The Lost Golden Room Courtyard Gallery in the Alhambra: Sources, Graphic Analysis and Digital Reconstruction

Abstract

The palatial architecture of the Nasrid Alhambra in Granada was organized around courtyards that have been restored or transformed over the centuries. This research analyzes and graphically recreates a wooden gallery that was built in the Patio del Cuarto Dorado (Courtyard of the Golden Room) by the Catholic Monarchs, which disappeared around 1872. The methodology is based on the compilation of documentary sources and graphic analysis as the basis for new manual and digital drawings. Although no archival documentation detailing its construction or demolition has been identified, a large set of historical images (plans, views, and photographs) has been gathered, analyzed, and arranged chronologically. From these, freehand sketches were drawn to understand its construction elements, using other preserved galleries as a reference. Using this graphic documentation and measurements of the current courtyard, scale drawings were made. All of this allowed for the creation of a reconstructed digital model, the digital fabrication of a small-scale model, and the development of new representational graphics using advanced media. In this way, the aim is to understand and introduce the gallery that occupied this courtyard for centuries, offering a new view of the complex transformations of an architectural complex included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.