Between 711 and 1492, a lot of the Iberian Peninsula, including modern-day Spain, was beneath Muslim rule. Not that it was simple to carry on to the place for that size of time: after the autumn of Toledo in 1085, Al-Andalus, because the territory was known as, continued to lose cities over the subsequent centuries. Córdoba and Seville had been reconquered practically one proper after the other, in 1236 and 1248, respectively, and you’ll see the invasion of the primary metropolis animated within the opening scene of the Primal Space video above. “All around the land, Muslim cities had been being conquered and taken over by the Christians,” says the companion article at Primal Nebula. “However amidst all of this, one metropolis remained unconquered, Granada.”
“Because of its strategic position and the enormous Alhambra Palace, the town was professionaltected,” and there the Alhambra stays right this moment. A “thirteenth-century palatial complex that’s one of many world’s most iconic examinationples of Moorish architecture,” writes BBC.com’s Esme Fox, it’s additionally a landmark feat of engineering, boasting “some of the sophisticated hydraulic webworks on the earth, capable of defy gravity and lift water from the river close toly a kilometer under.”
The jewel within the crown of those elabofee waterworks is a white marble fountain that “consists of a big dish held up by twelve white fableical lions. Every beast spurts water from its mouth, feeding 4 channels within the patio’s marble flooring that repredespatched the 4 rivers of paradise, after which running by way ofout the palace to chill the rooms.”
The fuente de los Leones additionally tells time: the number of lions curleasely indicates the hour. This works because of an ingenious design defined each verbally and visually within the video. Anyone visiting the Alhambra right this moment can admire this and other examinationples of medieval opulence, however travelers with an engineer’s solid of thoughts will appreciate much more how the palace’s builders obtained the water there in any respect. “The hill was round 200 meters above Granada’s fundamental river,” says the narrator, which entailed an ambitious undertaking of damming and redirection, to say nothing of the pool above the palace designed to maintain the entire hydraulic system pressurized. The Alhambra’s warmthed baths and well-irrigated gardens repredespatched the luxurious peak of Moorish civilization, however in addition they remind us that, then as now, beneath each luxury lies an impressive feat of technology.
Related content:
The Brilliant Engineering That Made Venice: How a City Was Built on Water
How Toilets Worked in Ancient Rome and Medieval England
The Amazing Engineering of Roman Baths
Historic Spain in Time Lapse Film
Based mostly in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His tasks embrace the Substack newsletter Books on Cities and the guide The Statemuch less Metropolis: a Stroll by way of Twenty first-Century Los Angeles. Follow him on the social webwork formerly referred to as Twitter at @colinmarshall.