El patio del Vergel del Real Monasterio de Santa Clara de Tordesillas y la Alhambra de Granada. Reflexiones para su estudio

Abstract

This article presents a possible and inmediate predecessor of the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra of Grenade. The monastery of Santa Clara of Tordesillas (Valladolid) was an important palace built in the 1350's by Pedro I of Castile (1350-1369). Inside its walls there was a courtyard with pavilions emphasizing the main axis. A few years later, after 1362, Muhammad V (1354-1359, 1362-1391), a good friend of Pedro I, built the Palace and the Court of the Lions in the Alhambra. While a pool was constructed in Tordesillas in the middle of the patio, in Granada a cruciform garden was designed. In Pedro's palace the formula of pavilions will have been taken from the monumental bassins of the Cistercian monasteries near Tordesillas. The same pattern is likely to have been taken from Tordesillas to Granada by the same artists who worked for both kingdoms, thanks to the close friendship between the two kings.