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The Alhambra and light


The Alhambra and light




Halil Bárcena

The Portuguese architect Alvaro Siza (Oporto , 1933), winner of the Pritzker Prize, in 1992, considered the Nobel of architecture, will be responsible for the design of the new access to the grounds of the Alhambra Moorish, Andalusian jewel of Islamic art, mostly built in the fourteenth century by the last Arab dynasty of Granada. According to the architect, the project, a complex that really is a new door, will involve the management of the various entrances to the Alhambra. To Siza, one of the most outstanding in the realization of the project is the light. Portuguese architect says: "The light is one of the most important elements in the architecture. The treaty is an element arquitecturaislámica with great wisdom. Its function is to provide thermal comfort. In the Alhambra light enters the courtyard, without large windows to protect against excessive lighting and heat. The light is transferred to another facility or room where it is more controlled, and reaches penunbra areas. Lighting deviates from a wise and stimulating. The light is very controlled in the areas of rest. In our work we will try to light with the same care "(1).

Indeed, Muslim architects paid special attention to light and light, whose function, however, is not limited only to provide comfort heat. In Islamic architecture, and more particularly that of roots in Persian, subayace an emphasis on lightness. "Inside a mosque," writes Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "is like the crystal light in ways materials, always remember believing the brightness of the verses of the Quran: "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth." by the intense radiation of the sun's rays and the crystal clear air in the region of the Highlands in most of Persia Light experience and the need to live in moderately lit areas have remained throughout its history as an integral part of life "(2).

it is thus not surprising that the pre-Islamic religions, especially Zoroastrianism has left so many traces in Iranian Shiism and Sufism, have used the symbolism of light show their wisdom teachings. Nor that, as in the Islamic period, the highest Persian spirituality nourished a genuine metaphysics of light which has its source mainly in theosophy lighting (Ishraq) Sohravardi martyr (d. 1191) , which operates similar to his followers, called ishrâqîyûn, the Persian Sufi and Ismaili.

Thus, light is experienced, according to Professor Nasr said, as a transcendent presence that crosses the heaviness of matter, transforming it into a noble manner, worthy of being the residence of the human soul substance of which is rooted in the luminous world, which is none other than the Spirit.

Notes:

1. Cf El Pais Babelia cultural supplement, May 7, 2011, pp.18-19.
2.Prólogo of Seyyed Hossein Nasr Nader Ardalan, Laleh Bakhtiar, The sense of unity. The Sufi tradition in Persian architecture, Madrid, Siruela, 2007, p. 15.