
Meaning
Alhambra, palace and fortress of
the Moorish monarchs of Granada, Spain.
The name Alhambra, signifying in Arabic
“the red,” is probably derived from the
reddish colour of the tapia (rammed earth)
of which the outer walls were built.
It was originally constructed as a small
fortress in on the remains of Roman
fortifications, and then largely ignored
until its ruins were renovated and rebuilt
in the mid-13th century by emir
Mohammed ben Al-Ahmar of the Emirate
of Granada, who built its current palace
and walls.
Meaning
The Alhambra gardens
represent the culmination
of a long line of gardens
and garden estates that
began in Cordoba in the
middle of the eighth
century
Spaces
Patio of la Reja
Patio of los Garden of
of
Garden
arrayanes daraxa
daraxa
Garden of
Garden of the
the partal
partal
Patio of
Patio of
machuca
machuca
Patio of
Patio of the
the
lions
lions
Patio de los Arrayanes
Court of the Myrtles is 140 feet (43 metres) long
by 74 feet (23 metres) wide. In the centre is a
large reflecting pond set in the marble
pavement(reflecting the courtyard facades). It is
a wide channel like basin with small fountain on
the short sides that fills the courtyard . The
brilliant green of the pond and the manicured
myrtles growing along its edges provide a sharp
contrast to the white marble of the surrounding
courtyard.
The Patio de los Leones
Court of the Lions is an oblong court 116
feet (35 metres) long and 66 feet (20 metres)
wide. Surrounding the court is an ornately
decorated gallery supported by 124 white
marble columns. A pavilion with filigree
walls and a wooden domed ceiling, perhaps
modeled upon a Cistercian lavabo, projects
into the court at each extremity. The
colonnade is paved with white marble, and
in the centre of the court is the Fuente de los
Leones (Fountain of the Lions), an alabaster
basin supported by the figures of 12 white
marble lions, emblems of strength and
courage.
 Patio of machuca
Patio de Machuca, where the architects of the Palace of
Charles V worked, had a pool shaped like the Roman
nymphaea. Water from various round fountains flowed into
the pool
 Jardin de daraxa
Daraxa's Garden was also called Garden of the Orange
Trees . It was constructed between 1526 and 1538, as the
same time as the Emperor's Chambers ,in the garden that
already existed between the fortress and the ramparts.
In the garden there are cypresses, acacias, orange trees and
box bushes surrounding the big central marble fountain.
The fountain's border is decorated with a poem, like the
fountain of the Patio of the Lions 
 Garden of
partal
The Garden of the Partal (Jardines del Partal) covers all the area between the
exit of the Rauda and the esplanade where the Ladies Tower (Torre de las
Damas) stands. The garden that surrounded the royal palaces was in the same
place and it was also laid out gradually. The Emperor's Chambers would later
occupy that same location.

The pool of this garden brought heaven down to

earth because of the reflection of the palace, bushes,
palm trees and the greater part of the blue sky.
 Patio of la
Reja  

 -The Patio of the Wrought Iron Grille (Patio de la

Reja) is so known because of the wrought iron grille
that is on the southern wall since 1655, as if it were a
balcony. The patio must have been built at the same
time as the Emperor's Chambers (Habitaciones de
Carlos V). In the middle of the patio there is a stone
fountain and in the corners there are hundred-year-
old cypresses. 
G en er al i fe G ard e n
Meaning
The name «Generalife» means «garden
of the architect».
The Generalife was first and foremost
designed as a place of rest and respite
for the sultans and emirs who resided in
the sumptuous Alhambra palace.
The garden is organized along
a central axial watercourse,
the water for which
is supplied from mountains
via the same aqueduct
that serves the Alhambra.
This garden, is estimated to be
around 700 years old.
The most beautiful and striking
features in the Generalife gardens
are the plants, the water with its
continuous interplay with light, and
its sounds.
Spaces Principal gardens
Spaces
New gardens
Spaces
Water stairway

Patio of cypresses
High Gardens

Acequia Courtyard
 Acequia
courtyard  

 -The colourful and outstandingly beautiful

Acequia Courtyard serves as the entry point into
the premises.
-It’s a long channel of water, with a fountain at its
center and four quadrant gardens along its length
-The building consists of two structures located at
each end of a large courtyard, with a pool in the
middle With 48.70 metres long by 12.80 wide.
-The small trees are Pomegranates, one on each
side of the central axis
 Patio of the
Cypresses  
 The patio is so called because of the old cypresses that are in
the verandas
The patio contains a rectangular Myrtle hedged U-shaped pool
with a square pool and a simple stone fountain at the center.
 Several slender, tall water jets arch in to the pool from all
sides.   It is quite deep and holds a great deal of water, being
connected to the royal canal that is diverted from the Rio
Darro far up the hill.  This water supplies all of the fountains in
the Generalife
-and the Alhambra.
   Water Stairway
 -One of the staircases that are in these gardens, the Water
Stairway, is especially beautiful because of its beauty and
originality.
-It is supposed to be the oldest staircase in these gardens .
-The staircase is divided in three flights, each with a
fountain and handrails that are channels with running
water. The staircase is surrounded by laurels that join
their crowns and form a vault. The sun shines through
this laurel vault and the light contributes to the extremely
beautiful scene.
  
 
High Gardens
-The High Gardens are aptly found near the palace's highest point
  and are beautifully set on several terraces. They feature evergreen
trees, scented shrubs, and a small botanical garden area.
-At the top of the Water Stairway you have fabulous views of the
gardens below and of the surrounding area. The gardens below,
called the High Gardens, are reached by the Stairway of the Lions
.There are small fountains with jets, parterres, and magnolia trees
 The gardens afford beautiful views of the Generalife and the
Alhambra.

 
 Low or New
 

 
Gardens
The lower gardens were originally the
palace orchards
The Generalife has been altered and
rebuilt several times and today the area
between the Alhambra and the
Generalife palace is divided into three
parts.
  

  Coming from the Alhambra, you first pass an

outdoor amphitheater

1
   a Muslim-style garden, with
  what is referred to as an
irrigation channel crossing.
The walls here are lined
with cypress and there is a
gorgeous view of both the
Alhambra and the city.
2

At the center of the garden, dividing the two

sections of the axial pool is the small round
pool with four square cornered bays and a
marble basin at the center.  This is the
intersection of a perpendicular pair of shorter
linear pools.  Fountain jets arching through
the air shimmer like sparkling diamonds
splashing in to the basin from all sides.  The
four linear pools represent the Four Rivers of
Paradise, water, milk, honey, and wine.  . 
  
 
  
 
The area closest to the Generalife palace was built as 3
a labyrinth garden, with roses and cypress trees. The
overall effect is utterly charming.
T
  he exit is via a long pebble paved path
under an arched bower of bent
Oleanders
The Promenade of the Oleanders leads
to the Promenade of the Cypresses,
which was planted in honor of a royal
visit by the Queen of Spain in the early
20th Century.  This path takes you to the
exit and out in to the world at large.