Alhambra

The evidence for a Roman presence is unclear but archaeologists have found remains of ancient foundations on the Sabika hill. A fortress or citadel, probably dating from the Visigothic period, existed on the hill in the 9th century. The first reference to the Qal‘at al-Ḥamra was during the battles between the Arabs and the Muladies during the rule of ‘Abdallah ibn Muhammad (r. 888–912). According to surviving documents from the era, the red castle was quite small, and its walls were not capable of deterring an army intent on conquering.

At the beginning of the 11th century, the region of Granada was dominated by the Zirids, a Sanhaja Berber group and offshoot of the Zirids who ruled parts of North Africa. When the Caliphate of Córdoba collapsed after 1009 and the Fitna (civil war) began, the Zirid leader Zawi ben Ziri established an independent kingdom for himself, the Taifa of Granada. The Zirids built their citadel and palace, known as the al-Qaṣaba al-Qadīma ("Old Citadel" or "Old Palace"), on the hill now occupied by the Albaicín neighbourhood. It was connected to two other fortresses on the Sabika and Mauror hills to the south.

As early as the second half of the 18th century, the Alhambra's appearance and details began to be documented by Spanish illustrators and officials. By the first decade of the 19th century, other European writers began to bring attention to it, and the site subsequently became an object of fascination for Western Romanticist writers, whose publications frequently sought to evoke a contrast between the ornate architecture of the former Moorish palaces and their current state of ruin and neglect.