Das Grab im Paradiesgarten. Zum Mausoleum der Nasridischen Sultane auf der Alhambra

Abstract

Contemporary sources report, that the Nasride sultans of Granada were buried since 1325 in a mausoleum within the Alhambra known as Rauda ‘the (Paradise-)garden’. In 1924 Torres Balbás identified and excavated the last remains of this singular building. Based on the results of his work, the present article presents a new hypothesis for reconstructing the original appearance of the Rauda. According to the new suggestion, the mausoleum originally comprised a domed square room, two small chambers and a forecourt. Reconstructed in this manner, the mausoleum seems to correspond to a building type, which is well known from the Maghrib. In the second part of the article the history of this type of mausoleum is summarized. Similar examples from Rabat, Fas and Tilimsan indicate, that mausoleums comprising a forecourt became common during the 14th century as a result of the spreading of Sufism in the Maghrib. Furthermore, the Maghribi buildings are surprisingly similar to a group of mausoleums which was built in Fatimid Egypt during the late 11th and early 12th centuries. Recent excavations in the cemetery of Fustat prove, that this type of building evolved gradually in Egypt from the 8th to the 11th centuries. At the present moment the available information is insufficient to answer the question, whether the architects in Granada copied Egyptian prototypes, or whether a similar function led to a similar but distinct development in two regions of the Islamic world.