The Alhambra

In 1829 the American writer Washington Irving lived for several months in the Alhambra itself, the palace of the Nasrid sultans in Granada, then a half-ruined place inhabited by poor families, old soldiers and storytellers. The book mixes his descriptions of the palace, its courts, fountains and towers, and of the people who lived there, with the legends he heard: the Arabian astrologer, the three beautiful princesses, the Moor's legacy, and the last sultan, Boabdil, sighing as he looked back at the city he had lost.

Published in 1832 and revised in 1851, the book did much to make the Alhambra famous around the world and to rescue it from neglect. It is written with deep sympathy for the Moorish past of Andalusia, and a plaque in the palace still honours Irving, who later served as the American minister to Spain. Read also Rip Van Winkle.