Mexuar Palace, Granada

A seasoned traveler might agree that the ugliest room we see in the Alhambra is the first one we enter. The Mexuar is the public reception hall of the Alhambra complex. People who had a bone to pick with the Sultan would climb up the hill from Albaicin, enter the Mexuar through the Gate of Arms, sit down and wait. How is that any different from today?

The outside walls of the Mexuar Hall have been changed so many times that their original appearance is impossible to imagine. The changes are the result of the improvements and repairs of the Catholic Monarchs and especially the great powder magazine explosion of 1590.

The eastern section, next to the tower of Mohammed I, is the Mexuar. There are four columns in the center of the hall. The corbels of the columns are crowned with the graceful staligmite-like ornamentation of Moorish mocarabes. A plaster frieze has an inscription in Arabic that reads, "Everything that you own comes from God."

The Mexuar served much the same purpose for the Christian kings as it had for the Sultan. At the rear of the hall is a room used by the king for council meetings and for granting audiences. If the king was absent, the Cadi (judge) would meet with petitioners in the hall nextdoor.

In spite of being homely, the Mexuar has a hidden jewel. The Mirhab, a small mosque. Visitors are not allowed to enter the Mirhab. But if the door is just a little bit ajar, one can see the Albaicin framed by slender colonnades.