The Courtyard of the Lions will reopen in 2012 with a new flooring of white Macael marble

The Lion Courtyard in the Alhambra, the greatest of the region's Nasrid period monuments, will open to the public once again in early 2012 with a new flooring of white Macael marble that will allow visitors to approach the central fountain, which has been inaccessible to tourists since the 1990s.

     Archaeological research carried out here has revealed that originally there was no garden in this courtyard, but paving, although it was not possible to ascertain exactly what kind.

   A study of the historical documentation about the matter --both that owned by the trust and available in other national archives-- has shown that at some point the courtyard had a flooring, probably of marble slabs, although no remains of this flooring have been recovered because of the work carried out at the beginning of the 20th century to empty the four quadrants surrounding the fountain.

  

This is the first work carried out on this courtyard using a scientific methodology, and it has also discovered the existence of constructions pre-dating the palace as we see it today, which was built under Mohammed V. These remains include a water channel that acted as one of the main arteries of the royal irrigation system, which was the main water supply to the complex. They formed part of a palace attributed to Ismail I, in whose garden, or riyad, the building that remains today was built in the 14th century.

   The work carried out has included the renovation of the fountain's water circuit. This has been done for conservation reasons, since it was precisely the poor quality of the water --contaminated and with a lot of lime in the water-- that circulated through the spouts that caused, over time, the deterioration of the lion sculptures, which had to be removed in 2007 for restoration.

The New Courtyard of the Lions
   Restoration work on the sculptures has shown that all of the twelve lions had different functions, and hardly any of the original ears remain. They will return to their usual location at the end of the year so that the new water system can be tested. This system will use filtered water, and its temperature will be monitored so that no damage is done to the fountain and the sculptures themselves, which will have their original function of spouts returned to them.  

  

  The new Macael marble flooring, similar to that in the galleries and the Court of the Myrtles, will be installed at the end of 2011 and it is estimated that the process will be finished by January or February 2012. So by that time, the public will be able to enjoy this important part of the palace, including the four orange trees that surround it, once again. The sculptural ensemble had been closed off to tourists since the 1990s. The reason for this was that the gravel, which was used to fill the four basins around the fountain in 1987, was being spread around the rest of the Nasrid palace and was endangering its conservation.

 

  Now, and although the fountain will be protected and under close observation, it will be possible to go into the courtyard. Here, visitors can look at all the details of the lions after their restoration: their plant motifs, their volutes, their paws and even their new ears, which can be distinguished as new elements by the naked eye, and have been reconstructed using a mixture of lime and cultured marble.