Puerta De La Justicia (Gate of Justice), Granada

The walled enclosure of the Alhambra has four doors or gates. They are each impressive but the awesome one is the Gate of Justice. The gate was the Gate of Law in the Arab era of Granada. It was called Bib-Xarea and it was built by Yusuf I in 1348. However the official name then was Bib-Xaria, Door of the Esplanade, for the area in front.

Today this esplanade is filled with gardens and walks. Back in the day it was a military camp. Next to the gate is an artillery bastion. A cut stone wall descends from the wall. Before the wall a renaissance stone pillar is dedicated to Charles V. In the center of the esplanade is a pillar honoring Washington Irving on the centenary of his passing.

The interior of the Gate has three vaults. There is a cross-vault, a cupola, and three additional cross-vaults common in Nasrid architecture. The inner Gate is still decorated with the rhomboid tile patterns in the arch spandrels. Outside the gate is an altarpiece to mark the site of the first Catholic mass said after the reconquest.