Alhambra

The Alhambra is a monumental complex built upon an Andalusi palatine city located in Granada, Spain. It consists of a group of former palaces, gardens and fortresses (alcazaba, from Arabic: القصبة al-qaṣbah: 'citadel'), initially conceived to house the emir and the court of the Nasrid kingdom, and later serving as a residence for the kings of Castile and their representatives. Its artistic uniqueness lies in the interiors of the Nasrid palaces, whose decoration ranks among the pinnacles of Andalusi art, as well as in its location and adaptation, which created a new landscape fully integrated with the pre-existing nature. In addition, it houses a museum of Andalusi art, the city's main art gallery and a former convent converted into a national parador.

The complex is managed by the institution Patronato de la Alhambra y el Generalife. In 2016, it received 2,615,188 visitors, the second most visited site in Spain, after the Sagrada Família in Barcelona,

In 1984, it was the first site in Spain to be declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco, together with the Generalife. This designation was extended to the Albaicín district in 1994.

The Alhambra is also an astronomical instrument that functions as the largest sundial in the world. Thanks to the precise orientation of its walls, a phenomenon occurs at solar noon: the shadow cast by the structures divides the rooms of the Nasrid Palaces symmetrically, cutting the spaces exactly in half and marking the zenith of the day with light. This design allowed its inhabitants to know the times of prayer and the seasons through gnomonics, a science the Nasrids had mastered to perfection. The Alhambra Museum holds a 14th-century marble sundial that served as a guide for this complex system of measuring time, based on the movement of the celestial bodies across the stone.