Show ja alhambra in dilapidation f t special correspondence granada s glory the palace of the alhambra after weathering the wars and earthquakes of nearly seven hun dred years is according to late re ports from bhain almost ready to sue cumb to the relentless tooth of time and become a ruin great cracks it is stated have appeared in the walls of the moorish palace and otherwise the structure Is in a condition ot re gret table dilapidation it i only about fifteen years ago that part of the court of the alberca or the of the ancient palace was seriously damaged by fire which fortunately was prevented from re the noble b to ashes now it seems the imminent danger of the palace at that time did not teach the spaniards a lesson proud as they are of this masterpiece of moorish art it has been permitted to fall into decay by inattention last stronghold of islam granada was the last stronghold of islamism m western europe and enough the year fiat aboab all s ir rendered the fortress alhambra to ferdinand and isabella those mon iuchs fitted out an expedition at the entreaty of the genoese navigator columbus which was to add an cm pire to their domains no one can speak or write about the wonderful palace of the alhambra without thinking of washington irv ing it was irving who peopled the palace and fortress with a host of legends legends which no doubt never existed before his residence in the old place and which are now part of the history of the neighborhood tor they are all firmly believed in by the natives irving visited the alhambra in 1829 and found it a moslem pile in the midst of a christian land an oriental palace amidst gothic edifices of the west an elegant memento of a brave intelligent and graceful people who conquered ruled nourished and pass ed away the author of the sketch book found something more he be came acquainted with the son of the alhambra mateo ximenes who claimed as do most spaniards and of course incontrovertibly a noble an tree this man of the oldest family in the alhambra has gained immortality in the genial knickerbockers book that the spaniards thought well p continue to do so of irving s alhambra Is attested by the tact that it is the volume trans into spanish of course which Is pressed upon the visitor almost as soon as he has passed under the en trance to the tower of justice foundation of alhambra the alhambra consists of a group of fortresses towers built upon a hill and surrounding a miniature town al though in granada its governor was at one time superior to the governor general of the city rf lt walls and on the north forming a part of them is the palace itself according to one legend the alhambra was of hiding the original entrance to the alhambra palace proper A narrow passage to the north of charles at tempt leads to the little wooden door ish which one gains admittance to the golden gloried alhambra itself grandeur of the palace the first court the alberca or fishpond Is also called the court of myrtles in the center is a long pond and along either side is a hedge of myrtle at the south end of the court are rooms now closed that evi dently belonged to the harem in the das of the occupation the large torre de comaris comares with the magnificent sala de los hall of the ambassadors is at the north end from this beautiful court a little door on the right gives admit tance to the anteroom of the court of lions the most magnificent part of the barace the court of I 1 ions is feet long b 74 feet wide A gallery surrounds it supported by delicate white marble pillars which end in arches of the most beautiful and graceful moorish fretwork the capitals of the pillars are varied no two of them be ing alike in design there Is wrote irving no part of the edifice that glyds us a more complete idea of its original beauty and magnificence tor none has suffered so little from the ravages of time in the center stands the fountain famous in song and story the alabaster basins still shed their diamond drops and the twelve lions which support them cast forth their crystal streams as in the days of boabdil opposite the court of lions Is the hall of audience to which it Is said columbus came to plead with the spanish monarchs to give him a fleet raised by magic it being believed that no human skill could produce so wondrous a structure As a matter ol 01 act the alhambra was begun in the middle of the thirteenth century by ibn I 1 ahman the king of granada and finished in the early fourteenth cen tury by jusuf abul hagala who add ed the hall of justice which now forms the entrance to the inclosure the hill upon which this grand monument stands Is named alhambra and citadel like it dominates the old city of the moorish kings the en trance Is gained by a long and rather steep ascent through a magnificent grove of elm trees in which gales have made their homes arria ing at the summit there Is a sharp turn to the left and the visitor stands detore the tower of justice two horseshoe like arches are sprung over the ancient gateway the outer arch bearing on its keystone a large hand on the inner arch Is engraved a key and the moorish legend runs that the JAl hambra would never be taken by an enemy until the hand should reach through the arch and grasp the key which only shows that in ardi to work out correctly legends should be written after and not before events tor the alhambra was taken and the graven hand and key occupy the same position they did years ago between the gates of the tower are long stone seats where the moslems once administered justice according to the patriarchal custom of the jews continuing along a winding walk one reaches an open space about feet square the plazo de los or place of cisterns these cisterns were built by the moors and are supplied in aqueduct with remarkably pure water rom the plaza Is seen the hed palace of charles V who intend ed to surpass the moors by his archi textural tec tural effort but an earthquake in ter and the grand structure now open to the skies was never corn plated it also has the disadvantage to find them new world and here again columbus in chains as later brought when he a undone by envy and malice it was adjacent to the or toilet ol 01 the queen that irving had those lovely apartments while he remained in the famous pal ace this was an open belvedere on the summit of the comaris comares tower where moorish sultanas enjoyed the pure breezes from the mountain and the prospect of the surrounding para use the alhambra is the last reminder of the moorish occupation in spain never says irving was the of a people more complete they have not even left a distant name behind them though for nearly t centuries they were a distinct people |