Based on many years of painstaking research and covering eleven centuries of medieval, modern and contemporary history, The Alhambra represents a major contribution to world scholarship.
During his research for the book, the author has made some very exciting discoveries. He has, for example, resolved one of the great enigmas of Nasrid art by discovering the geometric proportional system on which the entire Alhambra architecture and decoration are based. The designs are at times so intricate that they baffle even professional mathematicians: Professor Fernández-Puertas has cracked the geometric code and discovered that the marvels of the Alhambra are built on a proportional system that is essentially incommensurable and not based on fixed units like metres or inches. This has involved making hundreds of analytical figures, many of which will be included in the book.
Professor Fernández-Puertas is also the first to discover the chronological order in which the Alhambra palaces were built. He has collated much fragmentary information in order to reconstruct a picture of court life within the Alhambra and the personalities of its sultans and poet-viziers. The book thus contains the heart of three centuries of Nasrid art, as well as providing a history of the palatine city from the ninth century to the present day: the pre-Nasrid Alhambra, the Nasrid Alhambra and the Christian Alhambra.
Based on many years of painstaking research and covering eleven centuries of medieval, modern and contemporary history, The Alhambra will be the most comprehensive scientific work yet issued on the subject--a work of this order is unlikely to be published again within our lifetime.
During his research for the book, the author has made some very exciting discoveries. He has, for example, resolved one of the great enigmas of Nasrid art by discovering the geometric proportional system on which the entire Alhambra architecture and decoration are based. The designs are at times so intricate that they baffle even professional mathematicians: Professor Fernández-Puertas has cracked the geometric code and discovered that the marvels of the Alhambra are built on a proportional system that is essentially incommensurable and not based on fixed units like metres or inches. This has involved making hundreds of analytical figures, many of which will be included in the book.
Professor Fernández-Puertas is also the first to discover the chronological order in which the Alhambra palaces were built. He has collated much fragmentary information in order to reconstruct a picture of court life within the Alhambra and the personalities of its sultans and poet-viziers. The book thus contains the heart of three centuries of Nasrid art, as well as providing a history of the palatine city from the ninth century to the present day: the pre-Nasrid Alhambra, the Nasrid Alhambra and the Christian Alhambra.
Based on many years of painstaking research and covering eleven centuries of medieval, modern and contemporary history, The Alhambra will be the most comprehensive scientific work yet issued on the subject--a work of this order is unlikely to be published again within our lifetime.
