El Palacio de los Leones de la Alhambra: ¿ Madrasa, zāwiya y tumba de Muḥammad V? Estudio para un debate

Abstract

This article shows a new interpretation of the function of the famous Court of Lions in the Alhambra of Granada, built in the 1360's by Muhammad V. The study of the contemporary architecture in the Maghreb (Fez, Sale, Tlemcen, etc.), the close relations between Muhammad V of Granada and the neighbouring Islamic countries, his own knowledge of the architecture produced under the Marinid dynasty during his Moroccan exile in Fez from 1359 to 1362, etc., makes us reconsider the Palace of the Lions as a royal madrasa-zawiya, where its founder could even have been buried in 1391. Moreover, this hypothesis would clearly explain the numerous anomalies the Palace of Lions presents.