Palacio de Galiana

The Palacio de Galiana is a palace in Toledo, Spain, on the borders of the Tagus River. It was built on the site of an earlier summer villa and garden of Al-Mamun, the king of the Taifa of Toledo, in the thirteenth century by king Alphonso X.

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Palace

The palace was built in the Mudéjar style and retains many characteristics of Moorish architecture in the Al-Andalus era. The palace consists of a hall divided into three parallel naves with rooms at each end linked by a passageway. The name of the palace, Galiana, is derived from a fictive character, Aisha Galiana, the daughter of an imaginary Moorish king Aljafra. She figures in medieval chansons and subsequently in the works of Cervantes and Lope de Vega.[1]

Gardens

The garden area around the palace, called the 'Al-Munya al-Na‘ura' (the Water Wheel Orchard)[2] or 'Huerta del Rey' (the king's garden) included a botanical garden of the pharmacologist Ibn al-Wafid.[3] It was famous for its irrigation works, the ruins of which are still to be seen.

The garden was also, possibly, the location of a water clock, constructed by Al-Zarqali.[4]

20th century

From the 1950s onwards the Palacio de Galiana was restored and its present garden designed by the architects Manuel Gomez Moreno and Fernando Chueca Goitia under the auspices of its owner Carmen Maranon.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ramón Menéndez Pidal, Poesía árabe y poesía europea, "Mainet, palacios de Galiana, Stavelot", Espasa-Calpe Argentina, s.a., 1941, p. 71
  2. ^ Antonio Almagro and Luis Ramón-Laca, "Introduction to the catalogue of Andalusian Gardens" (Toledo 7) [1] (retrieved 27 November 2008)
  3. ^ The Economic History of Spain Under the Umayyads, 711-1031, p. 38: "Ibn al-Wafid specialised in medicine and botany and wrote important works and was employed by Mamun of Toledo to lay out lay out his famous botanical garden near Toledo in the valley of the Tagus between the Palace called Galiana and the river."
  4. ^ In Ahmed ibn Mohammed al-Makkari, The History of the Mohammedan Dynasties in Spain, (Routledge, 2002) reprinted from the first edition of 1840-43, Contributor Michael Brett writes (p. 384): "Los Palacios de Galiana (the palace of Galiana), where two tanks similar to those here described are still visible."
  5. ^ Eduardo Mencos, Hidden Gardens of Spain, frances lincoln ltd, 2004, ISBN 9780711219649, p. 67 [2] (retrieved on November 27, 2008)

External links