Editing Alhambra (section)

==== Inscriptions ====
[[File:Granada-Alhambra12.jpg|thumb|Calligraphy in the Hall of Ambassadors: above is a band of inscriptions that repeats the Nasrid motto ("And There is no victor but God") in [[Naskh (script)|cursive script]], while below is a larger cartouche containing an inscription in "Knotted" [[Kufic]]]]
The Alhambra features various styles of the [[Islamic calligraphy|Arabic epigraphy]] that developed under the Nasrid dynasty, and particularly under Yusuf I and Muhammad V.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last1=Jayyusi |first1=Salma Khadra |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbfORLWv1HkC&pg=PA667 |title=The Legacy of Muslim Spain |last2=Marín |first2=Manuela |date=1992 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09599-1 |access-date=26 June 2020 |archive-date=25 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725025635/https://books.google.com/books?id=cbfORLWv1HkC&pg=PA667 |url-status=live }}</ref> [[José Miguel Puerta Vílchez]] compares the walls of the Alhambra to the pages of a manuscript, drawing similarities between the ''zilīj''-covered [[Dado (architecture)|dados]] and the geometric manuscript illuminations, and the epigraphical forms in the palace to calligraphic motifs in contemporary Arabic manuscripts.<ref name=":0" /> Inscriptions typically ran in vertical or horizontal bands or they were set inside cartouches of round or rectangular shape.{{Sfn|Irwin|2004|p=124}}

Most major inscriptions in the Alhambra use the [[Naskh (script)|''Naskhi'']] or cursive script, which was the most common script used in writing after the early Islamic period.{{Sfn|López|2011|p=269}} ''[[Thuluth]]'' was a derivation of the cursive script often used for more pompous or formal contexts; favoured, for example, in the preambles of documents prepared by the Nasrid chancery.{{Sfn|Irwin|2004|p=124}} Many inscriptions in the Alhambra were composed in a mixed ''Naskhi-Thuluth'' script.{{Sfn|Irwin|2004|p=124}}<ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Bush |first=Olga |date=2009 |title=The Writing on the Wall: Reading the Decoration of the Alhambra |journal=Muqarnas |volume=26 |pages=119–148 |doi=10.1163/22118993-90000146|doi-access=free }}</ref> Bands of cursive script often alternated with friezes or cartouches of Kufic script. Kufic is the oldest form of Arabic calligraphy, but by the 13th century Kufic scripts in the western Islamic world became increasingly stylized in architectural contexts and could be nearly illegible.{{Sfn|López|2011|p=269}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blair |first=Sheila S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=laQxEAAAQBAJ&dq=naskh+script+nasrid&pg=PA143 |title=Islamic Inscriptions |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-4744-6448-2 |pages=91 |language=en |access-date=13 April 2022 |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502192158/https://books.google.com/books?id=laQxEAAAQBAJ&dq=naskh+script+nasrid&pg=PA143 |url-status=live }}</ref> In the Alhambra, there are many examples of "Knotted" Kufic, a particularly elaborate style where the letters tie together in intricate knots.<ref name=":13" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jazayeri |first1=S. M. V. Mousavi |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LCj5DQAAQBAJ&dq=knotted+kufic&pg=PA9 |title=A Handbook of Early Arabic Kufic Script: Reading, Writing, Calligraphy, Typography, Monograms |last2=Michelli |first2=Perette E. |last3=Abulhab |first3=Saad D. |publisher=Blautopf Publishing |year=2017 |isbn=978-0-9981727-4-3 |pages=9 |language=en |access-date=13 April 2022 |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502192154/https://books.google.com/books?id=LCj5DQAAQBAJ&dq=knotted+kufic&pg=PA9 |url-status=live }}</ref> The extensions of these letters could turn into strips that continued and formed more abstract motifs, or sometimes formed the edges of a cartouche encompassing the rest of the inscription.{{Sfn|López|2011|p=269}}

The texts of the Alhambra include "devout, regal, votive, and Qur'anic phrases and sentences," formed into arabesques, carved into wood and marble, and glazed onto tiles.<ref name=":0" /> Poets of the Nasrid court, including Ibn al-Khatīb and Ibn Zamrak, composed poems for the palace.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Travelers of Al-Andalus, Part VI: The Double Lives of Ibn al-Khatib - AramcoWorld |url=https://www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/November-2015/Travelers-of-Al-Andalus-Part-VI-The-Double-Lives |access-date=2020-06-07 |website=www.aramcoworld.com |archive-date=25 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725025536/https://www.aramcoworld.com/Articles/November-2015/Travelers-of-Al-Andalus-Part-VI-The-Double-Lives |url-status=live }}</ref> The inscriptions of the Alhambra are also unique for their frequent self-referential nature and use of [[personification]]. Some inscribed poems, such as those in the Palace of the Lions, talk about the palace or room in which they're situated and are written in the first person, as if the room itself was speaking to the reader.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Robinson |first=Cynthia |date=2008 |title=Marginal Ornament: Poetics, Mimesis, And Devotion In The Palace Of The Lions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rRewCQAAQBAJ&dq=alhambra+self-referential+inscriptions&pg=PA193 |journal=Muqarnas |volume=25 |pages=193 |isbn=9789047426745 |access-date=13 April 2022 |archive-date=23 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220623053418/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Muqarnas_Volume_25/rRewCQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=alhambra+self-referential+inscriptions&pg=PA193&printsec=frontcover |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Sfn|Bloom|2020|p=167}} Most of the poetry is inscribed in Nasrid cursive script, while foliate and floral Kufic inscriptions—often formed into arches, columns, enjambments, and "architectural calligrams"—are generally used as decorative elements.<ref name=":0" /> Kufic [[calligram]]s, particularly of the words "blessing" ({{Lang|ar|بركة}} ''baraka'') and "felicity" ({{Lang|ar|يمن}} ''yumn''), are used as decorative motifs in arabesque throughout the palace.<ref name=":0" /> Like the rest of the original stucco decoration, many inscriptions were originally painted and enhanced with colours. Studies indicate that the letters were often painted in gold or silver, or in white with black outlines, which would have made them stand out on the decorated backgrounds that were often painted in red, blue, or turquoise (with other colours mixed into the details).<ref name=":13" />
{{multiple image
| align       = center
| total_width = 820
| image1      = خط أندلسي مشبك بفناء الريحان بقصر الحمراء 1.jpg
| alt1        = {{lang|ar|وفتحت بالسيف الجزيرة}} "And the peninsula was conquered with the sword"
| caption1    = {{lang|ar|وفتحت بالسيف الجزيرة}} <br>"And the peninsula was conquered with the sword"
| image2      = خط أندلسي مشبك بفناء الريحان بقصر الحمراء.jpg
| alt2        = {{lang|ar|يبنون القصور تخدما}} "They build palaces diligently"
| caption2    = {{lang|ar|يبنون القصور تخدما}} <br>"They build palaces diligently"
| footer      = Epigraphic samples from the [[Court of the Myrtles]]: what [[Muhammad Kurd Ali]] described as Andalusi ''mushabbak'' (sinuous) script ({{Lang|ar|خط أندلسي مُشَبَّك}}), or what Western sources refer to as Nasrid cursive (left and centre images)<ref>{{Cite book |last1=محمد كرد علي |first1=محمد بن عبد الرزاق بن محمد |title=غابر الأندلس وحاضرها |date=2011 |publisher=شركة نوابغ الفكر |isbn=978-977-6305-97-7 |oclc=1044625566}}</ref> and floral [[Kufic]] script (right).
| direction   = 
| image3      = خط كوفي بفناء الريحان بقصر الحمراء.jpg
| alt3        = 
| caption3    = {{lang|ar|ولا غالب إلا الله}}<br>"There is no victor but God."
}}