Alhambra Cupola
{{Orphan|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox artwork
| title = Alhambra Cupola
| image_file = Alhambra Cupola.jpg
| caption = A view from underneath of the Alhambra Cupola, photographed for the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art Website
| alt = See adjacent text.
| artist = Unknown
| year = 1320
| height_metric = 190
| width_metric = 355
| length_metric = 355
| condition =
| museum = Berlin Museum of Islamic Art
| city = Berlin
| material = Cedar wood, poplar wood, carved, remnants of red, blue and green paint
}}
The Alhambra Cupola was commissioned under Muhammed III for the Palacio del Partal (also referred to as Partal) in Granada, Spain during the 14th century. The dome is constructed of intricately carved wood brimming with motifs of Kufic inscriptions, geometric patterns, and honeycomb-vaulted muqarnas. In the late nineteenth century, German banker Arthur von Gwinner purchased Palacio del Partal and dismantled the cupola to bring it back to Germany where it now resides in the Berlin Museum of Islamic Art. The cupola now resides in the Museum of Islamic Art History in Berlin where people from around the world can learn about the history of the piece through its changed possession.{{Cite book |last=McSweeney |first=Anna |title=From Granada to Berlin: the Alhambra Cupola |date=2020 |publisher=Verlag Kettler |others=Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz |isbn=978-3-86206-831-9 |series=Connecting art histories in the museum |location=Dortmund}}
History
The Alhambra palace is well decorated with intricate art and the Palacio del Partal is no different. The cupola was initially built for the mirador (lookout point) of the palace. The mirador took on the colloquial name in the 19th century of Torre de las Damas (Ladies' Tower).{{Cite web |title=Alhambra dome |url=https://recherche.smb.museum/detail/1525323/Alhambra-Kuppel |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=recherche.smb.museum}} We know practically nothing about the artisans who crafted the cupola. They did not sign their work nor is there records of who they were. However, there are markings on the backs of the pieces to show how it is assembled which is a motif that is recognized in some of the other woodwork in the complex implying that some of the same artists may have worked on it.
When the Nasrid government fell, the Palicio del Partal was purchased by private owners and it remained in private hands until after Arthur von Gwinner.
It is believed based on records that Arthur von Gwinner purchased the Partal with the intentions of continuing to let the artist who resided there to stay. After Owen Jones published his book Plans, Elevations, Sections and Details of the Alhambra(1842-45), London was said to have a fixation on "Alhambraesque" interiors. From the 1885 sale records, von Gwinner stated his intention to remove the "old arab ceiling" explicitly.
He installed the cupola in his personal residence and even moved the cupola with him when he moved. Wolfgang Klingler, von Gwinner's grandnephew donated the cupola to the Museum of Islamic Art History in Berlin in January 1977.
Decoration
The cupola serves entirely decorative purposes, not supporting the domed ceiling at all. It is constructed of intricately carved poplar, pine, maple, fir, and cedar woods cut with precision such that the pieces meshing together.
Stylistically, the cupola is composed in the girih (Persian for knot) structure, beginning in the center with a star that expands to the rest of the dome through more eight-pointed star ‘knots’.{{Cite journal |last=Chmelnizkij |first=Sergai |date=December 31, 1989 |title=Methods of Constructing Geometric Ornamental Systems in the Cupola of the Alhambra |url=https://brill.com/view/journals/muqj/6/1/article-p43_6.pdf?srsltid=AfmBOoq5tIbJ3zUgkuzRS8Ehx9KMkZmfM1IoL_V6p1RkYOATDegjX-0s |journal=Muqarnas Online |volume=6 |issue=6 |pages=43–49 |doi=10.2307/1602279 |jstor=1602279 |via=Brill}} Aside from its general structure, the cupola is ornately decorated. There are common motifs of similar Islamic Architecture including Murquanas, pinecones and shell rosettes. It also includes notable Kufic inscriptions such as “Wala Ghaliba Illa Allah" (And there is no victor except Allah) repeated geometrically within the pattern. These motifs strongly tie the cupola to Islamic Architectural motifs.{{Cite web |title=The Alhambra Cupola in the Museum for Islamic Art |url=https://islamic-art.smb.museum/en/story/The-Alhambra-Cupola-in-the-Museum-for-Islamic-Art |access-date=2025-04-17 |website=islamic-art.smb.museum |language=en}}
The piece now appears to be just wood, but upon closer inspection, it was once covered in pigment. Within the butt joints, there are still traces of paints. Analysis of pigment in the seams of the cupola even suggest that it was once brightly colored.{{Cite journal |last1=Cardell-Fernández |first1=Carolina |last2=Navarrete-Aguilera |first2=Carmen |date=2006 |title=Pigment and Plasterwork Analyses of Nasrid Polychromed Lacework Stucco in the Alhambra (Granada, Spain) |url=https://doi.org/10.1179/sic.2006.51.3.161 |journal=Studies in Conservation |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=161–176 |doi=10.1179/sic.2006.51.3.161 |issn=0039-3630|url-access=subscription }}
Butt joints and t-shape hand-forged iron nails once held together the piece. However, likely within the move to one of von Gwinner's residences more noticeable nails were added. These nails have wider, round heads. Now looking at the cupola, you can see these nails that were not original to the structure.
Gallery
File:07 Kuppel 88cf31deca (1).jpg|Zoom in on the Muqarnas at the base of the cupola
File:05 Kuppel plese cut 8ca7d296e5 (1).jpg|Center of the cupola
File:08 Kuppel b8f89686f0.jpg|Artists' signature markings on the rear of pieces
File:09 Kuppel bd3f3730a3.jpg|Palicio del Partal mirador
File:Cupola in von Gwinner Apartment.jpg|Cupola in Arthur von Gwinner's private residence